Composing a Christ-Centered Life Through Sacred Music: Michael Boyd's Story - Latter-Day Lights

What role does music play in helping us feel closer to God and find peace in our everyday lives?

In this week’s episode of Latter-Day Lights, we sit down with pianist, musical arranger, and father, Michael Boyd, whose lifelong love for music has become a powerful way to invite the Spirit into his heart, and strengthen his faith. From his early experiences in learning piano, to developing a deep appreciation for hymns during his mission, Michael shares how music has shaped not only his talents, but his testimony. His stories—including unforgettable moments like meeting Gladys Knight, and witnessing the impact of sacred music on others—highlight how God can use our gifts in unexpected and meaningful ways.

Michael also opens up about creating his hymn arrangement album, “Be Still, My Soul,” blending musical creativity with spiritual inspiration to bring listeners a deeper sense of peace and connection. He shares how he thoughtfully weaves together multiple melodies—sometimes combining hymns, as seen in his mashup of “Kingsfold” and “I Need Thee Every Hour”—to deepen the emotional and spiritual impact of each piece. Through personal experiences, family life, and solemn moments at the piano, he reflects on how intentional, uplifting music can transform the atmosphere in our homes and hearts—reminding us that some of the most powerful expressions of faith are felt, not just spoken.

*** Please SHARE Michael's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/tSRNdHcQots

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To LISTEN to Michael’s first album, “Be Still, My Soul,” visit: https://open.spotify.com/album/0HhZ9Emk4oCHJ0xhjQumNz?si=7XOec_jKRV-3Neo0wDyn1Q

To LISTEN to Michael’s track, “Kingsfold and I Need Thee Every Hour,” visit: https://open.spotify.com/track/7afUlL6qjBDbc9cYzaxiUY?si=4c3d23d7ceec4048

To READ Michael’s free sheet music, visit: https://specialmusicalnumbers.com/

To FOLLOW Michael on Spotify, visit: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3NLcup1JpD4nmP3HvSIVA6

To FOLLOW Michael on Apple Music, visit: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/w-michael-boyd/1843900046

To FOLLOW Michael on Amazon Music, visit: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0FV3D7PQP/w-michael-boyd

To FOLLOW Michael on Deezer, visit: https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/349661021

To FOLLOW Michael on YouTube Music, visit: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kPwJ_Y8FkCbbkvYNV3gWgI3uAO3Dljuws

To LISTEN to “His Hands” by Kenneth Cope, visit: https://open.spotify.com/track/4sumBgc7QuvrVHA4bdZXsq?si=60e30cea674d43b9

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To READ Scott’s new book “Faith to Stay” for free, visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/

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Transcript

“Faith to Stay” by Scott Brandley

Scott Brandley 0:00

Hey there, as a Latter Day Lights listener, I want to give you a very special gift today. My brand new book, Faith to Stay. This book is filled with inspiring stories, powerful discoveries, and even fresh insights to help strengthen your faith during the storms of life. So if you're looking to be inspired, uplifted, and spiritually recharged, just visit faith2.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Emily Hemmert 0:31

And I'm Emily Hemmert. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth, and inspire others.

Welcoming Michael Boyd to the show

Scott Brandley 0:38

On today's episode, we're going to hear how a faith-centered pianist learned that bringing uplifting music into everyday life invites lasting peace. Welcome to Latter Day Lights. Thank you. Glad to be here, Scott. And I also want to welcome Emily Hammert as my co-host. You guys probably recognize her. She's been on several podcasts, and she's the founder of the Markovia Project. If you haven't checked out her podcasts on Latter Day Lights, go watch those because they're amazing. So thanks, Emily, for being on with us.

Michael Boyd 1:30

Thank you.

Scott Brandley 1:31

Um, well, Michael, welcome. Uh, why don't you tell the viewers a little bit about yourself?

Michael in a nutshell

Michael Boyd 1:38

Um, yeah, love to. Um, I live in Lexington, South Carolina. Uh, been here about five years with my um wife and four children. Um I sell software um for a company. It's actually based out of Utah, but most of us uh work remotely. Um so I go up the East Coast uh selling uh software for this company. Um and um, you know, I just uh enjoy music and spending time with my family and and just trying to keep up with them. Awesome.

Scott Brandley 2:16

I own a software company in Utah.

Michael Boyd 2:22

Okay, all right. We'll have to we'll have to chat about that.

