Posted by:
exminion
(
)
Date: August 18, 2019 02:57AM
I was a Mormon organist and pianist. My organ teacher was a paid organist in the Presbyterian and also the Lutheran church, and he had a wonderful library of tuneful, heartfelt Protestant church music, which I purchased for myself, for easier preludes. For the postludes, I would play Bach, Mozart, Handel, and other Greats. The Mormons killed music for me, when they wouldn't tolerate anything but Mormon-written music or the few really bad Mormon hymns. The new hymns were not written by musicians, IMO, and had no melody, and very little harmony, if any. All of the hymns were led by the conductor (whom I had to follow) at about half the speed indicated at the top of the page. Thus, any remaining old hymns were turned into dirges. Dirges!
I had been free of the cult for a few years, but I was still recovering from the abuse, when my TBM daughter and her TBM family moved in with us, temporarily. My TBM granddaughter began taking piano lessons, and we were enjoying that, but her teacher quit, and the teacher that took her place had her playing the Mormon hymns. My granddaughter was so proud that she could play them, and practiced them over and over again. The hymns triggered my PTSD, big-time! Once again, the Mormons were invading my home, with their noise and propaganda. I would get extremely anxious, and would have to leave the house, because I felt like screaming! Finally, I asked the piano teacher to give my granddaughter songs that had more "universal, popular appeal" and could be played for "social occasions." My granddaughter started playing piano at her school, and accompanying the choir, etc, and lost interest in Mormon music, fortunately.