Making LDS Music - Some Scriptures

As you make LDS music, it's important to keep your priorities straight, and your goals clear. 

I mean, it's nice to get positive feedback from fans and people who have liked or been touched by your creativity.  But if getting lots of fans and becoming famous is your main driving force for wanting to do LDS music, then you're in the wrong field.

First of all, from a purely practical perspective, the LDS music world is very small, and it can be very tough to build up a big fan base.  Second, over the years, you'll find a certain hollowness to that feeling.  You'll want to search for a deeper reason to do Mormon music.

While I've been making Mormon music and refining my own motivations through the years, I've found a few scriptures that help.  These don't specifically mention music, but they apply.

First, in 2 Nephi 32:9, it says, “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”

If you read the context, you can see that it's talking about any kind of action, like home teaching, or even going to work on a particular day.  But, I also applied it to making music, and it's very appropriate.  This is why I'll take a moment and pray before my performances, and often before working on a song in my studio.  I do pray to do well and to be successful, but moreso, I'm consecrating my performance.

This ties in very nicely with this verse, in D&C 62:3: “Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.”

If I consecrate my performances, and sincerely bear testimony in my songs, then it's for my benefit, and the forgiveness of my many sins.  That's a good thing!





Come back often to hear about new songs and shows. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including his Dutch Oven blog: Mark's Black Pot and his LDS pop culture blog: MoBoy blog