This is one of my favorite hymns. It reminded me of my valley home when I was living in the flatlands of Michigan and Ohio.
Then we found out that the author, Joel Hills Johnson, had lived about 1/2 mile from our home in Amherst when he joined the church and became the first Amherst area 'branch president.' He also built the original sawmill and ashery that the Church rebuilt in Kirtland. Today I learned that when he moved to Utah, Joel harvested lumber from Millcreek Canyon, which is WHERE I GREW UP! The Millcreek stream was just at the end of my street and I had to cross it every day to get to Wasatch Jr High and Skyline High School.
Randy said, "He probably cut down a tree in your yard."
We love to sing this song. BUT today is the first time I have sung it in German, with Germans and Joel would have LOVED it. Germans sing with ENTHUSIASM! When we got to the final verse, the organist kept crescendo-ing, so the singers followed her lead. And then, after the last written note of the song, the organist pulled out the stops on the trumpets and added a voluntary 8-10 measures of flourishes to grand effect.
WOW. We should definitely import this idea back into the states!
We sang that at conference--I'm pretty sure there were a few flourishes at the end! But, yes, our congregational singing could stand to be a little more excited, too. :)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful...wish I was there to have participated. Sadly there are guidelines (I would have said RULES) in the Handbook about the extra music...and how it's not allowed. That drives me nuts so I don't read it....but I know it's there...(like no music after the Sacrament is complete which Robert did and i loved it because it gave me a breather between the sacred partaking and the listening to talks...this had it's roots in the adult ward we attended while at BYU). So hooray for what you got to experience...and yes! let's figure out how to import it to the states. I'll talk to Jill...maybe she can sneak it in
ReplyDeleteWe sang this a TON in Portugal-- it's a favorite there as well, sung with gusto-- although I expect the Germans have more gusto than the somber Portuguese! :)
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