MoTab choir leader links family, music
Encouraging individual success in children, especially through music, is key to parental success, Craig Jessop told the shoulder-to-shoulder audience in the Logan Tabernacle Sunday night, and families should work to inspire each other.
Jessop, director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a Millville native, was the keynote speaker in American Mothers of Utah’s annual interfaith service “The Affect of Music on the Family.”
Grateful to be home and proud of his Cache Valley heritage, Jessop said, he spoke of his personal life.
He honored his parents for motivating him and detailed how they encouraged his youthful–turned lifelong–interest in music.
“I loved to sing from the very beginning,” Jessop said, inspired by a wheelchair-bound, yodeling father and music-loving family.
He learned the alphabet just so he could read music, and mowed lawns in exchange for voice lessons at age 14. His parents cheered him on the entire way, buying a top-of-the-line guitar for him he treasures today.
Families, teachers, friends made all the difference in Jessop’s life, he said, through encouraging him toward whatever he hoped to be. Rather than confining or comparing him to what his brothers did, his parents helped him excel in his own accomplishments. And he asked today’s parents to attempt the same.
“Music affects every life,” Jessop said, urging parents to “provide those opportunities and inspire right role modes for [children] to follow.”
The service, sponsored by American Mothers, Inc. (AMI) also featured speeches from Logan Church of Christ Pastor Kevin Skidmore, Utah’s Young Mother Representative 2003, Sheri M. Egbert and Utah Mother of the Year 2003, Brenda M. Anthony. All encouraged the strengthening of families and choosing music to affect lives positively.
“Music carries with it a spirit,” said Brenda M. Anthony, Utah Mother of the Year 2003. “Music has an affect on our lives and on the lives of our young people.”
The evening’s musical selections were presented by New Horizons Choir and Aprilrae Anthony. The audience stood and joined the choir in “This is My Country,” as the Utah State Air Force ROTC and rows of Scouts proudly posted American flags.
Sheri M. Egbert, Utah Young Mother Representative 2003, said AMI is a non-profit organization committed to strengthening the moral and spiritual foundations of the family and home.
“Mothers are the heart of the home,” Egbert said.
-hilj@cc.usu.edu