The Struggle for Appropriate Sacred Music in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Since the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, choral music has been the preferred musical genre. While soloists and small ensembles are heard in Church meetings, the singing of choirs has traditionally dominated. There are many reasons for this. Church leaders have followed the tradition of their predecessors in emphasizing the importance of choirs in Church congregations. The current Church Handbook of Instructions states: “Every ward should have an active ward choir. . . . The ward choir should sing in sacrament meeting at least once or twice a month.” In addition, the renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir stands as an example of quality, appropriate sacred choral music in Church meetings, providing a model every six months in the Church’s worldwide General Conferences. Members of the Church are generally drawn to singing from a young age because of the emphasis the Church places on singing in the Primary (organization for young children). Members of the Church are taught the value of sacred music as a form of worship and the importance of developing and sharing talents.

But with the infiltration of popular music into sacred music genres, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian faiths struggle to maintain the standard of choral music and traditional hymn singing in their meetings. While the general framework of congregational, four-part hymn singing in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains concrete, few members know how to sing parts, and many do not appreciate and understand the value of sacred choral music. Many ward (congregational) choirs struggle to survive on a consistent basis, and often struggle to find committed singers. Besides the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recordings, solo vocal artists, small groups, and even bands dominate the shelves of Church bookstores, often singing sacred lyrics set to popular music – a genre defined as "Christian Rock" (including both soft rock ballads and upbeat rock). Some of this music bleeds into the sacred meetings of the Church by way of special musical numbers performed by members of the congregation. In other cases the popular style of singing is mixed with otherwise traditional renditions of hymns and anthems. In each of these cases, popular music is meshed with sacred music as a result of a lack of choral music education, understanding, and appreciation.

A study of the history of music in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reveals that this problem began as early as the 1960s, with the earliest instances of blending modern popular music with sacred lyrics. In reality, the Church’s music has struggled with the influences of popular music since the mid-1800s. But the introduction of rock and popular music in the second half of the 20th century has caused a greater concern for music in the Church than ever before, and that concern continues today. It is no secret that our modern popular and rock music is less reverent than popular music of the 1800s and early 1900s, and it is further removed from traditional classical music than ever before. Because of the introduction of so many new genres of music, classical and sacred music have suffered, either being abandoned or “adapted” to include popular influences.

Notwithstanding the infiltration of popular music into Church music and meetings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has continually promoted and propagated sacred choral music. In 1977 they reorganized the Music Committee and furthered progress on the long awaited new hymnal. The result was the 1985 hymnbook, which was more conservative in style and scope than its 1948 predecessor. The traditional 4-part strophic hymn structure that dominates the hymnbook is reminiscent of early Christian hymnals. While many new hymns were introduced, they were blatantly traditional in harmony, text, and structure. The Church has placed emphasis on choirs by specifying that each ward should have an active choir that sings once or twice a month. They have also furthered the progress of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir by reorganizing it in 1999, including a change in leadership, the creation of a training choir, and the addition of the Orchestra at Temple Square. President Gordon B. Hinckley, former Church president and prophet, showed particular interest in the Choir getting “better and better.”

Despite the efforts of Church leaders, music struggles in many congregations throughout the world. The constant intrusion of popular music and lack of significant musical training of many of the Church’s members has led to a rise in more popular-influenced music, and less sacred, traditional choral music. Since more people listen to, understand, and relate to popular music, it makes sense that these influences would seep into sacred music in the Church. The musical struggle, therefore, is between popular-influenced sacred music and traditional sacred music, particularly choral music.

We desire to reinforce the importance of traditional sacred choral music in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by re-introducing this genre of music to members of the Church. OCMCO is designed as a large-scale singing school that hopes to instill again in the hearts of members of the Church an understanding, appreciation, love, and preference for sacred choral music. This will be accomplished by introducing the choirs to a wide variety of choral masterworks, as well as traditional Christian hymns and anthems.