Finding Light After The Fall: Turning Music into a Mission: Jerald Simon's Story - Latter-Day Lights

What if a single moment could completely reshape how you see your life and your purpose within it?

In this week’s episode of Latter-Day Lights, Jerald Simon shares his remarkable journey as a composer, author, and lifelong student of faith and creativity. After surviving a traumatic fall from a 100-foot cliff as a child—an experience that erased his early memories and led to years of recovery—Jerald began to view life through a profoundly different lens. That pivotal moment became the foundation for how he approaches challenges, growth, and the quiet decision to keep getting back up, no matter how hard we fall.

Raised in a home where music was a daily discipline, Jerald was surrounded by creativity from a young age. Today, he channels his newfound perspective into music designed to heal and uplift. From composing custom piano pieces for students in real time, to creating meditation and relaxation music layered with organic sounds and intentional rhythms, his work centers on helping others experience peace and positivity. He also shares how he uses music as a spiritual language—shifting keys, tempo, and tone to reflect darkness, light, and transformation.

Through his story, Jerald reminds us that even life’s most disorienting moments can become a source of clarity—and that sometimes, the path forward begins by learning to listen to the music within.

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

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/wm63DYxqjyI 

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To READ Jerald’s book, “The Musical Realm,” visit: https://a.co/d/0hnnfUC8

To LISTEN to Jerald’s album, “Sweet Melancholy,” visit: https://open.spotify.com/album/7a5HMciPmMWE06XzPP8ze1?si=4YKLa7wzQQCqPYPL5T5KSg

To READ Jerald’s music compositions from “Sweet Melancholy,” visit: https://www.musicmotivation.com/sweet-melancholy-by-jerald-simon-pdf-book

To LISTEN to Jerald’s rearrangement hymn album, “Hymns of the Heart,” visit: https://open.spotify.com/album/6AJhBW6bmJ1NIBOjdmE6kN?si=khPj9mgTSnqhXpVxZhSpJg

To READ “The ‘As If’ Principle (Motivational Poetry),” visit: https://a.co/d/08EfhpAb

To LEARN MORE about piano lessons with Jerald, visit: https://www.musicmotivation.com/

To LISTEN to Jerald’s podcast, “Music, Motivation, and More - The Positivity Podcast with Jerald Simon,” visit: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hVYdJrrsfwyKgBpwoT1Ci?si=e07f9b40cb3649b7

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

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

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 faith.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Darla Brandley 0:31

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

Scott Brandley 0:39

On today's episode, we're going to hear how one Utah composer and author shares peace and positivity to the world through his writing and music, and how falling off a 100-foot cliff at the age of eight changed his life forever. Welcome to Latter Day Lights.

Jerald Simon 1:16

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me on the show.

Scott Brandley 1:20

Yeah, we're glad you're here. You have, I don't know if anybody's told you this, but you have like a radio voice.

Jerald Simon 1:25

I don't know if you know what I have heard that before, and I understand I enjoy speaking, but I speak at different events. But I have heard that before.

Scott Brandley 1:37

So yeah, very smooth, soothing. You could like just read read people's stories, you know, stories, put them to sleep at the end of the day.

Jerald Simon 1:48

There you go. It's so wonderful connecting with people, and and I love that you are sharing stories from others around the world. So thank you for everything you do. Yeah.

Scott Brandley 2:02

Well, you know, we do our we do what we can, kind of like you, right? And yeah, so kindred spirits that way. But why don't we kick this off and tell everybody a little bit about you?

Jerald Simon 2:15

Perfect. That'll be great. Well, my name is Gerald Simon. Currently I live in St. George, Utah. So I'm all the way down at the very southernmost part of Utah, and we've lived here almost about four years. Our only regret is we didn't move down here sooner. We love St. George. We love the heat. We tried to get away from the snow and the cold. But as you had mentioned, I'm a professional musician and I'm a composer and an author. I have a beautiful wife named Suzanne. Anyone who knows her calls her Zanny. And I have three wonderful children. I have a daughter named Summer who's on a mission right now in Hawaii, the La IA Hawaii Visitor Center, and she is loving her mission. Yes, she is loving her mission.

