Thoughts on General Conference

[kev_stevens67]

Elder Robbins on "being" vs "doing": excellent talk!!

I really enjoyed that talk as well.

All of General Conference was really great.

[William Schryver]

There were certainly some particularly potent addresses that stood out from the rest, but I was very impressed with every single speaker. As much as I always enjoy conference, I can't always say that every speaker was good. But I really felt that way this time.

Historically speaking, some of the more boring addresses (if found at all) were from the Priesthood session. Not this year. I thought every talk given in the session was excellent, especially Elder Andersen's and President Uchtdorf's.

My only mild criticism of this conference might be with the selection of music by the Tabernacle Choir. I am of the opinion that General Conference music should, with some few exceptions, consist of familiar hymns, or reverent new arrangements of familiar hymns. I always regretted when, prior to the Jessop/Wilberg era, Jerold Ottley used to pick some obscure pieces, and I've noted that Mack Wilberg (who initially was very conservative in terms of conference selections) has begun to get more and more experimental as the years have passed. Part of me understands the desire to not fall into a rut of mediocrity and predictability, but I remain persuaded that the "tried and true" can always be done with a new twist in order to keep it fresh.

Anyway, I really did enjoy the closing number (More Holiness Give Me), the arrangement of which has been done before in conference, but which never seems to grow stale.

[emeliza]

Okay, it looks like there were 3 women who spoke. And the weekend before for YW conference there were of course way more women then men speaking. I didn't go to the RS conference so not sure there, but I would guess more women as well. I need to point this out to my 6 year old.

[MorningStar]

There were certainly some particularly potent addresses that stood out from the rest, but I was very impressed with every single speaker. As much as I always enjoy conference, I can't always say that every speaker was good. But I really felt that way this time.

Historically speaking, some of the more boring addresses (if found at all) were from the Priesthood session. Not this year. I thought every talk given in the session was excellent, especially Elder Andersen's and President Uchtdorf's.

My only mild criticism of this conference might be with the selection of music by the Tabernacle Choir. I am of the opinion that General Conference music should, with some few exceptions, consist of familiar hymns, or reverent new arrangements of familiar hymns. I always regretted when, prior to the Jessop/Wilberg era, Jerold Ottley used to pick some obscure pieces, and I've noted that Mack Wilberg (who initially was very conservative in terms of conference selections) has begun to get more and more experimental as the years have passed. Part of me understands the desire to not fall into a rut of mediocrity and predictability, but I remain persuaded that the "tried and true" can always be done with a new twist in order to keep it fresh.

Anyway, I really did enjoy the closing number (More Holiness Give Me), the arrangement of which has been done before in conference, but which never seems to grow stale.

I didn't hear the whole conference, but I did notice the choir performing one of the Primary songs the kids did this year, which might not be recognizable unless you're in Primary. I'm the Primary pianist, so it was hard not to notice.

[bookofmormontruth]

I want to own Elder Robbins tie

Was it pink?

I saw a pink tie and was kind of surprised. I think it was Bishop Burton. Looked great on him, but there is no way I would have gotten away with a pink tie on the mission field.

[David Bokovoy]

I felt especially inspired by the music this weekend. I loved the solo pieces on "The Spirit of God." In fact, I'm going to take a moment to boast, and share that Ryan Murphy is one of my very good friends. My claim to fame in life is that not only have he and I worked on a couple of fun little music projects, but Ryan taught my 14 year old daughter how to play piano. Every time I watch Ryan direct, I feel so proud of him and his accomplishments. He is such an outstanding individual and it's been exciting to see his inspired influence upon the choir.