Music callings are often incredibly difficult to fill. Many who have put in the hours to develop their talents refuse to accept music related callings and others make sure that nobody knows that they can play.

Perhaps the young women in your ward are the only ones bold enough to accept the callings?

There was a branch on my mission, where a majority of the membership were youth/YA. There was a single strong family (BP & YW Pres) and several older women (RS and Seminary) while pretty much everything else was done by the missionaries and the youth. Several years after I left, almost all of those youth had gone on missions. They have returned, married each other and are now the backbone of the Church in that area. What was a little branch, meeting in a rented house, is now 7 units and almost to the last are lead by that original group of young converts.

I don’t think it is ever too early to start teaching the youth that Church is about serving and responsibility.

I was assigned to home teach an older less-active couple and regularly took my young daughter with me (I don’t have a companion). She is proud to call herself their home teacher and knows it was her responsibility to greet them when they came to Church. They are getting ready to go to the temple and she is so excited, telling them about all the temples that she has visited.

I wonder if maybe the youth developed the habit of service earlier that the university/single’s wards might not be a little healthier place.

a random john–I know that can be the case (especially for organist/pianist positions), but it isn’t in this ward right now. We happen to have a world class music conservatory in our ward boundaries and plenty of talent around.

Jota G–I know what you are talking about, but don’t you think lives were VERY different for the population of D&C times? Besides the fact that the Aaronic Priesthood duties were not given to 12 year olds at the time (12 was settled on in the 1950s, I think, but the age fluctuated regularly for the previous century), teenagers of that era just had very different lives. These kids in my ward already go to early morning Seminary, a demanding school (always listed in America’s top 100 High Schools), participate in sports and music lessons, work, attend YM/YW, BYC/BYD, Super Saturdays, etc etc. It’s a pretty far cry from a dusty Navoo where they wanted to keep idle hands busy.

MAC–I like how you involve your daughter in HT and the young people in that ward sound remarkable. Like I said, my ward has a fairly substantial BIC population. There are some adults who are under-called. And your daughter likely does not feel the “weight” of her HTing. It is not additional time and pressure for her to be there. I don’t think that is the case with some of the callings given to youth.

John Mansfield–I think that is a fair point, although I think there is already fairly significant integration in the youth program (if run well). And these music callings hardly increase fellowship with adults–they are youth communicating with youth. That is all.

What do you think? Is there any problem with having youth called to non-youth callings? Is it just good practice for the next 70 years of their life as adults in a lay-Church?

We hear so much about the attrition once the youth have aged out of the YM/YW programs. My experience is that those who are actively serving and have learned the skills required for them to interface across generational lines are the ones who have the least problem remaining active. Particularly in areas where there are not singles wards.

Is it possible that a little too much hand holding/entertaining during the YM/YW years is the source of the complaints of not being served or having a place in the Church once they are in the singles programs. And in some cases, long after they have aged out of the YSA program.

ESO,

I agree they do a lot of “stuff.” Times are definitely different now than they were when the revelation was received. But I think we actually expect less of our kids than back then, even though they might be “busier.” In 19th Century Nauvoo, a boy of 15 was likely to be actively working on the family farm and expected to be a contributing member of the family. A far cry from the “activities” that keep kids “busy” today.

Remember, good, better and best? I wonder where we are on the continuum.

ESO-I haven’t found your recent experiences to be all that unusual. It seems that current, aspiring, and even former professional musicians rarely get asked to serve in music callings.

I also don’t buy the idea that a particular calling or program makes or breaks youth retention. I think it is the people they choose to trust during their formative years that make the biggest difference to their future activity.

Jota G,

I find it funny when people read the full D&C descriptions of AP callings and think that 12 year olds should be fulfilling all of them in a meaningful way. Note that the ages are not laid out in the revelations and as ESO points out they have varied over time. I don’t know why we don’t teach the history of the AP more and the changes over time. We end up with a mistaken impression of history because we assume that the past was like the present.

John,

Do you disagree with the premise in (9) that we expect less of our kids today than during 19th Century Nauvoo, that a 15-year-old in that period was expected to work and help support the family?

I know the history of the AP. I understand that corresponding ages to offices came later. Sure, I’m not sure that I want 15-year-old teachers looking for iniquity in the Church, but the revelation hasn’t changed and that is a duty of the office… Perhaps somebody should ask the Lord if His expectation has changed now that the context has changed.

Fortunately, that “somebody” isn’t me.

Jota,
I think we expect different things. If the 15 year olds in Nauvoo were so mature the why weren’t they all Teachers?

ESO-Is the music conservatory in your boundaries the Eastman School of Music?

I was called to be primary pianist the minute I graduated from primary (they already had me playing prelude music while I was still in primary), I was ward choir pianist and ward organist as a young teenager. Besides already being a skilled pianist at a young age, our ward music chairman selected both youth and adults who played the piano well and gave us all a series or organ workshops to teach us the basics of organ playing—it was very needed in our ward at the time, and she was able and willing to train us. It was a great blessing for me, and led to a lifetime of music, including college music degree programs and professional music work. I will be forever grateful for those church music opportunities I was given as a youth.

That being said, I am of the opinion that youth should already be trained well and prepared to step in and do the music justice—play and conduct up to tempo, etc. The same goes for the adults. If they are not yet well-trained then they should not be given those callings until they are. Music is an important aspect of worship, and can’t be enjoyed half-way done. Of course the ideal isn’t always possible, and it’s only gracious to accept others’ best efforts, but where resources are available, excellence can and should be maintained.

@7)

Sorry, It should have read, At 46, I don’t think I need to tell anyone my business or account for my whereabouts unless I choose to.