The earliest singing in Mormon history was performed by Lyman Wight in 1831, in a Kirtland congregation.  He sang a beautiful song in a tongue no one had ever heard before.

A “tongue’s duet” in the Kirtland Temple was sung in perfect unison, as if practiced a thousand times.

Elizabeth Ann Whitney sang in tongues with a voice sounding “birdlike and full of symphony.”

Joseph Smith asked his wife Emma to compile a book of song, the second official Mormon publication after the Book of Mormon.

By 1833, Joseph was planning a singing school, to create a formal church choir, to sing for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple.  It was made up of the young and the old, the trained and the untrained.  In fact, most of the 250 families, at the dedication, had a family member in the choir.  According to several accounts, angels assisted this 200+ member choir.

The choir members gradually reorganized in Nauvoo where they sang for church conferences and funerals.  It was the British saints “who came off the ships singing” that gave a beauty and professionalism to the growing Mormon choir.  One of the last buildings built in Nauvoo was a music hall, situated near the temple.  It was used for less than a year before the inhabitants moved west.

The original Nauvoo choir reorganized, once again in the west, adding many Welch singers, who continued to arrive in the valley.  Welch tunes were used to accompany new words praising Joseph and Hyrum.  This choir first sang for a conference of the Church in the Salt Lake Valley on August 22, 1847, just 29 days after the first group arrived.

A building on Temple Square, called the Old Tabernacle, allowed the choir to sing indoors from the cold; thus the name “Tabernacle Choir” was born.  This building was later replaced by the larger Tabernacle that sits on Temple Square today.

In the 1840’s if you desired to sing, you were welcomed into the choir.  Today, it takes six-months of training; the person must be an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; be recommended by their bishop; live within 100 miles of downtown Salt Lake City, and be between the ages of 25 and 55.

The Choir accepts applications for new singers the first week of January and July every year. The first step of the audition process is to submit a raw recording of your voice (no accompaniment) selected by the Music Director.  If your tape is selected you go onto the second stage which is a written musical skills test. Then, on to the third step—the in-person audition.  Those finally selected singers are brought into the Temple Square Chorale for a three-month period during which they sing with the Chorale and attend additional musical training classes; after which, new members “graduate” to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  To give you an idea of your odds, if 170 singers submitted sample tapes, 80 might be invited to take the musical skills test, and 35 invited for an in-person audition. Only 17 singers might  be accepted into the Choir out of the original 170 applicants.

Dancing, singing and celebrating have always been a part of Mormon life, from the early pioneers of the mid-1800s to the present day.  In every wagon company that crossed the United States to Utah, there was a cooper to fix wagon wheels and a musician to lift the spirits of each pioneer. The Choir has profoundly affected music throughout the Church. Its consistently high artistic standard, frequent use of hymns and hymn arrangements and exemplary service through music continue to inspire, instruct and encourage Church musicians and the members they serve.

Our hymn book has a wealth of information on how to conduct music, teach music, and how to select appropriate music for any church function.  You have optional music for voice types, and a selection of hymn names where various texts can be combined, according to meters.  Try singing the words to I Know that My Redeemer Lives to the tune of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.
The Brethren have suggested we memorize hymns, just in case we are put in a place filled with bad thoughts.  The words to the hymns are meant to uplift and gladden the heart, and there are certainly times when that is most needed.

We don’t all have to join the Tabernacle Choir to sing beautiful music.  Our ward choirs can be mini Tab choirs, echoing with music ringing.
–some information taken from Michael Hicks’ book, Mormonism and Music