Making LDS Music - You Don't Have to Be Great

I'm going to step out on a limb here and say something this time that some folks might disagree with.  I'm going to say it anyway, because I believe it to be true.  Here it is:

God doesn't care if you're an incredible singer.

That also applies to any aspect of the LDS music world.  I know that there are a lot of people that will tell you that you stink, that you shouldn't embarrass yourself, etc...  I know that there are a lot of people that hate LDS music because they think the quality of the writing/recording/whatever is lame.  I know because people have told me both of those things.

I also know because as I listen to a lot of my early recordings, I can hear that they're quite lame.  I'm not an incredible singer, and I was even worse back then.  Some of those older songs are pretty badly written, arranged, or recorded.

...But if I hadn't done them then, I wouldn't be as good as I am now (such as it is).  You have to start somewhere, and you have to grow.

Fortunately, I've found some scriptures that helped me through many struggling years.  One is a very famous psalm.  It really impacted me, so much so that when I put out my first cassette compilation of songs (way before even the era of mp3's), I chose the name of that album from this verse in Psalm 100 (verse 1):  "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands."

This scripture only says that your noise be joyful.  It doesn't say, "Make a pretty sound", or "Sing only if you've got a beautiful voice".  It says for all lands to make a joyful noise.

Take a look at D&C section 4.  There it lists all of the requirements for being "called to the work".  Never once does it say that you have to be "good at it" first.

Now, I'm not saying you should accept mediocrity, or that sounding bad is a good thing.  As LDS musicians, we should be constantly magnifying our talents and improving.  Take lessons in singing or in your instrument of choice.  Study songwriting and audio production.  Learn and improve.  All I'm saying is to be patient with yourself and don't give up on yourself.  If you carry on, you will become good enough.






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.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: Dutch Oven Monkey Bread, LDS Music at a Stake Dance?