Seminary and Church Magazines Music Now Available Online at LDS.org

“The Olive Tree,” “Walk His Way,” and “I’ll Trust in the Lord” are a few of several seminary video song titles visitors to the Church music section of www.lds.org can now download as sheet music in English and as MP3s.

The Music and Cultural Arts Division of the Priesthood Department has updated the “Other Music” section of the Web site to include the digital music files and printable music from the Church Educational System video series, which includes the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Old Testament, and New Testament sound tracks.

Besides making available the new seminary sheet music, the site now links to music from the Church magazines, which is indexed alphabetically, by topic, and by author/composer.

The update gives youth, choirs, children, and families another, more accessible, resource for music.

“The hope is to provide some uplifting, modern music that seminary students are familiar with and can listen to and enjoy,” says Ron Schwendiman, manager of Internet coordination in the Church’s Curriculum Department, who worked on the project.

The goal is to strengthen testimonies, families, and overall knowledge of the gospel, he says.

Diane R. Bastian, product manager of the Church music Web site, says that in addition to the Priesthood Department’s emphasis on providing more material for the youth, the department is also focused on making the music site accessible in different languages. She says feedback received from the Web site indicates, “We love your English site, but we want something in our language.”

The Priesthood Department is working to make Church music available in Spanish, Portuguese, and French and also plans to make selected music from the Children’s Songbook and Hymns available in American Sign Language.

The Church music site launched in May 2004, and the update and other music resources can be accessed at www.lds.org/cm.

Sheet music printed in the Ensign, New Era, and Friend is now available online, as are the MP3 files for music from seminary videos.