My new RS calling! (Music Director)

[ruthiechan]

I am so happy! I finally get to have a music calling at Church!

I am now the Music Director in Relief Society. I get to pick out the songs we sing and do the music spot (aka music time).

Of course, I'll be mindful of the lesson when picking out songs and all that. My mother was the RS Music Director for years while we lived in the Dry Creek Ward. I loved watching her do it, and I love music. It's a very definite part of who I am.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share my joy. :)

[WillowTheWhisp]

Congratulations on your new calling. I hope you enjoy it.

[Starfish]

Your RS is fortunate to have someone as excited as you.

I'm not a fan of the music time spent in RS; I'd much rather use the time in the lesson. So I always appreciate it when we really learn new hymns, learn about the hymns, etc., rather than just sing familiar ones. In other times I like to see that 5 min. really used constructively.

Enjoy.

[Truegrits]

Congratulations! It is wonderful to really love, and to be so excited, by a new calling. Enjoy it. :)

[AmyL]

Congrats!!!

[StrawberryFields]

That's great! Let us know how things go. :)

[Misshalfway]

Your ward is lucky! I usually hear of music people who never get out of musical callings and would like to be free to serve somewhere else.

[ruthiechan]

I've never heard of a musician not wanting music callings! Their wards must be short on musicians. . .

Your RS is fortunate to have someone as excited as you.

I'm not a fan of the music time spent in RS; I'd much rather use the time in the lesson. So I always appreciate it when we really learn new hymns, learn about the hymns, etc., rather than just sing familiar ones. In other times I like to see that 5 min. really used constructively.

Enjoy.

Seriously. That's what we were doing before. Just singing another hymn. I was like, what's the point?

I view my time, and so does the Presidency, as setting the tone for the whole meeting. I work very hard not to go beyond five minutes (so far so good) and to have the Spirit with me so that everyone can be more receptive to the Spirit for the teacher's lesson and hopefully I've helped others learn more about the hymns.

This was my mother's favorite calling, and yes she's a musician. She loves her music callings, though when she moved her new ward didn't give her any music callings for years! It actually bothered her.

She bought me a baton as a congratulatory gift. :)

I posted in my blog about last Sunday's music time. You can find it here, or you can go to my external (outside lds.net) website to read about it: www.ruthiechan.net

[pam]

Your ward is lucky! I usually hear of music people who never get out of musical callings and would like to be free to serve somewhere else.

That's exactly how my mom was. She was the only one for 30+ years that knew how to play the organ in their ward. So guess what her calling was for those 30+ years. hehe

[ruthiechan]

Interesting.

In one of my old wards there was a lady who gave organ lessons for free. She was the Ward Music Chairman and felt that it was part of her calling to teach other people.

And it is possible to have more than one calling. So she could have done the organ playing *and* be a teacher in RS or something.

[pam]

In addition to being the Ward Music Chairman she has had numerous callings..from ward to stake..from Primary teacher to Stake Activities.

[VisionOfLehi]

So... What all does the director do?

Do they "lead" the music? (The whole hand-wavey thing that I can't figure out how to do!)

[ruthiechan]

Wow, that's a lot Pam! They should have trained some organists!

VoL, yes we do the hand wavy thing. If you want to figure out what is it we do and be able to follow the person conducting (assuming they know what they are doing, some people don't at all). Ever wonder why sometimes you start singing too soon or too late compared to other people? It's because you're not following the leader.

The Music Director in RS gets to pick out the music sung in RS as well as have five minutes of music time where I get to talk about righteous music, mostly the hymns to help people become more familiar with them.

[VisionOfLehi]

Well, I know that they're keeping beat. I just can't do the motions!

Also, I'm too busy trying to look at the notes so I'm not as horribly off pitch as I could be. (Still pretty bad, though.) I can't watch them conduct, too!