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| JESSICA KOLDITZ / Scroll |
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| Mandi Barrus, a junior from Idaho Falls, and Maria Khoobyar, a junior from Sterling, Va., sing at the first annual Hymn Festival Thursday. |
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“Lift up your voice and sing! Just start a glad song, let it float, let it ring,” audiences sang Feb. 9 to inaugurate the first annual Hymn Festival at BYU-Idaho.
Daniel Kerr, director of organ studies in the Music Department, sponsored the event in the Barrus Concert Hall with the intent to showcase original hymns composed by teachers, students and local community members.
“I didn’t have any idea how big it would get,” Kerr said. He was pleased with attendance and the 50-plus hymn submissions received.
Composers and hymns came from many different circumstances and backgrounds.
Rob Eaton, a religion professor at BYU-I and composer, was inspired to write the hymn “We Meet Today with Heavy Hearts” when he learned a young teenager in his ward had died from a car accident.
“I couldn’t find a hymn in the hymnbook that expressed the grief we were feeling or the comfort the Savior had to offer. Under those circumstances, the words for the hymn seemed to come to me very quickly,” Eaton said.
Eaton wrote another hymn, “A Temple on a Hill,” with the new Rexburg Temple in mind. The song was based upon how he imagined he would feel during the temple dedication.
Nels Daily, a senior from Livermore, Calif., who composed the hymn “The Final Call,” said the quality of the performances was excellent as well as the quantity.
“[The hymns] had a lot of mature sounds,” Daily said.
He also emphasized his passion for church music and learning.
“I always wanted to figure out how to write hymns and when I came to this school, I was finally taught how to do that,” Daily said. “I’ll write hymns for the rest of my life.”
Brianna Bodine, a junior from Yuma, Ariz., was grateful to be a spectator of the festival; she loved the diverse grouping of talent.
“It was really neat to see our own talent perform, to showcase that talent and to be a part of that. It really is something special,” Bodine said.
However, there were things both audience members and composers thought could be improved for next year.
Shortening the performance was one thought, allowing composers to introduce their own hymns was another, but the biggest suggestion by both audience members and composers was the addition of a choir to accompany the hymns.
Jim Richards, hymn writer and a professor in the English Department, said he was grateful for the event, but a small chorus could make it even more spectacular.
“My main suggestion would be to have a choir or small chorus of students learn the new hymns … It would be nice to hear them performed by singers who have learned them well,” Richards said.