Scott Brandley 2:25

Yeah, we could geek out later. Cool. Well, um I'm excited to hear about your story. We know that has to do with some of your musical talents, which is pretty cool. So why don't we jump in and have you tell us where your story begins?

Michael’s developing love for hymns + meeting Gladys Knight

Michael attends an all-LDS music concert

On going to Church with a celebrity

Michael Boyd 2:45

Yeah, great. Thank you, Scott, uh Emily, for this opportunity to uh be here with you and and your wonderful audience. Um my story um goes back. Um I was born in Orlando, Florida. Uh that's where I'm from. I grew up there in the Central Florida area. Um I uh worked for Disney for a little bit uh out of high school. Um something that might be a little unique about that is I worked at the Haunted Mansion ride. Um so as people go to the Haunted Mansion, uh they are greeted by um a butler and a maid in costume. Well, that's what I did um for about a year um between high school and my mission. And uh I loved um working that environment. If you had a bad day, uh it actually worked perfectly um to come to work in the in that uh spooky environment to to look miserable, it really was fitting for the the role that we were playing. Um and so I did that uh for about a year and while I was going to uh college and and then I went on a mission uh to um Las Vegas, Nevada, um, which was pretty interesting uh to go to a place. Uh Emily, you're familiar with uh Las Vegas? Yeah, we lived in Vegas. Oh great, wonderful. Whereabouts in Vegas? We were like in Summerlin. Okay, yeah, that's that's awesome. So um I was in the um the east side of the mission. Uh so if you take I-15, it kind of goes right through Vegas. Um, we're on the side that the temple was on. Um and then our our mission went up to like Elko, Nevada, that area. And so I was there. Um this states me um uh 1999 to 2001. Okay um and so uh I loved my mission. It was a great place to serve. I had no idea that there was a lot of members of the church there. Um so being from Florida, I had never been that far west, um, but I really enjoyed it. A lot of great people um out there in the Vegas area, and um, and then while I was there, I was able to um develop my love for the hymns and um playing music uh at um various missionary conferences or in the wards and and really kind of building a love for the hymns. Um, one of the highlights of my mission, um, besides being able to help in people um converting to the church was uh meeting Gladys Knight. Um so many of you probably very familiar with Gladys, um such a wonderful person. She's just as sweet in person as she is uh on stage. And uh that was a big highlight for me to uh as a musician or want to be a musician, uh, to meet Gladys Knight, to be in her ward actually serving as a missionary. Um so we would often find excuses to be in her neighborhood, you know, to go by and visit. Uh so um and and and be able to meet with her uh a few times. She traveled a lot, so it wasn't like we were able to see her that often. Um, but when she came to the ward, especially on fast and testimony meetings, um, that was some of the most powerful testimony meetings I've ever been to when she would get up and uh share her testimony um of the savior and the restored gospel. Um and so I really um gained a love for the members of the church there, uh, the people that we are teaching. It's a great place to do missionary work. Um and then I um I returned home from my mission, and I was a couple years later, I was out in Utah for a concert that had to do with the the work that my family was doing. And and we we were at this concert, and and it was of all um Latter-day Saint performers. So you had people like Kirk Bester were there, Michael McLean, Hillary Weeks. Um, it was in the the glory days, I would say, of Desert Book music, the highlight, you know, of you know, Kenneth Cope, you know, there's some it was a big time for uh LDS music. And um and so uh towards the end of the concert, they said we have a special surprise for you. We want to welcome on stage Gladys Knight. And so she comes out from behind the stage and uh and greets us, and then she brings out her Saints Unified Choir. And so um the choir that she put together in Las Vegas was full of members of her stake and surrounding stakes, um, people that I had known from the mission. Um, and so that was really exciting to be able to see them again. And one very important person was a uh a man that I taught and was and he got baptized by um his friend in the ward there. Uh his name was JJ, and he got up and he he sang one of the solos. And so that was that was just wonderful. I love that. Uh, and so I got to go and see him and uh and many of those faithful members of the church after the concert. Um and so one interesting side note that they said um in that concert that uh the this the choir got in a bus from Las Vegas and they drove to um Utah, um uh everyone on the bus, and the thing that they watched during that bus ride was um Joseph and the amazing Technicolor coat, uh coat uh which was performed by Donnie Osman. Well, after after um Gladys Knight and her choir performed, out came Donnie Osman at the concert. And so then and there were people in that choir that weren't even members of the church, and they were like, oh my goodness, Donnie Osman is here, and that and so they they were pretty amazed by that. Um, but um that's just one of the the many experiences that I hope to share with you um today that I've had um in uh being close to music uh within the church, and um which which has I'll I'll talk about a little bit later on that has uh led me to uh do some additional things um with music.

