Honest Questions

There is no suggestion box at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.�� In fact, there is no mechanism at all for Choir members to submit complaints or suggestions.�� For example, there is no way for a singer to suggest or ask:

Why can���t the Choir sing music from Sweeney Todd?
Can we please get rid of that hideous tie or dress?
I think the Choir needs to be more relevant to modern audiences.�� Don���t you think we should do some hip-hop?
The men of the Choir should wear kilts when we sing ���Amazing Grace���.
That song is just terrible and beneath the dignity of the Choir.

There is, of course, a procedure for the asking of honest questions.�� For example, one might ask:

Is the first note in measure 137 supposed to be an F# instead of an F-natural?
Are the baritones supposed to sing with the tenors on this part?
Are we supposed to have memorized for Sunday?

These are all honest, legitimate questions.�� And the procedure for such questions is simple: ask your section leader.�� If he or she knows the answer, you���re all set.�� If not, the section leader will ask Brother Wilberg or Brother Murphy (as appropriate).�� And if the answer is ���No, that note is indeed an F-natural as written, and the dissonance is intentional,��� or ���Yes, the baritones sing with the tenors at that spot, even though it���s really, really, REALLY high,��� or ���Yes, needs to be memorized by Sunday,��� then once again, you���re all set.�� You know just what to do.

So, why are no suggestions allowed?�� Isn���t this America?�� Isn���t this a democracy?�� Are the leaders of the Choir so arrogant that they think nobody else could possibly have a good idea?

Well, yes, of course this is America.�� No, this isn���t a democracy; we live in a republic (and the difference is huge, but that���s a subject for another time).�� No, the leaders of the Choir are some of the most humble (and musically brilliant) men I have ever known.

As for why no suggestions are allowed���

Brother Wilberg has been director or associate director of the Choir for much longer than I���ve been a member.�� He���ll probably be the director long after I am forced to retire.�� I doubt very much that he and Brother Murphy haven���t considered any and all of the potential suggestions before.�� And they often possess information that the Choir members do not.�� For example, music is selected for a multiplicity of reasons that I am not privy to: e.g. copyrights, royalties, content.�� The Choir does in fact perform a song from Sweeny Todd.�� Suits, ties, and dress colors and fabrics are selected because they look good on camera, if not to the natural eye.�� Hip-hop is, for the most part, vile and disgusting, although we occasionally do speak lyrics.�� I DO like the idea of wearing kilts during ���Amazing Grace,��� but I���ll happily settle for bagpipes.�� And the Choir could not possibly perform at the level we do if everyone were constantly suggesting or demanding changes.

The fact is that I am blessed to be a member Choir.�� I had to work very hard to get into the Choir and I volunteered.�� I knew what the rules were going in.�� I knew that I must wear what I���m told to wear, sing what I���m told to sing, sing how I���m told to sing, be where I���m told to be when I���m told to be there, stand when I���m told to stand, and sit when I���m told to sit.�� I knew that any songs or lyrics that I might have written will probably never be used, so I don���t bother submitting them.�� (If the directors are looking for some of my music, they will contact me, not the other way around.)�� I knew that I would probably never sing a solo with the Choir (unless it���s an unintentional solo, but let���s not go there).

I knew all that going in, and yet I still CHOSE to audition and join.�� Nobody forced me or pressured me to be in the Choir.�� In fact, life would be much SIMPLER if I were not in the Choir.�� But the truth is, I AM blessed.�� I love being in the Choir.

And if it were REALLY IMPORTANT to me to, for example, be in a musical group that did hip-hop or dressed in kilts, I could go join such a choir or organize one myself.�� In other words, if I really want to create a group of rapping Scotsmen who chant morally questionable Stephen Sondheim lyrics, I am free to do so.�� ��(Whether I could find anyone else to join my hypothetical group is another matter.)

However, I���d rather be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and enjoy all the blessings and privileges such membership provides.�� When I was privileged to serve as an officer and pilot in the USAF and later the Air National Guard, I did so of my own free will, and I thoroughly enjoyed the honor and thrill of serving my country, even though I had to comply with orders and regulations regarding virtually every aspect of my life including, but not limited to how I cut my hair, what I wore, what I was allowed to say while wearing the uniform of my country, how often I had to cut my lawn, where I lived, and what I ate.

I have to trust that Brother Wilberg and Brother Murphy are listening to the Holy Spirit.�� I have seen plenty of evidence on numerous occasions that proves to me that they are indeed guided by the Spirit.�� I don���t need to go up to Brother Wilberg and suggest that he pray about his approach to a particular piece of music, because I trust that the Lord does and will guide him.�� Such a suggestion would not be honest, because it is based on a false premise���it is based on the idea that the Lord is NOT in charge.�� And I testify that He is in charge.�� Honest questions are about how I can better contribute to the Choir.�� Dishonest questions are about trying to change the Choir so suit me.

I have known two individuals who have resigned from the Choir because they didn’t agree with the Choir leadership.�� Eventually, both auditioned again to rejoin the Choir (under the same leaders).�� One made it back in.�� One did not.

In the past several months, two very vocal members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints chose to make the proceedings of their church disciplinary hearings and subsequent excommunications public.�� Usually church discipline (including excommunication) is a private matter designed to help individuals in the process of repentance and reconciliation with God.�� However, these two people chose to ���go public��� for their own reasons.�� They and their supporters claimed that they were excommunicated for ���asking honest questions.����� This, however, was disingenuous.�� The supposed ���honest questions��� were in fact demands that the prophet of God change the word of God.�� In short, they don���t like the doctrines of the faith, so they demanded the doctrines be changed to suit them.�� How is this ���honest questioning?����� If you believe that a man can change mind of God, you don���t believe that God leads the Church; you think that men lead the Church.

So here���s an honest question: if you think the Church is not led by God, why not leave the church you despise and then join or create one more to your liking���one more in keeping with your enlightened worldview?�� After all, if you believe you are in the right, why not lead by example rather than demand that others change?�� I can tell you this, if you choose to leave, you will be missed.

When many of the Savior���s disciples became offended at the truth He spoke, they left Him.�� The Savior asked His apostles, ���Will ye also go away?��� John 6:67

Peter answered, ���Lord, to whom shall we go?�� Thou hast the words of eternal life.��� John 6:68

Now there���s an honest question.