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Sally DeFord, Ninja Missionary

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  • Sally DeFord, Ninja Missionary

    Sally Deford is one of the most influential LDS voices that you have never heard of. She's very private, and you find almost no information about her on the internet, as she prefers to let her music speak for her. From the little I could find on Mormon Wiki, DeFord was born in 1959 in Oregon, attended BYU, and now lives in CSprings, Colorado. She is a prolific composer of church music, and long ago decided to release her music compositions free on the internet.

    The Lord has placed me in circumstances that currently don't demand extra income, he has inspired the creators of technology to produce programs that I can use to publish the music without the assistance of typesetters, and he has given me a gift that I did nothing to earn. Sharing seems logical.
    If you look up her channel on Youtube, it's very sparse: just 22 videos, 1,165 subscribers and about half a million views. But her influence is much stronger than this measure. Her songs are performed by church choirs all over the world: Presbyterians in New England. True Jesus Church International in Malaysia and Singapore. A nondenominational church in Richmond, VA. Baptists in India. A gospel choir in Germany. Catholics at the Chapel Saint Michel in France. A community sing-along in Chico, CA. Over and over you see her lyrics sung earnestly at churches all over the world, and uploaded to youtube for more to see. And most of the time, someone posts her lyrics, reminding people of who Christ is and what he did.

    Some of her LDS background slips into what would otherwise be a standard Christian affirmation of testimony: In Shards of Glass, she writes:

    He can take our broken shards of glass to color temple walls
    He can mend our broken places and make temples of us all
    He can do miracles
    Mighty miracles
    And here is a recording of a DeFord song by St. Paul's CoEducational College in Hong Kong. It is a beautiful performance of a glorious song, but I wonder what the performers think of the lyrics:

    All the world in shadow lay;
    Every search for truth unending
    Long the age bereft of heavens voice;
    Long the age denied his power
    Then within a silent grove
    Joseph pled for understanding
    Offering aloud his humble prayer,
    speaking all his heart’s desire

    Not though the pow’rs of hell arose
    To bid the gates of heav’n be closed
    Could evil’s wrath restrain the hand of God,
    Who thus appeared to man:
    Above the brightness of the sun
    Purer than the radiant morning
    Banishing the night with heaven’s perfect light
    Clearer than the new day’s dawning
    The Father spake, and Christ our Lord
    Restored to man his Father’s kingdom
    The light of truth shines forth upon the earth
    Above the brightness of the sun





    (Copelius, can we get the MoTab to perform this?)

    Sally DeFord's work is used wholesale by Seventh Day Adventists worldwide. They seem to love her in the Philipines, and in Poland, and Singapore. Users are translating her songs into Spanish, and Portuguese, and Chinese. Her best known song in the LDS community is probably the primary song If the Savior Stood Beside Me, which has been covered by the MoTab several times and sung at General Conference several times.



    (continued next post- dang CS restriction on one vid per post.)
    Last edited by Katy Lied; 12-09-2016, 09:28 AM.

  • #2
    Worldwide, probably her most beloved song is also my favorite, Born is the Light of The World. It is so beautiful it almost makes me want to join the ward choir for the season just to perform it. Here it is, performed by a choir at the Church of St. Lawrence in, I'm guessing, Hungary.



    I'm kind of surprised how many choirs sing this song untranslated at Christmas. It is frequently performed by choirs who have no money to pay for arrangements, and these are mostly choirs in poor nations that dont speak english. But here, the climax of the song is the verse Gloria in excelsis deo, and I guess no one needs that translated.


    Post your favorite Sally Deford song.
    Last edited by Katy Lied; 12-09-2016, 09:22 AM.

