“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” E.Y. Harburg

One thing which my roommates and I can relate to within each other is our love for music (for those of you who don't know I moved into my apartment late so I don't know my roommates very well, and I am a Performing Arts major while two of them are Computer Info majors and the other is not currently attending school) so in all reality I have almost nothing in common with them, except the one thing that even the most unobservant person would notice that relates us to one another, our love of music. We all have a means of listening to music; whether it be a laptop, an MP3 player or a Walkman and almost of all us have a similar base of music, that being the main genre of music which makes up our collections. So what is it within humans that causes them to enjoy such a large variety of music when the actual people themselves have no other commonalities besides that music; ask just about any person "what kind of music they listen to," and the most common answer you'd get is "I listen to everything except...." which in all reality is simply saying that the ostracized genre is their closet musical love. So take these many styles of music and you can relate to pretty much any person you meet.

Not many people here in Dixie know this about me, but a large contributing factor for my return to the Church was the Gospel music. I auditioned for an advanced Institute Choir in Cedar City and made it but the requirements to participate in such a musical group, based in the Church and supported by the highest officials of the Church, is "simply" to be worthy to do anything within the Church, including entering the Temple and Serving A Mission. Because in all reality most of the time in performances you were acting as a missionary, you were bringing the Gospel to those who may not have had the opportunity to receive it prior to your visit. And to take on such a role within the Church allowed me to learn a lot of myself and bring myself to the worthiness required to participate in H.O.P.E., aka Hear Our Praise Extend. And still to this day I can remember who I was before that experience and who I am now, after those 2 Semesters in H.O.P.E. and I am so very thankful for the Lord's knowledge and generosity of allowing me to participate within H.O.P.E.

Now back to the present, I bring up the power of music simply because while attending a Sacrament meeting today, not with my ordinary Ward. I was still able to fill apart of the Church because of the Hymns and music played during that meeting; I walked in late even for that meeting so I found a place at the edge of the pew and sat down next to girl I'd never met in my life. After missing the opening prayer I walked in just in time for announcements... after which we prepared for the partaking of the Sacrament by singing a Hymn from the Hymnbook. Up until that point I had felt awkward not being in my own Ward and also for being late to this meeting, but at the point we opened our Hymnbooks I felt at home as if I were a 12 year old at my parent's home ward, again.

Also here at Dixie I am participating in the Show Choir Raging Red, and it has allowed me to do so much more than I was expecting to do. I have gained a couple new best friends, participated far more in campus activities and in my classes than I ever did back in Cedar City. All because of a single audition where Merrilee Webb was so will equipped and able to settle every ones nerves at the audition, which allowed me to perform half-way decently and to presently live as a member of Raging Red. And I am still participating in everything I can and putting myself out there to meet new people and gain new friends, all because of the music

Listen to all that surrounds you,
Chandler J.M.