Darla Brandley 3:04

That is awesome. My sister lives across the street from the temple. I love it. It's a wonderful place.

Jerald Simon 3:09

Have her go visit my daughter, Sister Simon. She will love it. And then we have two boys at home. So it's great. That's awesome.

Scott Brandley 3:22

Yeah, we like La Yeah. And the PCC is right there. Does she ever get to go there?

Jerald Simon 3:28

So she does once a week. She does the tram tours that they go and take individuals to the PCC. This past week they actually went and took a tour of the PCC. She had been there once before as well, and I believe they'll go again before she ends her mission. But they primarily are on the outside or they're right at the entrance welcoming people, but they don't get to visit all of the different islands that are represented at the PCC. Yeah.

Darla Brandley 4:02

Well, that's a fun place. We do love going and visiting, though.

Jerald Simon 4:06

Yeah.

Scott Brandley 4:07

Are you gonna go pick her up at the end?

Jerald Simon 4:09

Exactly. Well, we want to go pick her up at the end. They did say they discouraged that having you come and pick them up because now they're saying they don't want to have either the elder or sister missionary visit within their ward bound their mission boundaries until they've been released. So we would need to have her come home, be released, and then we'll go back. But we are planning to go back with her shortly after she's released.

Darla Brandley 4:40

Oh, that's fun. That'll be fun.

Jerald Simon 4:42

It will be wonderful.

Scott Brandley 4:45

Well, awesome. Well, we're really excited to hear about your story. So why don't we turn the time over to you and tell us where your story begins?

Jerald falls from a cliff at 8 years old

Jerald’s new perspective on life

Jerald’s limited memories from childhood

Jerald Simon 4:53

Oh, thank you. Well, my story begins as a little boy. So I'm a twin, actually. I have a twin brother. His name is Josh. So if I ever see you and I don't say hello, I apologize. It's probably my twin. It's not me. But yes, it's very close. We look very similar. Growing up, people would refer to us as Simon, the Simon twins. And even though that's my last name, it became somewhat of a first name because everyone just called me Simon since they couldn't tell the two of us apart. And as twins, we loved exploring the outdoors. When we were eight years old, it was a week to the day after my baptism. The following Saturday after I was baptized, my twin brother and I and a friend of ours were playing up at the base below Ben Loman Mountain Peak. I grew up in Pleasant View, Utah. So up in that area, we were exploring all over, and we would just roam the mountainside, and we decided to see what the world looked like from on top of a cliff. I climbed the face of the cliff as a little eight-year-old boy. My twin and my friend climbed up out from the rock crevice. It was we called a snake pit. It went down into this gulf where there were snakes. My twin and friend climbed up out and they walked around to the back, and we had a race to see who could get to the top first. Now, obviously, my friend and my twin beat me to the top. The first thing I remember, I was about five feet from the top, hanging onto a ledge, and I heard voices above me. And my friend was carrying what looked like a large rock. It was probably only a small rock. We were eight. How big could it have been? But he tripped and he hit the ground. And I remember holding onto the cliff where I was a hundred feet up, looking up, and the rock hit the very tip of the cliff and came down and hit me on the chest, and I blacked out. And I have no memory of what happened. Interestingly enough, I fell off the 100-foot cliff, and as a result of that fall, my head was cracked open completely. There's a reason I part my hair kind of this way. I have a crack that goes all the way down my head. I had to get 26 staples in my head. But I have no memory of anything before the fall. It's as if it was all wiped clean. I don't even remember my baptism. I've seen pictures, I know it happened, but I have no memory of anything before the fall. The first time I even remember any memories is waking up in the ambulance surrounded by all of these paramedics and MDs who were covered, they were emergency responders, but they were covered from head to toe in protective gloves, a mask, because there was so much blood. And someone was kind of holding my hand and saying everything would be okay, and that was my father who rode in the ambulance with me. And then I blacked out again. And so I have no memory of anything that happened before. What is fascinating about this fall is that I did not break any bones. I cracked my head open, and from the waist up, my entire chest, front and back, was covered, it was black and blue. What we think happened is that I instead of falling the full 100 feet, there was barbed wire all along the edge of this cliff, and we think I may have fallen 10 or 20 feet, and then my body hit the barbed wire, which slowed me down because I have cuts and scars all over my body from that fall. But then my chest or my back would smack against the side of the cliff, but I didn't break any bones, and I continued to do this all the way down, and that was kind of my introduction to life. I have no memory of anything before that experience. And what is so interesting about that particular fall, it changed the way I lived my life. It changed the way I saw every single person, the way I experienced each new day. I often joke with my kids and say, when we fall down, we get back up. Whether we fall down physically or whether we fall down emotionally, whether we fall down spiritually, financially, whatever kind of fall it is, we can always get back up. And so I guess my story begins back at that pivotal moment in my life. And it was really a fascinating experience to have because my entire eight to nine-year-old experience is very fuzzy. I don't actually have very many memories from that time period. I do remember going to the hospital frequently, and I had a big cast on my head. I remember having seizures frequently. I remember being at home and falling off the couch and having a seizure in my living room with my family around and everyone trying to try and make me comfortable and my father securing my head. I remember being at school since I didn't break any bones. After a few months I went back to school, and I can remember falling out of my chair and falling from the desk into the middle of the aisle at eight years of old. I was in second grade, and the teacher had to ask everyone to move the chairs away because I was shaking so violently, and they had to call the ambulance and call the principal to come down. And these seizures were so violent, but they stopped after my father gave me a very powerful and prophetic priesthood blessing. And in that blessing, he said, I would never have another seizure in my life, and I never have from that time forward. So very interesting.

