LDS Sheetmusic

At Wildrose Music there is a variety of original LDS sheetmusic appropriate for use in meetings.  I believe it is important to provide choirs and music people in the church with multiple resources.  I have written hundreds of pieces which might be useful in a church setting and all that I have is made free to the public.  There are a few arrangements, but most of the music is my own original work.  Please visit our website at www.wildrosemusic.com to see some of the options we have available.  We are just beginning to put this music online and there is a great deal more music yet to come, but I think you will find a wide selection for any occasion.

The Organ Hymn

a Sonnet

For Steven Smith

Majestic organ, thousand-piped doth sound

It's trumpets flutes and strings unhindered through

Luxurious, spacious seats and people pound

Their feet in wild approval. It is true

That money could not buy a finer rig

Than stands on high above the average Joe;

That no expense was spared to make this gig

The top event as organ pipings go.

But I'm an heretic of this belief

That money makes the music so much more

Effective in providing sweet relief

From boredom in a world whose lives are poor

And blind and naked, lacking praise for Him

Who made the man who made the organ hymn.

Brahms Requiem

A Sonnet

I sit among the brasses in the back

The strings and winds before me in array.

A full-voiced choir, like angels in a pack

Behind me stand and do not fly away,

For there is one who holds them to a task

On earth, though one would think that heaven called,

The strains are so sublime. One seems to bask

In higher realms than these terrestrial halls.

The muse, adept at universal flight,

His chosen task no less than death's lament,

Wields word and wind with visionary might

And fits each listening soul for his ascent

To lofty places far beyond our skies

That never were beheld by human eyes.

The Music BOOM!

It's a great day to be a musician.  There are so many ways that you can get music.  Great music of every conceivable style has never been more available.  This explosion matches the information boom exactly and should have the effect of making our generation the most cultured, intelligent and refined generation in the history of mankind.  Well, maybe we have a ways to go.  Somehow, having at our disposal the greatest and best, also means that we have the least and worst available at the same time.  This dichotomy is typical of life.  However, it should put us on our toes, so to speak, where this is concerned.  We should be seeking out the greatest and best, not settling for easy and quick just because it's there.

Born in a Stable

As my son is about to be married, it makes me think about when I was carrying him.  It was the first time I had decided to write music for anything.  Someone at church convinced me that I could write a cantata for our choir for Christmas.  I was surprised at the suggestion, but thought it no crime to at least attempt it.  I sat down one night, with a pencil and paper and wrote the words to all of the songs.  The next day I sat to the piano and what came out astonished me.  The words I had written seemed to already have music to them.  I began to play the words and the music was there.  The finished cantata was a huge success and brought me much joy.  From that cantata I have published Born in a Stable .It is available for anyone to copy, play and sing.  This beautiful, first song has been a pleasure to sing these twenty-some years now.  I wish that everyone could have a copy of it.  When my son was born, a few days before Christmas, I felt again the beauty of the season through being a mother.  "Born in a Stable", celebrates the Motherhood of Mary and the beauty of the simple birth of Christ.  Along with my son, it is the best Christmas gift I have ever received.

Sound and Silence and More

Music isn't just sound and silence in time because sound isn't just sound and silence isn't just silence.  First, sound has a source.  The source might be animal, vegetable or mineral.  If the source is animal, it might be human or non-human.  Whether human or non-human, the source may have intention, which determines the kind and quality of the sound.  By the way, all sound and all silence fall within the scope of the broadest definition of music.  Some would argue otherwise.  Oh, well.  So, if we have a non-human sound, like say, a whale, then we also have intention.  The whale might be sending a signal to his mate across several miles of ocean.  In that case the sound will have a definite character, volume and flavor.  If for some reason, for instance, the whale is in distress, this would change the character, flavor and possibly the volume of the sound.  All of these factors become part of the sound itself.  Taken separately, as in, isolating the sound from the source and ignoring the possible motives for the sound, gives us a significantly less interesting piece of music, for one thing, but it also takes away a great deal of our ability to enjoy it.  Half the fun of a piece of music is knowing things about it.
For instance, I remember when I was about 7 years old and our teacher took us to a little patch of trees out beyond the school house.  There were many birds in the trees and they were singing noisily all around us.  Our teacher then pointed out that not all the sounds were the same.  She said that besides having different 'songs', the birds had different signals for different occasions.  One of the occasions, she said, was danger.  She then made a strange sound with her hand on her mouth and explained that when certain kinds of birds are in danger they make a sound something like that.  I was fascinated and after she showed us the secret to making the sound, we all began making the sounds of distressed birds.  It was great.  I thought I had been let in on a great thing and that I could now 'talk' to and understand birds.  Really, I had been let in on something even bigger than that.  I had been given my first lesson in talking to and understanding life.
Life is music is sound is silence is everything.  We cannot separate ourselves from it.  Music is everywhere.  Life is everywhere.  The key is to listen.  What I learned from the birds that day was that the music of the birds wasn't just singing, it was living.  Their 'music' changed when they were in trouble.  Everyone's music changes when he is in trouble or in love or happy or sad or anything.  Everything changes your music, drives your music and helps you create your music.  Every day each person is creating the music of his life with words, thoughts, intentions, actions, interactions and their opposites.  Nothing is outside of the realms of living music.  The great awakening comes when one realizes that the baton, so to speak is in his hand.  The music of life can be directed through the intention of a living soul.  So instead of being merely a singer in the symphony of life, one can become the conductor, composer and orchestrator.  One can determine the kind, quality and volume of the music he will produce when he realizes his potential for music, and life.  Life wasn't meant to be a series of victimizations but a growing field of beauty and happiness.  When one takes charge of his music it is as though he learned where the seed box was kept and was given an open field in which to plant whatever seeds he wanted, whether for beauty, nourishment or just for the fun of it.  When a field is allowed to grow by itself without cultivation, it becomes a dull and lifeless grassy place with plenty of noxious weeds.  When cultivated it can become a garden of Eden where there are all manner of fruits and flowers to enjoy.  Music; life; These are the fields.