Janice Kapp Perry – Meridian Magazine: Recent Episodes
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In the first months of 2018, as my husband Doug began his decline in health, I began to have thoughts of what it might be like to be a widow some day. Doug had been such an integral part of everything I had done musically for decades that I could hardly let my thoughts go there. We had traveled the world giving firesides together for about thirty years and he had engraved all of my music for publication. I could always count on him to go anywhere and do anything in support of what we felt was our “music mission.” I couldn’t imagine my life without him. I assumed I would retire when he passed away.
Then on July 4, his strength suddenly failed dramatically.
We kept a family vigil for two days and he passed peacefully to the other side, …
The post Finding Happiness as a Widow first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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In his latest message to the Church, in April 2017 general conference, President Thomas S. Monson spoke urgently about the Book of Mormon and “the critical need we have as members of the church to study, ponder and apply it’s teachings in our lives.” President Monson is just the latest in a line of latter-day prophets who have counseled us to make a study of the Book of Mormon a routine part of our daily lives.
In the August 2005 Ensign President Gordon B Hinckley promised that as we daily read the Book of Mormon there would come into our lives, “an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.” In the words of President Monson, “The importance …
The post Music to Celebrate Our Book of Mormon Heroes first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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My love for hymn singing started in my childhood home. My parents gave birth to a natural mixed quartet of children—two boys and two girls—and we sang early and often in our home. Dad would often double on the melody. In a small farmhouse with no TV available back in those days our entertainment was primarily gathering around the piano to sing. Mother was the perfect accompanist and her enthusiasm for this activity was contagious. I loved hymn singing in our rural ward too and memorized most of the old favorites for life.
When President David O. McKay visited our ward one Sunday in Vale, Oregon, I was the chorister and was standing just a few feet from him singing “We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet” with a burning in my heart and tears in my eyes. I was …
The post The Pure Joy of Hymn Singing! (New Hymns For Our Day) first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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Mother’s small upright Wurlitzer piano was the heart and soul of our little Oregon farm home as we children grew up. We had no TV available until my last year in high school (1956) so everything seemed to center around that piano. Mom and Dad played piano and drums in a dance band that played for church and school dances, so we often heard her fun toe-tapping style of music being played in our home, and oh how we loved it! When Dad came in from the fields at night and relaxed in his recliner she often played some of the old familiar love songs for him and he’d sometimes sing along. Those were sweet times.
Mother also gave piano lessons to family members and neighbors’ children on the Wurlitzer so we enjoyed a steady diet of piano music in our …
The post If Pianos Could Talk (Oh What Tales They Could Tell) first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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Editor’s Note: The following article was written near the end of last year and since then, Peggy has sadly passed away. She did, however, get to read this tribute before that time and we can still learn from her example of resilience, good humor, and faith.
My friend Peggy Smith Pearson has always spread sunshine wherever she goes, no matter what challenge she might be experiencing in her personal life. I first met her when she was dating my friend and collaborator John V. Pearson whom I met while singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. John had been going through a challenging time and it was a joy to see how his marriage to Peggy brought the sunshine back into his life. It was fun to be with them, and we often were. We enjoyed some delicious meals at their home …
The post Losing Another Friend Too Early first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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Children’s songs may be simple but they may be the best way to teach gospel principles. Words and melodies planted in young hearts and minds are still there many years later when they need to be comforted, inspired or strengthened. They can also come forward to help in moments of decision or times of temptation. They can encourage us to meet our daily trials with faith.
Of all the letters I have received through the years, the most common theme has been someone telling me how they (or their children) were in a certain circumstance and a song had brought clarity and strength to fortify them in that moment.
I was surprised as I looked through my list of children’s songs today, to see just how many of them were about an aspect of faith. In my early songwriting years …
The post Teaching Children Faith Through Music first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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As a beginning songwriter a few decades ago I would often daydream about who might perform my compositions someday. More to the point, I wondered if anyone would perform them. Things started simply as I wrote a few songs for my Provo ward and stake, had a little success in songwriting contests, and a few of my songs became known. Then a stake Primary chorister. Leandra Lowe, called one morning asking if I would write a song for her 200-voice children’s choir which would be singing for their stake conference in BYU’s Marriott Center. The theme of the conference was missionary work, and she asked that I write a stirring, upbeat song that would express the children’s responsibility to share the gospel. I loved this assignment!
Most of the children in the choir were from strong LDS families and …
The post The Surprising Life of a Simple Song first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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When I realized I would be giving my Relief Society lesson on Adversity on Valentine’s Day I wondered how I could mesh those two very different subjects in a meaningful way. As I often do, I asked my morning walking partner, Lynn Callister, for counsel and she did not disappoint. Her idea was obvious and powerful: The only way we get through our adversities is to yield our hearts to the Lord and plead for the blessings of the atonement. My daughter, Lynne Christofferson, had given a similar lesson recently and shared her yielding-heart graphic (above) which tied the two themes together nicely.
Experiences with Adversity
Right on cue, as I was preparing my lesson, I began experiencing some adversities that would give me fresh, first-hand experiences to which I could apply what I was learning: I spent an …
The post Adversity: Yielding Our Hearts to God first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
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Each January for decades I have made a short list of things I hoped to accomplish in the coming year, both musically and spiritually, and have had reasonable success in meeting those goals. Maybe it’s just growing older that changed my perspective this year, but I had a whole different feeling as I considered my list. Rather than looking forward, I felt a stronger desire to look backward and feel gratitude for blessings of the past. I remember one of the apostles suggesting, years ago, that it might be a good idea to occasionally offer a prayer in which we ask for nothing, but simply thank the Lord for our blessings. I tried that on the very day he suggested it, and it was indeed a sweet experience. I decided to do that again this year, keeping in mind …
The post Looking Back with Gratitude and Forward with Hope first appeared on Meridian Magazine.
Cover art: Greg Olson
My First Book of Mormon Teachings
I never wondered whether the Book of Mormon was true—I just always knew it was. I grew up in the days before seminary classes and before children were encouraged to carry their own set of scriptures and actually read from them. Mother taught and testified to her four children about the Book of Mormon primarily from a book first published in 1951 entitled Book of Mormon Stories for Young Latter-day Saints, by Emma Marr Petersen. As she taught with passion from this book in our humble Oregon farmhouse, the stories sunk deep into the hearts of her four children and have remained with us for a lifetime.
As a young boy, my brother Jack, who later became a noted space engineer, costumed himself as Captain Moroni and ran through our yard leading imaginary warriors in noble causes. My brother Gary, …
The post A Songbook for LDS Families: Book of Mormon Themes and Characters Set to Music first appeared on Meridian Magazine.