Darla Brandley 11:36

So powerful. I love that.

Jerald growing up with music

Jerald Simon 11:39

And and it changed the way I lived each day. Now, of course, I was rambunctious and wild as young boys are. And he would often say that I would always talk about Joseph Smith. I've always loved Joseph Smith, but my parents were worried I was going to die, and when I was eight, they thought their fears had actually come to pass. Because I would always say, I miss Joseph, referring to Joseph Smith, and I would say, I miss Joseph, and I want to go back and be with him. And I would describe Joseph in such detail to my father, the color of his eyes, how tall he was, even a whistle that he had, of course, from when they chipped his teeth when they were trying to pour the poison and alcohol into his his mouth, and I didn't know that as a little boy. And they were worried that I would die and go back and be with Joseph. So when I fell off this cliff, my parents thought I was going to go back home to be with Joseph Smith. And I've often wondered if I had many spiritual experiences, as I believe many children do, who are much closer to the veil. And I wonder if I had those spiritual experiences, and falling down was almost the Lord's way to say, you need to live by faith. We're going to cause you to forget everything you have seen and experienced as a little boy, so that you can now live by faith. It's a very interesting thought that I have often thought about. Exactly. And and that's what I believe happened. And so it that was a life-changing moment for me. But growing up, my father had been a professional musician. He's a convert to the church. And and so growing up, we all played instruments in our home. Above the piano, there was a sign that said, Thou shalt not whine. It was the 11th commandment in our home. Thou shalt not whine about playing the piano, practicing the piano. And my parents had us so convinced that everyone woke up at five in the morning to practice their instruments before going to school, that I personally believed this is what everyone did. And I remember in third grade, I asked my friends what time they woke up in the morning to practice their instruments. And my friends said, What instruments? And I said, Well, you know, the we had to play at least three. Anything above three was optional, but I would play for half an hour on the piano and then half an hour on the organ, and then I started doing the string bass and at the end of fifth grade, first part of sixth grade. And so I asked my friend what time he woke up to practice his instruments, and he said, I don't play any instruments. I play soccer and baseball and football. And I said, I know I I play those sports with you as well, but what about the instruments that you play? And he said, I play the radio. And it was the first time that I realized my parents had, in a way, duped us to thinking this is what everyone does. Everyone wakes up and plays instruments before they go to school. And I realized that wasn't the case. But I'm grateful for that because that's what I do professionally. I became a professional musician and and I started writing books and coming out with albums, and and I'm so grateful that my parents had that mindset and taught us, I guess, the the 11th commandment, thou shalt play the piano, closely followed by the 12th commandment, thou shalt not whine about playing the piano. I love that.