Scott Brandley 10:09

That's cool. Um so just Gladys Knight, since we're on the topic, like what was it like going to church with a celebrity? Like, did she just come by herself? Did was she go to class like everybody else? Like, what was that like?

Michael Boyd 10:26

Yeah, no, great question. So she she and her husband were there, um and um and he was a member of the church as well. And uh they you know it was a little bit like having a celebrity there at times, especially for visitors, you know. Um but um I think most of the people were used to having Gladys there, but she did go to Sunday school, like uh uh every normal Latter-day Saint, or or she went to Release Society. Um she held a calling, I believe, in the ward. It probably was one that allowed her to do it remotely or something to that effect. But um, yeah, and and you know, she uh she treated everyone just like they were her brother and sister, which was really neat.

Scott Brandley 11:16

And then when you went to her house, like was she gracious? Did she just let you in and visit with you? Like, how did that go down?

Michael learns improvisation after his mission

Michael collaborates with a singer to perform “His Hands” by Kenneth Cope

Michael Boyd 11:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um we we knocked on her uh door, I remember one time in particular, and she invited us in and and um got us water, and um, and we we talked to her and her husband, and uh they have a very nice house in Las Vegas, as you can expect, you know, um being a celebrity, um, and very welcoming. Um, and it was just uh it was just yeah, a a good opportunity to um uh to meet her in person. So um she is a a great um uh representative, I would say, of the church uh and what she does. And she has faced uh a lot of critic criticism being a member of the church, but it doesn't seem to slow her down. Um but yeah, yeah. So I was just um when I got done for my mission, I uh went on to I went to uh the University of Central Florida. So I didn't, I was a little bit different from uh other members of the church. I didn't go out to BYU for school. I kind of stayed in Florida. Um I had a scholarship there for uh for that school, and um it and it was I didn't pursue music actually as a career. I was a little worried about being able to provide for a family as a musician and being able to do some of the things that um, you know, maybe hobbies and things that I wanted to do. Uh I was a little worried and concerned that and and plus the industry, you know, can be very worldly. Uh so I actually pursued a business degree there at UCF. Um, but while I was there, I spent a lot of time accompanying singers. Um, so and I did a lot of jazz. I have a background in jazz music, um, which um I really love to um to play. And the one thing, one thing I love about jazz is improvisation um and um learning from great um pianists and musicians that can just um look at chords on a page and be able to um play just wonderful music um without the written music in front of you. And so that's one of the things that I I learned to do um uh as a musician, and it's really been able to help me develop um my ability to accompany um singers, um, not necessarily um playing exactly what's on the paper, but kind of really feeling the music, adding additional stuff in there where I feel like it should be, or taking it out. Um and um and so I was able uh over time to kind of learn how to be able to do that and uh accompany musicians and and um but I wanted to share with you a story. Um I was working with a very good singer uh in my ward, actually, and she wanted to sing uh a beautiful song by Kenneth Cope called His Hands. Um I'm not sure if you're familiar with that. Maybe you are. Okay, yeah, it's pretty well known in the LDS culture, and um it's a beautiful song. It's actually one of my favorite songs, but I um but I remember her telling me that she felt like she couldn't sing it because she would get very emotional and start to cry during the performance, and she was worried about that um uh because you know it's one thing to stop and get emotional during a testimony, but when you're actually like singing a song, like how do you continue to sing when you're just caught up in emotion? Um and you're really feeling this the song and how it's touching you. And um and just to give you an idea, um, I pulled the lyrics up um well uh a couple of lines from that song, and and at this particular point in the music, it really um it takes a turn in the tone of this the music, the way Kenneth wrote this song to kind of emphasize um the struggle and um the the anguish that the savior was going through. Um uh he says in this his hands clasped in agony as he lay pleading, bleeding in the garden, while just moments away, other hands betray him out of greed, shameful greed, and then his hands are trembling, straining to carry the being that they've been nailed to as he stumbles through the streets, heading for the hill on which he died, or he died, he would die. They take his hands, his mighty hands, those gentle hands, and then they pierce them, then they pierce them. He lets them because of love. And this part of the song is is just it's uh it's kind of the peak, uh climax of the whole song, and it and it it's really emotional. And I remember saying to her, you know, it's okay to to be emotional, to to let the the spirit take over with that with the with the music, um, because as you're connecting with the song, the the congregation is connecting with you, and they're connecting with the spirit, right? They're feeling the spirit through the music that you are singing um or trying to sing, and and it takes on a whole other level, I would say. And as an accompaniment, accompanist, I told her, you know, I'll I'll pause, I'll wait until you start to go on in the music, and then I'll figure that out. But don't worry about me as I'm accompanying you. You focus on on connecting with the audience, right? And I and I think that's one of the most powerful things about music is it can connect us in some ways of a deeper meaning than words don't always do. I know for me personally, music really touches me. Um and then you combine the lyrics to that, um, it it almost takes on another level, and I can I can really um I can really get in tune with the spirit that way. I I found this quote um from President J. Rubin Clark Jr. He said, We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer. And I just thought that was very interesting that we can we can draw closer to the the say to the Lord through music and only second to that of of prayer. And you know what what is the that scripture doctrine covenants that the um like the song of the heart is a prayer unto me. So like music in itself is like a prayer, um, and that's probably one of the reasons why.

