state of the lds music union: overall analysis

Overall analysis:

Of course we have made progress, but I forsee that the next ten years will be significantly more challenging for the LDS music industry. There will be increased demand, but it will be fulfilled more and more by several small companies rather than a large Deseret/Seagull conglomorate. And Deseret will fight back, trying to buy out the little guys as they become popular. I predict that the songwriting and arranging styles will have to undergo a major overhaul in the next decade, and that LDS consumers will start becoming more discriminating in their tastes, so LDS musicians will have to rise to the challenge of producing higher quality music for which the LDS consumer will willingly pay. Overall, our industry is suffering from piracy and divisions within, and I do not see that those problems will be easily solved in the next several years. However, some will succeed, and they will be the ones whose focus is on sharing the truth more than turning a profit.

state of the lds music union: other considerations

Other Considerations:

• Marketing: It has generally become less ethical. Yet LDS people have also established a pattern of illegal copying, which makes real sales harder to make. This will be a big issue in the industry in the next ten years.
  
• Distribution: It is more widespread, and thus more competitive. The advent of self-distribution online is good for independent artists, but not necessarily for the quality of product received.
  
• Style overall: Too similar to what was available 10 years ago. We see many LDS songwriters but few great LDS composers.

state of the lds music union: vocal performance

Vocal performance:

Again, at the high end, we see that it has improved slightly, but the style has not changed radically. On the amateur hobbyist end, things are worse than ever because we hear so many more of them. (I should say at this point that I probably ought to consider myself an amateur hobbyist, but I do take pride in what I do and try to make it the best possible considering my resources.) I have not heard a new LDS singer/songwriter in the past 5 years whose voical stylings were irresistably wonderful beyond what is already available. So much is ptich-corrected, overproduced, and overcompressed (especially in the EFY subgenre) that actual vocal talent seems less of an issue today than it was ten years ago.

state of the lds music union: arrangements

Arragements:

I hesitate to say they are better. For recorded music, they require more gadgets. Synthesizers have improved, so the arrangements sound better in production. Some, like Mack Wilberg, Tyler Castleton, and Enoch Train, have certainly bloomed in their arranging skills in the last decade. But as far as the overall quality of most arrangements we hear, both on CDs and in Church, I think we are continuing to settle for less.

state of the lds music union: production and recording

Production values and Recording Quality:

They have increased and decreased at the same time. Part of this has to do with the reduction in cost for decent recording equipment and software. If I had started out doing what I do ten years ago, the technology I have now would have been far beyond my means, and I run a pretty bare-bones operation. It is possible to set up a home studio for $500 if you already have a computer. This means that more people have access to recording and distribution of music.

On the high end, production values have increased tremendously. You can listen to the current EFY CDs, and they are much better in sound quality and production than in 1997. However, a flood of amateur music is washing over the industry in general, and that is especially the case in LDS music where (as I mentioned above) the consumers don't seem to care about quality.

state of the lds music union: songwriting

Songwriting (as a craft):

Much improved. I am especially encouraged that more LDS musicians seem to be writing on themes of the Restoration. Looking a decade back at the songs of Michael McLean and other similar artists, many of them were quasi-ecumenical songs (pretty, but with not much doctrine) which were mostly designed to make the listener feel good. I sense that among the good LDS songwriters of today (and there are also plenty of bad ones, as always), we have learned to teach truth with more accuracy and boldness while improving the music to which it is set.

On the other side of the coin, the LDS consumer has been conditioned to accept and perpetuate musical rubbish simply for the fact that it is "LDS." Listen to KZION, for example (I do), and within an hour you will hear some lovely, well-conceived, well-developed music alongside some terrible, yet heartfelt, songs with four chords and lyrics that don't fit into the musical lines. Many LDS people are well educated in music, but consciously ignore their musical sensibilities when it comes to Church music. This was necessary ten or fifteen years ago because of the lack of good music, but we need to have a paradigm shift as a people and begin demanding excellence. We also need to become willing to pay for excellence when we find it.

state of the lds music union

On the LDS Musicians group, Michael R. Hicks proposed that we look back on the past ten years in the LDS music industry and reflect on our progress in specific areas. To avoid posting one huge block of text, I will post my "State of the (LDS Music) Union" address in topical segments, beginning with the preamble:

Disclaimer:

In 1997 I was a freshman in high school and I had never heard of EFY (I subsequently attended in 1998). I started seriously writing LDS music in 2000, but I did not do any performances of it in the U.S until 2004 or make any attempt at publishing until 2006. However, I am quite familiar with what is out there - when I go to Utah, I always stop in at DI and look for "vintage" LDS recordings, and I have analyzed much of the currently available repertoire with some detail.

