A perfect arrangement of happiness

I love music

I love music... different genres, from different countries, in different languages, with different rhythms and instruments... I use music for various purposes: to clean, to do chores, to get ready, to write my blog, to sing, to dance, to chill, to study, to relax, to exercise and do sports (those who were at the volleyball night at FHE a couple of weeks ago probably noticed that as I was singing and dancing Latin songs when I was playing to give my team more motivation haha), to cook, to [try to] play it... Music is a big part of my life! Music is powerful!

What I like the most to do with music, is to perform it! I might not be a super talented musician, and my feet dance with music better than my vocal chords and my fingers sing or play it, but still. I know to read music, I can play [really slowly] the piano, and try to play guitar, and would like to learn to play more instruments. And I love too sing! I feel that music is such a great gift to share with others, that, even if I'm not an expert, I want to do my part to bring the joy that it brings. And the kind of music that I love the most to perform to bring peace and to uplift others, is LDS music. That's why I've always loved to be in choirs.

In Montreal as in Arizona I had numerous wonderful and uplifting experiences as I've being singing or conducting choirs. Music makes me happy!

Choir experiences

Our combined Montreal YSA branches Christmas
choir at a metro station

I remember our YM/YW choir in my Hispanic ward... we would just listen to a cassette of a Janice Kapp Perry song in Spanish and learn the song and sing it... that was our kind of choirs! Ha! Good memories though! We were not musical prodigies, but the lyrics strengthened us and it was a great bonding activity for the youth. I enjoyed to be in choirs in Montreal! In my previous YSA branch in Montreal we needed to beg people to come to choir because they were not musicians. Many were good dancers though, or were good in sports, and we were all multilingual... I mean, we had other talents and skills, but only a few had a deep knowledge about music, and I am grateful that those who didn't still accepted the invitation to come to choir and to have an uplifting experience with what they could offer. That is wonderful about LDS music (and many things in the Church, as giving talks or lessons and missionary work): when we do it with a desire to serve, giving our best, and with the Spirit, it touches the heart of people, even if we are not professionals.

So I was used to simple and basic musical arrangements for our choirs. And then I came to Arizona, where many have so much knowledge about music that I felt as a musical ignorant next to them. Obviously, that couldn't stop me! I love music too much, so I just took the challenge and I did my best to sing with them in the choirs that I've joined in my stake, ward, institute, and other special choirs where I've been singing since I moved here.

AZ YSA Regional conference choir at Gammage

Have I done any good? Or I should say: can I do any good as I sing this song?

Some weeks ago, in my ward choir, we started to practice an arrangement of the beautiful hymn "Have I done any good?", made by the incredible Sam Fleming, a talented and almost famous musician from my YSA ward. I love his arrangements! The first time I look at the music sheet I was impressed... and of course wondering how this brown girl from Montreal would be able to sing that! I remember that the first time we practiced that song, I was looking forward to finish the practice because I was struggling with it... I not only had to become familiar with the alto part, I had to become familiar with the lyrics in English too... I knew that song only in Spanish! It was so fast,and reading my notes and the lyrics at same time required a lot of concentration! I knew after that first practice that it would be a great challenge... but at same time, I was so excited to sing it for our ward! I knew it would be hard... at least for me! But I knew it would be worth it, and I didn't hesitate to go back to our choir practices for the next weeks!

The plan of a challenging happiness

That Sunday, after that first practice, in relief society, we had a lesson about the plan of salvation. We talked about the council in heaven, where Heavenly Father presented his plan. We knew we would need to leave His presence, that we would have struggles, trials, sufferings, pains, challenges. But we knew that it would be worth it and that after living that challenge, if we do good and we receive the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives, we would be able to return to his presence and live with him forever. When we heard about that plan, we accepted it, and the scriptures says that we SHOUTED OF JOY! We knew that it would be hard and it would require from us to make a lot of efforts, to learn new things, and to have difficult experiences, but WE WERE EXCITED ABOUT IT! And then it hit me! It was exactly what was happening with that musical arrangement! I knew that it would be a challenge for what I was used to! I knew it would be hard for me, that I would need to learn the lyrics of that hymn in English, to be able to sing them fast, to learn my notes. As I said before, I wanted to finish the first practice quickly because I was struggling a little with it... But I knew that I wanted to keep going to the practices and to sing it, which I did! Challenges are exciting, don't you think?

The Ville-Marie ward missionaries graffiti version of the Plan of Salvation on a graffiti wall next to my  house.

In a choir, we are not left alone

Sam's arrangement was amazing! And I was not left alone to sing it! I had a devoted choir director, Andrew Payne, who taught us that song with so much patience, dedication and happiness, even if he was sick and almost losing his voice, he was faithfully there, willing to help us, to make us practice the parts which we were struggling the most, to encourage us and to tell us when we were doing good. Jake Packer, another good musician, helped us too when Andrew, because of his sore throat, wasn't able to do it, even if he was there to tell Jake how to help us. I had a good pianist... Sam... who knew what he was playing because, well, it was HIS arrangement! If we were paying attention to Andrew and listening to the notes that Sam was playing, and following the music sheets, we were able to learn our parts and to know how to make it. It was important to look at the director to sing all together, in harmony. And of course I had each member of the choir. It was impossible to make of that music a success without the voices of each member of our choir! Each soprano, each alto, each tenor and each base made it become what it had to become. Each voice made a difference. Each voice had a part to play in that song. Each time that someone else came in the room and joined us to sing, we were feeling so much happiness, because it meant that someone else would be there to sing with us, to make it sound better, and even to help us to sing correctly (at least is how I was feeling when other altos came; I didn't feel alone, I felt more confident, knowing that I would have someone else to sing by my side, and that if I made a mistake, the other one would help to hide it, or if I needed to breathe, that would be someone else who would be singing our part for the second that I would be breathing, and just to feel support as we were singing our part). It's so much better when we are not alone!