Scott Brandley 19:24

Yeah, I think music can definitely move move you, right? Like m get you emotionally make make emotions happen inside of you in a way that few things can. Right? Like even when you read those lyrics to his hands, like that brought back the feelings of when I've her listened to that song, and it is very powerful the way he wrote that to the music. And there's there's several um I'm several hymns that can move you when you you know when you hear them.

Scott & Emily’s favorite hymns

Michael Boyd 19:59

Yeah, uh well, my question to you do you have a hymn um that you know kind of moves you? Um I know um for my wife when when we have sacrament meeting, uh, or when the sacrament is being passed, um, she often leaves the hymn book open to the sacrament hymn that we had just sung. And she reads through the lyrics of the sacrament hymn um during when the sacrament is being passed uh because uh she feels like uh it helps her to remember uh what the savior has done for her uh more so um uh you know, uh she can um feel connected more to the savior during that sacrament hymn. So I asked you, is there a favorite hymn of uh of yours that you like to connect with?

Emily Hemmert 21:00

Um well I was just thinking like a hymn that really is moving to me is like um God be with you telling me you we meet again. Because like on my mission, every time you would leave an area, then they would sing that, you know, and it's like in this thought of like, you know, you're probably never gonna see these people again until heaven, but it's like I don't know, for whatever reason I hear this, I'm like, oh it's like just that as the nice sentiment. I don't know.

Scott Brandley 21:27

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I I love a poor wayfaring man of grief. That one gets me.

How Michael incorporates music into family life

Michael Boyd 21:35

Yeah, yeah, I love that one. Uh in fact, that one is on my album. Um, that's the first the first track on my album. Um that's uh that's uh uh and it's one of the um hymns that I love to play the most. So it's just uh just something and and we always associate that hymn with church history. uh because or at least I do uh because that was sung to the prophet um joseph smith um prior to his uh martyrdom um so I always kind of associated that hymn um to church history but if you if you read through the the lyrics um it's all about Jesus Christ and the the stranger um that that comes to him um is the savior and so yeah look through the lyrics there um and it's a really it's a wonderful hymn um which which actually um I mentioned my wife um she's a big inspiration to me as all men I'm sure their spouses their wives are big inspirations to the to them um and and um one thing that we have done um is try to involve more music in with our family and um I remember on one occasion um we try to do scripture study in the evenings we try and do come follow me every evening and we have four kids um one is about to turn seven um we have a 10 year old and a 13 year old and a 15 year old and so sometimes when we start to do scripture study um it's very irreverent you know there's a lot of commotion i uh we're probably the only ones that this happens to I know um yeah probably it can be a little difficult to kind of rein it in you know to kind of like all right now we're gonna focus on on scriptures you know uh put away those those um the the devices and different things like that we need to um really take this time to do scripture study and um on this particular occasion um the the kids were not really cooperating and so my wife was inspired to let's sing a hymn and so we got out our hymn books or children's songbook and then we sang a hymn and that really brought the spirit into the room and then you know after we did the hymn we had a a prayer and then now we were more in tune with the spirit in studying the scriptures um and I've been noticing it if you look in the front of our hymn books in the preface there's a lot of things in there from the first presidency about involving music more into your family into your scripture study um into your daily life um and I feel like that that's very important I have the I found a couple of quotes here um president Boyd K. Packer said music can set an atmosphere of worship which invites the spirit of revelation of testimony um so that music creates that atmosphere that's one of the reasons we have like prelude right before uh a meeting you know it helps to invite the spirit um and then there's another quote um this is from the beginning of our hip book we hope the hymn book will take a prominent place among the scriptures and other religious books in our home and so um they're encouraging us to to evolve more music isn't it wonderful that we live in a day where we get like 10 new hit hymns like every couple of months you know um we're not confined to just a certain set of hymns but now we're able to expand upon that um I mean that's just wonderful I think because there's just such great music out there um to to help invite the spirit and I love that the church is embracing um some really good wonderful hymns that other churches are singing they're bringing it back into our church because they're uplifting and and they help invite the spirit and um and they help um us to be centered on the gospel and Jesus Christ. Yeah.