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    • #3
      I am pretty sure we have done more than just the Savior Stood Beside Me arrangement at general conference and she appears to have an open invitation to join us in the loft when in town on Thursdays. I enjoy singing her stuff and wasn't aware of the background. Thanks for pointing it out KL. As far as MoTab singing anything I have as much say in that as you do, but rest assured Mack is aware of her and is very respectful of her compositions.
      “Every player dreams of being a Yankee, and if they don’t it’s because they never got the chance.” Aroldis Chapman

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      • #4
        My wife is a big fan and includes Come Unto Christ among her favorites. She has boxes of DeFord's music from her times as choir director. But alas, our current stake presidency has issued a ban on any music that's not in the hymnbook (although different arrangements are permitted); non-hymnbook songs are permitted outside of sacrament meetings if they've been performed by MoTab. Apparently, one too any offerings from Thelonius Monk, Leonard Cohen and others pushed them over the edge.

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        • #5
          Some of her stuff is very nice but I find a lot of her arrangements of standard hymns to be really dull and uninteresting. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
          PLesa excuse the tpyos.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by PaloAltoCougar View Post
            My wife is a big fan and includes Come Unto Christ among her favorites. She has boxes of DeFord's music from her times as choir director. But alas, our current stake presidency has issued a ban on any music that's not in the hymnbook (although different arrangements are permitted); non-hymnbook songs are permitted outside of sacrament meetings if they've been performed by MoTab. Apparently, one too any offerings from Thelonius Monk, Leonard Cohen and others pushed them over the edge.
            I think MoTab once sang "Candle on the Water" that diddy by Helen Reddy that was sung in the original "Pete's Dragon". I think it's appropriate for firesides.

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            • #7
              Our ward choir is including three DeFord arrangements next week for Christmas:

              Hark the Herald Angels Sing
              Joy to the World
              Silent Night Including the flute

              My opinions on them:
              - Joy to the World is fun to play although if the choir starts singing it faster than the suggested 82 tempo it can get pretty difficult for me to keep up.
              - Her Hark the Herald arrangement is way too over-the-top and pompous for my tastes, especially the ending.
              - I like the Silent Night arrangement but we've done this particular arrangement for 6 or 7 years in a row now so I'm really tired of it.

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              • #8
                Katy, being called a "Ninja Missionary" is probably the nicest compliment I've ever received. Thank you so much for that!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by SallyDeFord View Post
                  Katy, being called a "Ninja Missionary" is probably the nicest compliment I've ever received. Thank you so much for that!
                  Welcome, Sally! Don't hesitate to stop by Ellis Island to introduce yourself!
                  Prepare to put mustard on those words, for you will soon be consuming them, along with this slice of humble pie that comes direct from the oven of shame set at gas mark “egg on your face”! -- Moss

                  There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese. --Coach Finstock

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by SallyDeFord View Post
                    Katy, being called a "Ninja Missionary" is probably the nicest compliment I've ever received. Thank you so much for that!
                    Welcome to the board. I hope you will post about your arrangements and compositions. Or maybe about your views of Donald Trump. Either way, welcome.
                    PLesa excuse the tpyos.

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                    • #11
                      Thank you both! I won't post about either... I'm a Ninja BYU Fan as well, so if I'm around at all, it will be to lurk. I just wanted to thank Katy for being so kind.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by creekster View Post
                        Some of her stuff is very nice but I find a lot of her arrangements of standard hymns to be really dull and uninteresting. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
                        Dude quit attacking a fellow CSer! Sally Deford is awesome!

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                        • #13
                          I was just looking through her website. I think my son and I will be doing her version of Cast Your Burden in a couple weeks. I've been asked to sing in my son's violin teacher's ward and that song has a nice violin obligato that I think my son would like playing with me. It will be our first performance together.
                          “Every player dreams of being a Yankee, and if they don’t it’s because they never got the chance.” Aroldis Chapman

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                          • #14
                            Sally DeFord, Ninja Missionary

                            Thanks so much for the tip. I had seen Sally's name but had no idea how prolific she is. I'm going to spend some time getting better acquainted with her work.
                            “There is a great deal of difference in believing something still, and believing it again.”
                            ― W.H. Auden


                            "God made the angels to show His splendour - as He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But men and women He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of their minds."
                            -- Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons


                            "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
                            --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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                            • #15
                              Bump

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