Ta. 5--Come Thou Fount

Elder Westin Juarez and I served as missionaries together for six weeks in Pagosa Springs, CO. Though we had some disappointments, we saw success from our efforts in that area, and we both had a love for music. Even after we were reassigned to new areas and new companions, we would see each other occasionally at missionary conferences. He knew I composed music, and he would joke around by asking, “So Elder Totten, when are you going to write me a song?” I knew he wasn’t serious, but then I thought, why not? 

I knew one of his favorite songs was “Come, Thou Fount of Ever Blessing.” I’ve heard him sing it very well when we were companions. I decided to write a new tune for that hymn. I came up with a melody that was inspired by the melody of an LDS song for youth, titled “Strength Beyond My Own.” When I had access to a piano in those rare moments of free time, I came up with a simple piano part based on a simple chord progression. I wrote it as a hymn tune. I even treated it as a hymn tune by giving it a name: Juarez. I sent the music (written on a piece of notebook paper) to Elder Juarez, telling him he finally has his song. He never mentioned the song in later interactions, but I suppose he didn’t have to. I wanted the experience of writing a hymn tune and I dedicated it to Elder Juarez simply because he (jokingly) asked for it.

T. 59--A Prayer of Thanks

The melody of this piece was inspired by the tenor line of Stephen Paulus’s Pilgrim’s Hymn, which I once sang in my high school choir. The entire piece is gorgeous, but I really admired the tenor line, as well as the emotional lyrics. Again, I heard a piece and wanted to write something like it. It wasn’t until my mission that I got the idea to carry through with this particular idea. I felt such a piece should be a prayer of gratitude because that is what such a prayer would sound like to me. When I had access to a piano, I tried out the melody, and slowly worked out the other three parts. 

At the time, my missionary companion heard what I played and said he didn’t like it because the parts weren’t written very well. I thought it sounded lovely, especially since it had taken me a while to come up with what I had. Looking at it now, I can certainly see a few flaws in my writing, most notably the fact that I had the sopranos singing awfully high at one point. Perhaps it would be much better to bring them down an octave there (this is reflected in the recording). 

Notwithstanding my novice composition skills, I felt this piece to be a small but sincere expression of my gratitude to God for His love and mercy for me and for all of His children. I imagined this to be the very first piece of my musical based on The Book of Mormon, leading straight into 1 Nephi 1:1, which I also set to music, even though I only wrote the melody and didn’t develop it further.

T. 58--Pahoran's Epistle

During my mission, I had the idea to write a musical based on The Book of Mormon. The immediate question for me was, which stories would I include and which would I have to leave out in the interest of time? I didn’t know. But, I did have a few musical ideas to start off with. I certainly wanted to include something about the political and spiritual struggles of the wars described in the latter half of the book of Alma. One of my favorite moments was one I never noticed until my mission: Pahoran’s reply to Captain Moroni’s aggressive epistle. 

Both parties had a right to be upset. Captain Moroni’s armies were neglected by the government, and it wasn’t Pahoran’s fault. Even though he was the chief judge of the nation, he was powerless because of a hostile takeover of the nation's capital. Pahoran’s reply in the sixty-first chapter of Alma is inspiring. I was especially struck by his gracious words in verse nine. I wanted to set them to music, and I came up with a melody in my head by singing the words and letting the emotions of the words guide the notes and rhythms I produced. I also wanted some instrumental background as a prelude to the melody. The strings and oboe would underscore Pahoran speaking the first few paragraphs of his answer to Moroni, before singing with words of verse nine. 

I didn’t come up with any underscoring for verse nine itself. To me, this verse teaches us to be forgiving, understanding, and courageous in our interactions with others and in defending our beliefs. I imagine that once Pahoran sings “God hath made us free” the second time, the music would lead in to another underscore as he continues to read his epistle to Captain Moroni.

Ta. 4--A Brief Tribute to John Williams on Cello

I got cello scores of John Williams’s famous movie themes one Christmas, and since then I have loved playing John Williams’s music on my cello. I thought of ways to "string" some of these themes together in case I ever wanted to play a John Williams medley. I’ve never performed this medley for other people, though I have brought out my cello on occasion to show it off to friends and play some of these themes for them.

Ta. 3--Nearer, My God, To Thee

My Freshman Academy group (freshman put in some of the same classes for a year) was going to perform a set of hymns for the residents of a local nursing home. I was asked to find a few hymn arrangements. I did find some good ones, but I also had some ideas for an arrangement of “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” I wrote it and offered it to a quartet of singers. They said the arrangement was really good, but it turned out that due to rehearsal time constraints they chose a different song to perform at the nursing home.

I’ve loved the melody and the lyrics of this hymn for many years. I used lots of different textures and voicings to musically convey the meaning of the words. I also wanted to include all five verses, which is why this arrangement is longer than others. I did a lot of word painting here. For example, “steps unto heaven” in verse three is sung with an ascending line and “all that thou sendest me” is sung with a descending tenor line (as if it were gifts sent, descending from heaven). Also, when angels are mentioned in verse three, I have the women singing the angelic part. “Bright with thy praise” was voiced like a pair of trumpets playing a fanfare. With every verse, I tried something new. The fifth and last verse I felt should naturally modulate up from the key of F to the key of G. Looking at it now, I can see how this could be challenging for a choir to learn and sing. But, I think it is terrific improvement from the choir works I wrote in high school.