Emily Hemmert 26:48

Michael I have a question that's that's kind of unrelated.

Michael’s piano training

Michael on creating his own arrangements for hymns

The story behind Michael’s mashup track, “Kingsfold and I Need Thee Every Hour”

Michael on finding inspiration + goals for the future + reflecting on the infuence of music

Michael Boyd 26:52

I want to know when did you start practicing piano and did you enjoy it and did your mom like force you to practice like from another perspective like I'm trying to get my kids learn piano like what like do you did your mom play a big part in getting you to the point that you're at or like what's the backstory there with piano oh well you know mobs are the big cheerleaders for accomplishing goals I don't think I would be an Eagle Scout without my mother's guiding hand, right? And my father as well. I started piano lessons around seven or eight. You can start earlier than that. It's just it takes a little while to really kind of develop um the fingering um to be able to play but you know starting earlier than that is perfectly acceptable because it does take some time to learn what you know uh to beat the how beats go and and developing that but so I I started um because I wanted to learn uh I I believe I asked my parents to um to be able I showed an interest in playing on a piano um and that indicated to my parents that you know hey maybe he needs to learn um to play the piano in fact my first piano teacher is singing in the the tabernacle choir right now uh so so yeah and so I I took piano lessons for many years and then I as a teenager I kind of stopped and it wasn't you know like the coolest thing to do anymore right so it was just not you know an of interest I was more into sports and you know video games or what have you and and that definitely took a back burner and you know it was like don't you know spend the money on me because I'm not really like progressing anymore and then and then as a teenager I started to play on my own. I started to um pick out songs that I really wanted to play that weren't necessarily uh in one of those piano music books. You know I had um I started to play some of John Schmidt um he's with the piano guys if you're familiar with them uh I really loved his stuff um and um just some other um musicians out there and so as I started to pick up songs that I liked um that and I started teaching myself that's probably when I started to to get a lot better and then I played in high school jazz band and um and then continue that on into my mission and so yeah you know you just have to um keep sticking with it and encouraging others to uh to be able to uh are encouraging your kids to like one day you're gonna be on a mission and they're gonna need somebody to play um a poor way free married man of grief you know so that's gonna be you and that's and that's what I do with my kids so um yeah that's cool so how did you get inspired to write an album with these different hymn uh what do you call them what do you call them when you what do you call it when you create a hymn that but you customize it to your own version so I call a arrangements um arrangement yeah yeah so him arrangements what led you to this to this idea to create an um an arrangement album that's a great question so um last October I released my first album um it's called Be Still My Soul uh Hymn Arrangements by W. Michael Boyd it's available on all streaming music streaming platforms so if you listen to Spotify Yahoo uh not Yahoo uh Amazon Music uh Apple Music um Pandora it's on all of them um and I have been throughout my life um tinkering around with different arrangements of hymns and I've always had in the back of my head that I need to do something and put it out there and have it available for my children and my grandchildren my posterity right um not necessarily to make money off of it because I don't really make any money I I'm probably like your podcast you know it it's it's uh it's a labor of love um and um I wanted to be able to share some things that I felt like I so I would play them in my own ward and then I felt like okay one day I'm gonna take that arrangement and then make it available um for everyone to listen to and that's kind of what kicked off this hymn um this album and so it's my best arrangements I have a lot of arrangements but the these are my best ones so every single one um is I feel like is a is a quality uh piece of work and what I try to do in my hymn arrangements is um I try to separate myself from other um arrangers out there um which are very talented they do wonderful things um where mine is a little bit different is I try to incorporate other melodies whether they're melodies that I've created on my own um and then to help to help enhance the hymn um and to kind of like um add to it so for example I have um I am a child of god is an arrangement that I've done and in that arrangement you'll hear uh Pachebel's canon uh throughout the entire um track and so you have it going back and forth between the melody of I am a child of god and Pachebel's canon um kind of like a uh um you know like a supplemental melody to go along with the overall um hymn and so I try to do that with each of the arrangements that I do um and so I feel like that kind of sets me apart from other great musicians out there um like Marvin Goldstein um um or um Paul Cardell or who or whomever so um there I have another arrangement there it's actually the last track on my album it's called Kingsford and that's not a name that you'll recognize but it's actually uh we know it today as