Essentially, I am new, but not inexperienced.

First off, I think we need to define the difference between "LDS music" and secular/general Christian music by LDS artists. They are not the same. Kenneth Cope and Jon Schmidt, for example, have significant followings outside the Church because they produce a segment of their products for the general non-LDS public. In this analysis, I am talking about music specifically produced for and marketed toward members of the Church.

Now to the list...

noisebox

Volume 2, Issue 1
02 February 2007:
back to work, almost

After our extended winter vacation, new music will begin once more next week on gratemusic.com and LDSmusic.us. While you wait, check out our exciting news!First, at 7:30 the evening of Friday, 9 February 2007, the annual Church Music Festival is happening at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. A choir will be performing When Godly Sorrow Moves the Soul, which received an award of distinction in the Church Music Contest for 2006. If you are around Salt Lake, feel free to come and listen. It is not a large venue, so be sure to get there early. If you do come, please come and say hello after the performance. Both David Macfarlane and Nathan Howe will be in attendance. Details are on the calendar at LDS.org

Secondly, Nathan Howe has written a song, Miracle of Faith, to accompany a video produced by BYU-Idaho to promote its YFE program. You can view the video on their website: http://www.byui.edu/ce/youth/video/yfevideo.htm.

book review

Over the Christmas weekend, I stumbled upon an unbelieveable book sale. One of the books I grabbed was Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. I highly recommend it. Truss uses incisive British wit and common sense to defend punctuation. I know that reading about punctuation is not necessarily an exciting prospect to some, but Eats, Shoots and Leaves stands well on its humorous and literary merits. This is not like my high school grammar texts. In the interest of full disclosure, I have been madly in love with the intricacies of punctuation for some time, so I have been wanting to read it since hearing about it on the radio a few years ago. However, I was more than surprised at how enjoyable a read it was, regardless of its content.

http://www.eatsshootsandleaves.com/

more really, really, really short stories

You can read more about my really, really, really short story project here. Here are three more for your reading pleasure:

#4: A Western.
Buck’s IPod was turned up so loud he didn’t hear the rustler stealing his
cattle until a brief pause between Meatloaf power ballads.

#5: Western, Part II
Tex wasn’t like the other cowboys. Sure, he would sit at the bar and argue
about Ford and Chevy (usually on the Chevy side, to be safe), but deep inside he
had the undeniable hankering for a Hyundai.

#6: A Cautionary Tale
Clarissa was bored, so she sat in her
armchair and didn’t do anything until she was buried in the sands of
time.
Moral: Even if you are bored, occasionally dusting your house may
prevent eventual suffocation.

really, really, really short stories

I gave up on NaNoWriMo. It became a choice between short-term success in novel writing and long-term success in life. I would have dropped the ball on too many other important things, including some pretty good music.

However, to keep my creative writing chops active, I added a goal on my 43 Things: "post really, really, really short stories." This gives me a chance to write short fiction without the burden of organizing it into a long form like a novel. You can monitor my progress on my 43 Things page about this goal. However, I will also post some of them here on fluent in mumble for your enjoyment:

#1: A Shocking Realization

Frederick was in his second year of culinary school when he found out that
egg-drop soup is not made from “Egg Drops.”

#2: Sunday

Pastor Morrisey’s socks did not match, and the sopranos were perpetually flat in the choir loft. Lucille stayed.

#3: A Sad Story

“What was that?” Franklin shouted; “I can’t hear you over your green and violet dress!” Debbie turned and left him there at Taco Bell, alone.

More to come later.

fame and fortune

(By fame and fortune, I mean fortune in the sense of good things happening, not in the sense of money in pocket.) It was a good day Friday. I showed the new arrangement of Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains to my choral conducting professor, who is also the director of the Women's Glee Club at the University. He wanted to use it for his women's choir for a concert on December 3rd. Great!