Life is the same! It's challenging... but so exciting! And we knew it before we came, but WE WANTED TO BE PART OF THAT, we accepted the challenge! Sometimes we get discouraged and it's so hard that we look forward to the end of it, but life is so good and we have so many opportunities and experiences to learn and grow that it is important to live every second of it and to take those opportunities, instead of trying to "skip the practices". It is a test, and we can get so much from it!

The perfect composer and his perfect arrangement

A loving Heavenly Father created this plan, this "arrangement", because He is wise, and he knows that is the best for us! He knows how great could be the result! His plan is perfect... we just have to join it and to play our part! He wrote his own music sheets, the scriptures, inspired to his prophets, and if we read them, we can learn more of that plan. We sometimes need to write some notes on our sheets as reminders of what or how we need to sing in life. But we need to use it, to follow it, and to remember those things that would help us to sing our part well.

The perfect director and his faithful servants

And we are not left alone in this experience! We have a devoted Savior who, with so much patience, devotion and happiness, is there to lead us, to teach us, to show us how to "sing", how to live, to tell us which parts of the song of our life we need to practice a little more to get it perfectly. Even at the hardest time of His life, in the Gethsemane, "sick and almost losing his voice", He was faithfully there for us, sacrificing himself for us! And we have a prophet, and church leaders, who represent the Savior, who do those things for us and help us to know how to deal with life and how to get those notes to sing well that arrangement! They will tell us what to do with the music sheets, they will explain us how to understand it and they will encourage us to learn to read it, to study it, and to apply the teachings from the scriptures, our music sheets, to be able to sing it well.

The perfect pianist

We have also the Holy Ghost, who is united with the Father and the Son, who knows the plan, he knows the arrangement, and is there, playing his piano, playing every note, to guide us in the right direction. As we pay attention to the director and we listen carefully to the notes that the Holy Ghost plays for us, it becomes easier to learn our parts and to know what to do in every part of our life musical arrangement, and we will make it sound better.

A great choir partnership

And, fortunately, we have our family, our friends, and all those who touch our life for good every day! We are all together in the greatest choir that could exist, and is called life! With our differences, we can all sing the different parts! Every time that someone joins our worldwide choir, we feel happy because we know of the joy that we can feel when we sing this life arrangement, and we want all of our Heavenly Father's children to live that challenging but joyful experience! I'm always telling people to join our ward choir, to embark in that marvelous experience, because I know that it really is a marvelous experience! And life is a marvelous experience too! This is His work and His glory!

Finding joy out of my comfort zone

My previous YSA branch choir, in Montreal,
Quebec (at the same place were we used to
sing with YW/YM more than 10 years ago...)

In Montreal or in Gilbert, I've never been forced to attend choir. I went because I love it! But when the arrangements were to difficult for me, I could have decided to be discouraged and to say that I was not used to it, that I don't know as much about music as other members of the choir do, and to quit the choir, at least for that song. I could have decided to just settle to sing the melody of the hymns I know as a congregation, and maybe to sing the alto part if it wasn't too complicated. But how would I grow and develop my talents if I stay on my comfort zone with that kind of excuses? Isn't the same with life? We can find so many excuses to settle for less that what we have the potential to do or to get. We can get discouraged when life is hard and seems too much for what we are used too. We can give up and not try anymore to find happiness. But remember, WE SHOUTED OF JOY! WE KNEW THE PLAN AND WE ACCEPT IT! BECAUSE WE KNEW IT WOULD BE WORTH IT!

It was worth it!

Three weeks ago we sang that song in our ward! I heard many good comments about it! The Spirit was felt, and it was a good reminder to everyone (members of our ward, visitors, and even us, members of the choir) to do good every day, to serve others, to go to bed every night with a feeling of accomplishment because we had serve someone that day. The challenge was accepted with joy! And the challenge was accomplished with joy! Give me more complicated songs to sing, I will do it! Now, after that experience, I know that I can do it! And that the practices and effort were worth it!

Let's trust in our Heavenly Father's life arrangement, or plan, with the knowledge that we knew it would be hard and a challenge, but that we accepted that plan with joy. Let's follow and pay attention to the teachings, example and directions of our director, our Savior Jesus-Christ, and his servants. Let's listen carefully to the notes that the Holy Ghost plays for us to guide us in the good direction to sing our part. I know that as we do this, we will be able not only to sing well our part of "Have I done any good?", but we will be able, as challenging as it could be, to do good in the world today, and every day of our life, and we will do it with joy! And all these effort will worth it, because they would help us "to live with Him someday"!

I am grateful for this challenging but perfect plan of happiness, and I shout of joy because I know is worth it!

Can you understand why I love wholesome and uplifting music so much? :) Yes, definitely, choir practices are a cherry on my Sundays!