if you can hide a colob okay and so I wanted to make this album also appeal to um the the Christian masses and so I used the original tune name uh to identify that track um because of course if you can hide a colob it's not gonna mean anything to uh the casual Christian um listener. Yeah um and so that is an arrangement that I was asked to do excuse me um my father-in-law passed away and that was his favorite hymn and so they asked me to to do it uh if I could play that at his funeral and so I was looking at the hymn and it's um it's in a it's actually like an like an E minor key um which is not the best type of tone I wanted for the funeral although it's appropriate for a funeral but to end on a minor um melody doesn't really inspire anything if that makes sense for for those um that know a little bit about music so I I decided well what can I do to enhance this hymn I was already adding a bunch of stuff um to the hymn well I decided to bring in um another hymn which was I need thee every hour um so which offers um a much happier tone but also uh it kind of was fitting for the funeral um where you we are somber and sad about the passing of a great individual but to know that death is not the answer right and so by bringing in this other happier sounding tune and focusing it on the savior um it really helps us to understand um that death is just a gateway right that we will be resurrected we'll be able to return to the savior and so that so when you listen to that arrangement it's the last one on my album um so maybe you can have that a little bit in mind um that that that will inspire um you know to to know that in our trials or in in our grieving that there is a a light that there is a way um through this trial that there is great happiness that it is available to us um whether it's on this life or the next life and so that's kind of what I wanted to do with that hymn arrangement that's awesome. When you're writing this do you feel like you get inspiration like the spirit helps you yeah I I the when I start to play a hymn I feel the spirit um and I feel like the spirit really tries to um it's trying to tell me something but I'm not always reading it I'm not always in tune with the spirit so I have to adjust myself so that I can understand what the spirit is trying to teach me through this this music if that makes any sense um that that and I and I don't know I mean I know it comes from the Lord and I know it surrounds us but sometimes in our lives we get so busy in what we're doing and when I'm playing a piano sometimes I I need to stop thinking about the technical parts of the piano and I need to switch over to what what is the the melodic spirit of this song where is this song trying to take me to um I try to in a sense create some type of story in my music you know maybe it starts off soft maybe it builds up to something you know it gradually comes back down and so I when I'm working on an arrangement it does take some time I I can actually sit down and play an arrangement of a hymn I can look at a hymn with my jazz background I can look at a hymn and I can see core changes throughout music um and I can just play over top of that and that and that's great. But it's just it's not to the level of kind of creating this type of message that I tried to do with this album where I'm I'm trying to be in tune with what the spirit is doing and then deliver something that peep that will inspire people. And so it it it's a little bit of a challenge and it takes some time and I often get frustrated um you know with like any writer you have writers block you know you you work on something I've I've worked on some hymns for years and and I can't like I I I'll have three different ideas and I can't like fit them together and I'll and it'll you know one day it'll just work it and I don't know how it how it happens and and where it comes from but I know that if I keep working at it that it's going to lock in as as my kids are starting to tell me I need to lock in. I guess that's the terminology from the kids today. But yeah it's and so uh these hymns that I just um put together on this album they're they're over the course of many years um some of them are more recent than that but um I hope to be able to release more music and not take as long I think as as I develop that talent and and listening to what the spirit is trying to teach me then I can um churn out something a little bit quicker and share that to the world so I hope that this album is not my last album and that I continue to release inspirational music because I do find that um music it's it's like if you go to the temple you come out of the temple and you you feel just such a spiritual high right um and then it's like all right well how do I take that spiritual high and continue it throughout my days well I find that if I replace my music with inspirational music um as I'm selling software in my business right uh Scott as as I some things that I'm doing that where I can put on music in the background as I'm working on something I try to put on something that is uplifting and that helps bring that spirit of of our like our Sunday meetings or our church our temple worship into our home um and um or whether you have a class I was a seminary teacher for three years and I love to play the hymns as they were walking into the classroom right because it kind of sets the spirit um I've had teachers do that as well and it and it and it just uh I I don't know how it works but it does there's just something about music especially for me that I can connect with it through music.

