Nothing takes a message from the head to the heart quite like music.
Back in the 1970s, when the LDS Church education system was looking for new ways to reach youths through seminary, they looked to music as a big part of that.
They wanted songs the kids could relate to, says Earl Madsen, who works with product development and marketing for Sounds of Zion. "Not hymns, but songs with positive, uplifting messages. They wanted songs that kids sitting in seminary could hear and say, 'Now I get what you are trying to teach me.' "
Today, we take that kind of music for granted, but back then it was quite a revolutionary idea, says Kathy Wilkins, who was asked to write one of those early songs. In fact, "it was too new at first. It took us months to get approval."
That song was "That We May Know," put to music by Denny Crockett. It was followed by another, "Like Unto Us," with words and music by Crockett.
They were so popular, remembers producer and arranger Greg Hansen, they were finally released on an EP — an "extended play" vinyl album that only contained three songs. (The other was "I Have It, Why Not Share It," by Susan Evans McCloud and Crockett.) "I was so excited when I found out I could order one. I played it to death."
Singer/songwriter Brett Raymond remembers "Like Unto Us" from his own seminary days. "That was totally from my era. I listened to it and thought it was cool. I was in a rock band at the time." What he liked was that "it was a band. It wasn't an orchestra. The sound of it was the sound of radio at the time."
Tammy Simister Robinson remembers hearing the song before she ever got to seminary. "My older sisters played it and played it. Before Michael McLean, before Janice Kapp Perry, there was 'Like Unto Us.' "
There were other songs, too. Such as "I Want to Be Loved," by Arnold Stringham and Roger Hoffman; "Come Unto Him," by Steven K. Jones and Sam Cardon; "Going Home," by Kenneth Cope.
As media shifted from filmstrip to film and then video, the music became increasingly important. So much great music, says Madsen, that touched so many lives.
But, he says, a lot of it is no longer available. And that was the premise behind a new CD called "Seminary's Greatest Songs," featuring all-new recordings from 25 years of seminary. The CD was produced and arranged by Greg Hansen and released by Sounds of Zion.
A recent gathering brought together some of the people involved — both the original songwriters and the new performers.
For many of the people involved, these projects represented a first foray into songwriting, a step that brought new career paths.
"This opened up avenues for a lot of young people with talent," says Wilkins, who was involved with writing for church curriculum when she was asked to write some lyrics for a song. "They realized they could do this. Everything didn't have to be a hymn."
Crockett was a music/composition major at BYU when someone came looking for people to write songs. "The church education system was embarking in a new realm. I was given a copy of some lyrics and asked to write the music. The only instruction I got was that the Carpenters were an acceptable popular group, so I could make it kind of Carpenterish."
From that humble beginning, he says, it's interesting to see how well the songs have held up. "You have to realize that 30 years ago there wasn't much of this. Now it's a part of our culture. And rightfully so. It gives the youth something to hold onto."
Crockett went on to work for the Osmonds, producing shows and records during the heydays of their studio in Orem. Then he started his own company, Broadcast International.
He really didn't think much about breaking new ground at the time — or that he might be a role model to the next generation.
"Denny Crockett was one of my heroes," says Raymond, who performs "Like Unto Us" on the new collection. "Someone once told me I sounded like him, and that made my day. To get to do his song on the new one is cool."
Roger Hoffman was also a student, working at the BYU motion picture studios when he was asked to collaborate with Arthur Stringham on a song about "people who don't look like everyone else. I was an awkward teenager; I could relate to the sweet message of yearning in 'I Want to Be Loved.' "
What's amazing to him all these years later, he says, is how many people tell him that song touched their lives. "As songwriters, you don't have the audience interaction that performers do. You pour your heart out in the dark, so to speak, and hope it comes to light in someone's life."
Steven K. Jones was a seminary teacher when "Like Unto Us" came out and ended up with an assignment to write and produce more songs.
There were two camps, he says. Some people thought the songs should be close to sacred music; others thought they should be as popular as possible.
Jones tended to the one side. "I tried to use as much scriptural language as possible. The power of that language, even if it's 25, 30 years old, crosses barriers still." Four of his songs on the CD attest to his successful approach.
Don Stirling, however, represents the other side. "I was a junior in high school when "Like Unto Us" came out. I listened to Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell. I walked into seminary and heard it and thought, 'Wow!' Pop music is the language of youth; it's what they understand."
The goal, he says, is to find a balance between the sound kids like to hear and the message you want them to get. "If you can do that, even if the language of the music is contemporary, the message will be timeless."
He and Kurt Bestor, for example, came together to write "The Olive Tree." "You listen to that, and you can't tell whether it's from 1977 or 1984 or now."
Jones collaborated with Sam Cardon on several songs. "This was the first opportunity Kurt and Sam had to do this kind of writing. People asked why we didn't go to established songwriters. But Kurt and Sam made such a contribution."
And kids paid attention. "I remember the music in seminary. It was the music I loved the most," says singer Barry Hansen, who performs two numbers on the new collection. "I've always felt these were good songs that were not noticed enough."
In seminary, adds Robinson, who also sings two numbers for the CD, "that's often where you get the first stirrings of testimony. Music is a big part of that. It takes you places, makes you hear, smell, feel. Anyone who heard these songs in seminary will hear them now and it will take them back."
These seminary songs, says Sounds of Zion's Doyle Peck, "are songs that people connect with, that still touch people's hearts."
E-MAIL: carma@desnews.com