Yes, great. But he wanted an SSAA arrangement with piano accompaniment. No problem. Finished it this morning. Well, actually, I worked from midnight to 5:30, then gave up and finished it at 10:00 after a class. Those easy little projects never are, are they? But I am thrilled that the Women's Glee Club is going to sing this piece, and the annual Christmas concert is a fairly big one. They also rebroadcast it closer to Christmas on KUNC, our local public radio station, where I do my internship. Yes, I'm living high on the hog in the lavish lifestyle of a choral composer. I think we may even move into a place with a bathtub and a dishwasher next year!

Don't take the last part of that last paragraph as whining. I love my life. I love doing what I do. Money means nothing. I just visited some friends whose new baby is having a bit of a rough start. I am reminded once again of the fragile nature of life and the blessing it is simply to breathe. If you are reading this and you are a religious type, a prayer for little Austin couldn't hurt.

nanowrimo

I started my novel today. By today, I mean this morning. I literally looked over at the clock and realized, "Oh. It's National Novel Writing Month. I guess I'd better write something." The working title is "Archie Frey and the Other People in my Inbox." It's stupid. I just need to make myself write it, because who knows when I'll ever write another novel? I'm up to 1,052 words. Goal is 50,000 by the end of November.

friendship

Recently, I have been thinking about the idea of friendship and how I want to develop it as an attribute in my life. I added as one of my 43 Things "Be a friend like the ones who have changed my life." Here are my thoughts on that:

I do not forward cheesy e-mails that talk about true friendship and threaten certain death if not sent on within ten minutes. I don’t do “just thinking of you, Friend” greeting cards. I want to be a friend of the caliber of those who have found me in my dark times and helped me identify the light I was seeking.

• I would be a friend like those I have had who made work a joy and sorrow a short affair.
  
• I would be a friend who understands that the welfare of a soul is worth far more than a few extra minutes of sleep or a few extra dollars in the bank.
  
• I would be a friend who does not change people, but liberates them to change themselves for the better.
  
• I would become a friend by accident to hundreds of people one by one – standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for a bus, browsing at the library.
  
• I would be a friend to those who blatantly disagree with me. I would be a friend to those who are too much like me. These may be the same.
  
• I would be a lifelong friend, even if not in the sense of face-to-face contact. I would be the friend that old friends could call after ten years of silence and pick up the conversation as if we had never parted.

This is the friendship I would develop as a portion of my character.

a long rant about something completely unimportant

My newest 43 Things goal is to finish the cinnamon toothpaste. I shall explain:

I bought a tube of cinnamon toothpaste a few moths before we were married, so I suppose it's been at least 9 months. It's a very big tube - family size or something. My wife hates it, so she uses another type of toothpaste that she doesn't like but also needs to finish. If we could just throw perfectly good things away, all would be well in our medicine cabinet, but as it is, we have two full-size toothpaste tubes, each about half full, slowly being emptied. They take up a lot of space in our little apartment with very little storage space. I suppose it doesn't help that I only use a small amount when brushing.

I didn't even get to the cinnamon one until a few months ago, because I was finishing a different toothpaste she also didn't like. It was one of those with two different pastes in a boxy plastic pump, and she (and I) didn't like how it's almost impossible to get equal amounts of both sides. The cinnamon tastes good, but the logistics of tube space sharing are too complicated. Toothpaste problems can put an undue strain on an otherwise harmonious and exciting marriage.

I think we may have to throw a party at our home when I finally finish the cinnamon toothpaste and we can be united as a couple in our choice of dental care products. Imagine - only one tube of some sensible mint toothpaste neatly placed in the cabinet! Some day, it will be a reality for us.

a brief LDS music rant

The niche entertainment business geared toward Latter-day Saints is booming. I suppose I am part of that boom. A few big companies dominate the market - Excel Entertainment and Deseret Book (each with several subsidiaries) are the biggest for recorded music. In LDS sheet music, Jackman and Larice are big, and Deseret Book has a big segment of that market as well. Little, independent publishers have sprung up in LDS sheet music, like Sally DeFord (who offers her music for free download), Craig Petrie, Choir Works, and of course LDSmusic.us. I like many of the offerings of each source I have listed here. My problem comes when the desire for a popular style causes the music to slip into speculative doctrine, casual reference to Deity, or bad taste.