Emily Hemmert 43:03

I know there's some psychology to like that your heart rate matches the music around you know it's like like if you listen to pop-up music if you're running or something you know you want your tempo to like match the music kind of thing but like I I teach preschool and I put calm music on if the kids are getting kind of rowdy and it's like amazing how quickly they kind of just like settle down you know I I listened to your album before the podcast Michael and it was very like very peaceful calming um great a great album for a Sunday afternoon or or if you wanted to just feel the spirit you know I I really liked it it was very well done. Thank you my husband's a therapist mental health therapist and he plays like background music sometimes he'll play like instrumental church music so people who aren't members of the church they don't notice and people who are Members of the church, it's like that can kind of be comforting too, right? And but I think, yeah, it's helpful to it's kind of cool. He like listens to that music all day long.

Michael Boyd 44:10

Yeah, one of my rel relatives who's not of our faith, he um he builds houses and he built a model home and he put on my album uh in the speakers. I guess they put speakers uh some or maybe he had um uh a speaker with them. So as people came to the model home to look at it, um, you know, it was like calming, nice, peaceful music. And he, you know, he's not a member of our church. And and uh his coworkers were like, What is this? This is really good. And he said, This is my brother-in-law. So I was like, All right, right on, Ken. Keep pushing it. I love that. So I love to uh be able to share. Uh you know, there's nothing like working on something and then having it out in the uh the world to share and and and feeling really good about what you accomplished.

How to support Michael’s music

Emily Hemmert 45:07

Yeah, so music's a little different now, like as far as monetizing, like you used to be able to buy a CD or something. But how can people support you? Like if they go and listen on Spotify, does that give you some form of income from that?

Michael Boyd 45:21

Yeah, that's a good question. Um it there is money, it's pennies uh for streaming. Um, I'm sure um if you have millions of listeners like Taylor Swift, you know, uh you know, that's where the the real money is. Um, I I am um I do have a lot of my music uh in sheet music form. Um and so that is a way that uh you can uh support what I'm doing. I do have a website, it's called special musical number.com. Okay. And the reason I named it that is because we don't say here's a musical number, we say a special musical number. Um so I have a website that has actually free sheet music on it, uh, stuff I've done in the past. Um, and um, that was another reason it took a while to do my album, is because I had to learn how to write out all my music. I wanted it to be available in a songbook form, and so that that music is available. You can uh download it and play the music that you can uh listen to from um um those Spotify and the other sites. I'm trying to put out more um music um available um for those that like to play in their sacrament meetings. So I uh you know, these are a lot of these are arrangements that um that would be you know for a funeral or for some type of service or something like that. Um uh check out my website, special musical numbers.com.

Scott Brandley 47:12

Yeah, I can see any of those being played in a sacrament meeting as a sp as a special musical number. They're just they're very well done. Um, I love how you combine the different um songs together, your bridges, how you how you just added different things into the music. It's it's really good.

Michael Boyd 47:32

That's awesome. Appreciate that.

Scott Brandley 47:35

I I recommend it if you if you have if you you're on a Sunday, you we want something good to listen to, go check out Michael's album. So um before we wrap up, Michael, we usually ask if there's any final thoughts you'd like to share you on as you've gone through this m musical journey and and put this album together. Any any thoughts, any uh inspiration you'd like to give to kind of wrap things up?

