Hymns: An exploration
I've mentioned previously that I've played the piano for a number of years. When I went on my mission, I assumed (correctly) that I'd be playing the piano a lot. In one of my branches, I was the first pianist they'd had in nearly two years. I felt a bit like a musical "prophet of the restoration," correcting apostasy in the melody and rhythm of our beloved hymns. I was happy to share my talents, as having a pianist made the meetings much more reverent and conducive to the Spirit.
My mission president likewise encouraged me to share my musical talents, but he encouraged me to limit my playing to spiritual music. I once got called out for playing Debussy's Claire de Lune before Zone Conference, so it wasn't just Billy Joel that was banned either. The hymns are great and all, but after a while they can be a bit musically uninteresting, so I started experimenting. One of my favorite games was to accept nominations for three random hymns and create a medley from them. (It always impressed people, which was fun.)
After a while, though, even that wasn't enough, so I started making my own arrangements. I quickly discovered that playing a normally-trite song in a minor key can produce some unexpectedly poignant musical moments. It's something that you'll hear occasionally in arrangements of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, for example, and it really turns out well.
The point of all this is that when I was leaving the Talmage building the other night at about 9:00, I passed someone who was whistling Come, Come Ye Saints in a minor key.
I was so pleased.