Casual Reference to Deity
Maybe I'm a stick in the mud, but I don't remember any stipulation in the scriptures where lowering the status of God or Jesus Christ is allowed for artistic purposes. Yet culturally we have become accustomed to songs referring to Deity as "you" instead of "Thee" or "Thou." I understand that it's harder to fit the formal references into the flow of a song. That is the necessary challenge of the skilled songwriter. Of course, many songs have been written that teach principles of truth without referring to God in the second person at all. I prefer that. It's easier. But when I do include a literal prayer, I make an effort to be formal in addressing Him.

Speculative Doctrine
This is going to make me unpopular. I don't like songs like the ever-popular "O Lord, My Redeemer" and "I Heard Him Come." Why not? They have nice tunes and nice messages. There is plenty to like about them. But I am uncomfortable inserting fictitious characters and situations into the scriptures. I am fine with expounding on the truths found in scripture and recounting the events and parables used therein, but I feel like some songs treat those stories as just stories, open to free and careless interpretation.

Of course, some songs take the speculation much farther, such as the show Saturday's Warrior. This includes some blatant doctrinal mistakes as well as sketchy speculations. For example, a concept of predestination is presented in which there is only one "right one" for a certain man or woman to marry, chosen before birth. This is clearly unsupported by scripture and modern revelation.

Bad Taste
Finally, this boom in the popularity of LDS media has brought with it some reeking examples of bad taste. Taking phrases from religious service and mocking them in song may entertain momentarily, but often crosses the line to mock the sacred. Consider the soundtrack to Sons of Provo, a movie about a fictitious LDS boy band. In one rap, the background singers shout repeatedly "Will all those in favor please make it manifest?" a la Eminem. Sure, it's for fun in a film parody of Mormon culture. But isn't the process of sustaining our leaders vitally important in a religious sense? If a teenager listens to the song only a few times (it only took once for it to get stuck in my head), will he think when he hears that phrase in Church about sustaining people who have been called of God, or will he smirk and remember the mocking song?

Another genre of bad taste which is currently popular is to take a hymn or Primary song and remix it in a modern style. Some of these are really good and tastefully done. Some of them cross the line. For example, one version of the Primary song "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" has been recorded in a sort of punk style with a grinding voice and driving guitars and percussion. To hear the name of the Savior and the Church as performed in this recording grates my nerves. The name of Christ is holy, and should not be yelled for entertainment purposes.

After saying all this, there is much of good in the LDS music world. I am just disappointed in some of the offerings of our "best and brightest" who know better and can do better in creating music of faith. The major LDS music companies should encourage this. We as consumers should encourage this. We are getting to the point where we as LDS consumers do not need to buy a CD or DVD just because it's made by members of the Church - many entertainment offerings by Latter-day Saints are now available. We can afford to use discretion and decide even within the so-called LDS music market what is appropriate and what is not, and when something is not, leave it alone.

noisebox

Here's the latest Noisebox. I really like this piece, although I am obviously biased.

Grate Music Noisebox
Volume 1, Issue 13
14 October, 2006: Emulation from Psalms of the 21st Century
_________________________________________________

This modern choral setting of an original text by Nathan Howe is designed for concert performance. First in a new set of songs called Psalms of the 21st Century, Emulation features rich 6-part harmonies. Emulation is intended for use by advanced choirs. Get it through our Choral page.

national novel writing month

I must say, I take on too many projects. This is an established truth. However, I am completely intrigued by National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWriMo, affectionately) which is November. The basic idea is that you write a novel of 50,000 words or more entirely in November. I am actually thinking about doing it. After seeing some things that get printed and sold as books these days, I'll bet I could spit out 50,000 words with some degree of coherence, even if most of my writing was done at 2:00 in the morning. Most of my writing on this blog is done at 2:00 in the morning, and it's completely coherent, right? Don't answer that.

Also, I think it would be good to have a similar event designed for musicians - say, a National Musical Writing Month, or a National Oratorio Writing Month, or a National Album Writing Month. Maybe I'll look into starting one of these after I finish my novel. And start it.