It’s okay to start something new later in life + progression over perfection

Michael Boyd 48:09

Yeah, maybe one last thought. Um uh I'm not young anymore. You know, I'm in my mid-40s and I'm releasing something that is new, you know. It's it's there, there's a lot of great resources out there that you know, if I was to do something nowadays, I'd have to take it to a music studio um and get it recorded there. I these songs I recorded on my electric keyboard here in my house. Um and um I'd have to get a music um, you know, that there are some advantages, you know, if you could get your stuff in with some of the, you know, like Desert Book or or a label, because they'll help promote your music. Um, but but nowadays a lot of the promotion that you have to do yourself, right? Um, but it's much easier to get something out there. So, you know, if you want, if you have like a cookbook you want to release, um your photography, um, you know, your hobbies. There, there's there's so many different ways to to be able to put that out there now. And I wouldn't say to yourself that um I'm past my prime, you know, um that this is this is something that I I should have done years ago. So I would encourage anyone listening that has an idea, you know, whether it's music or or um, you know, something a passion that they love to do, um, there is plenty of resources out there um that will help you to release that. Um, I was able to release my album um through one website and then it and it put it on all of the websites. I was just amazed. I was on Instagram and I wanted to share something about I wanted to make a post about my album to my friends, and so I thought, oh, wouldn't it be cool to like put a clip of my song in my post? And I was like, ah, it's probably not there, but let's just try. And so I, you know how you can add music to your little post. I go in there and I search my album, and sure enough, bam, all the tracks were there. I was just blown away. And so I was able to share um you know a clip of my music on Instagram. I'm not on TikTok. I, you know, it's probably a good platform for for uh growing something, but I'm I'm sure it's on there as well. But um, yeah, I was just as a last thought, like, um, you know, just you know, share your passions with the world. And if you keep doing it, maybe it's not great. The first time you do it, I'll and I'll add this too, Scott and Emily. When I recorded these songs, I was so critical of my music. I'm like, oh, I'm hitting that note too hard. Oh, I should have done this, you know, a little bit differently or whatever. But then I got to the point where I'm just like, I just need to get it out there. You know, who cares if it's perfect? Um, you know, I will develop that over time. Um, and and what I what I hear is probably not what 95% of people hear, anyways. And uh, and I wasn't too happy with the sound that came out of my album, um, the sound quality. But then I started to listen to other albums on on um Spotify and other music, and I was like, well, theirs don't sound any better than mine does. So what am I complaining about? You know, I don't have a you know a full-on studio to to you know hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this, you know. I just need to get it out there, and then if you just keep doing it over time, you start to learn how to make it better. And um, and I'm sure your podcasts on day one are a lot different than than day 200. Um, that that's probably my final thought.

Scott Brandley 52:42

Yeah, definitely.

Michael Boyd 52:43

It's a good thought.

Scott Brandley 52:44

Awesome.

Emily Hemmert 52:45

Now I want to go practice the piano.

How Michael encourages his kids to play piano

Scott Brandley 52:50

Please do. Actually, funny. I I actually did go play the piano after I listened to his album. That's awesome. I can't even play the piano, but but I don't you've probably seen this, Michael. They if you go to YouTube, they they kind of turn it into a game for people that don't know how to play where they have the notes come down from the top.

Michael Boyd 53:09

Yep.

Scott Brandley 53:10

So I was playing Interstellar. I've never played it before, but I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go try that. It was fun. No, it's awesome.

Michael Boyd 53:17

Yeah, as a side note, Scott, my my oldest son loves to learn a lot of songs that way. You know, it's like um it's like a rainfall of notes, and then he's like doing on the piano. And I'm like, okay, I want him to learn how to read music. So what I did is I went to I I asked him what YouTube songs that he was playing from, and I went to there because I knew that they had a link to sheet music version, and so I went and bought the sheet music version of the songs that he was learning to play on YouTube, and it's like, okay, you're you're use that as a reference, but learn this is what it actually looks like on paper. It's not as hard as you think, right? You know, and so uh, so if if any moms or dads are out there noticing their kids or doing that, um, you might want to take that as a as an option. For example, Minecraft, my kids were really into and they love playing the music from Minecraft. And so I printed out the arrangements that they were listening on YouTube so they could work on those songs. So that's my whole of playing, getting them to play music that they like um to listen to, because if they get a song down that they really like and then they share it with somebody, especially if it's of the opposite sex, um, and and you know, and they really like it, that helps encourage the uh the added um practicing of of the piano um or the singing. Keep that in mind.

Scott Brandley 55:01

That's a great idea. Yep. Yeah, because if you especially if they're interested in it, they're playing around on the piano anyway. Just graduate them to the actual music so they can learn how to play it in real life, you know, instead of like a video game. But but that gets them in, so that's still a win, right? Definitely awesome.

Emily Hemmert 55:20

Well, I'm excited to go listen to your album.

Michael Boyd 55:23

I thank you, I appreciate it.

Outro

Scott Brandley 55:25

We'll put that in the footnotes of the podcast so people can go check it out. Okay, well, thanks everyone for tuning in to another episode of Latterday Lights. And if you have a story that you'd like to share or talent that you'd like to get out there, come on the show like Michael, and you know, let's let's share your lights, let's share your talent with other people. And you can do that by going to ladderdaylights.com or emailing us at latterdaylights at gmail.com. And if you have five seconds, go hit that share button in social media so we can get Michael's music out there so people can listen to it because it's awesome. Thanks, Michael, for being on the show, and thanks everyone for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on another episode of Latterday Lights. Till then, take care. Bye bye. Thank you.