Scott Brandley 16:28

Yeah, I can I can play three instruments too. I can play the bass, the get the guitar, and the drums on rock band.

Jerald Simon 16:36

Hey, there you go. See? You've got to start, you've got to start somewhere. It's an edge. You've got it. That's great.

Darla Brandley 16:45

That's actually very, very profound of your parents to do because you know, if it's if it's just expected, this is just what we do, then that's what we do, right? And you get further than, well, maybe if they want to, you know.

Jerald Simon 17:01

Oh, it wasn't an option. It was just this is what you do. And all of a sudden I realized I guess this isn't what everyone does, but this is what we do. And and of course, at the time, I didn't appreciate it like I do now. But I'm as a kid, you can never. I I've never met an adult who said, I took piano lessons when I was a kid, and I quit, and it was the best decision I ever made.

Darla Brandley 17:30

They always know they never say that. They never say that.

Jerald Simon 17:34

No, they never say that. They they always regret it, and they always say later on, I wish I would have kept up playing piano or guitar or drums, whatever the instrument may be. But yes, it's it's powerful.

Scott Brandley 17:49

Was that a was that a good bonding experience? Like as you look back with your family playing those instruments and doing, I guess, jam sessions together.

Jerald offers piano lessons at his mission

Jerald Simon 17:59

Like oh, absolutely. Well, and it was fun because we would jam together. And my I have a twin brother, as I mentioned, he plays guitar and piano, and and we would play, he'd be on guitar, I'd be on the piano, we would sing together. We even started doing now. We were weird teenagers, but we would do firesides in high school. We had a group of friends with us, and we would put on the entire fireside. We would do the talks, we would perform the musical selections. I mean, it was a very interesting experience. When I was on the seminary council in high school, every Sunday we would go and usually we would speak in anywhere from two to four wards every Sunday. And when I was a senior, my father was the bishop of our ward, and he came to me and he said, He said, Gerald, I just want you to know, I know you're visiting three to four plus wards every single Sunday, but it looks like you're inactive in our ward because you're out visiting all these other wards. You know, you kind of need to make some time for our ward as well. I know on Sundays all you're doing is going and speaking in wards, but you need to come back and visit your home ward every now and then as well. And we said, okay, we will. Sorry, we'll but it again, it it's something that I was able to take playing the piano, and I was able to use it on my mission. When I was in the MTC, I served my mission in Brazil, and you know, when you're in the MTC as a missionary and they have you do service, well, we would go and clean rooms, we would vacuum stack chairs over at the MTC Center down in Provo. And my district said, Elder Simon, we just want you to sit at the piano and you serenade us and you play anything you want while we do all the cleaning. And at the time, the MTC mission president even said, if Gerald knows the song and if he knows the words, I'll let him sing it. So I would sing Beatles songs and Billy Joel, and I would just because I knew the words and I could play it on the piano, and so I would serenade our district, and that was my service. They never let me do the vacuuming or stack the chairs, they just told me to play the piano. On the mission, I actually taught piano lessons. It was so much more effective than knocking doors. We were teaching English in the schools down in Brazil, and I approached my mission president and said, Could we teach piano lessons at the Stake Center? We'll put flyers up all around the city, free piano lessons, and for two to three hours in the morning, all we will do is I will teach piano lessons, and while I'm teaching piano lessons, my companion can tell all of these people who are coming for free piano lessons who we are and what we're doing there. It was so much more effective than knocking doors. We would have hundreds of people. It was unbelievable. I I remember we had one mother who brought three or four of her kids, and I was teaching them, and and then we asked if we could go to their home later that evening and teach a first discussion, and she said, Yes. Do you mind if we invite a few guests? We said, Absolutely. We went to her backyard and they had over 60 people in their backyard. And they brought food and they brought drinks and they had a little party, and so then we taught a first discussion to this army of people, and it was so much more effective because we were connecting with the people. That's one way to use piano to change lives.

Scott Brandley 21:57

That that must have been an amazing experience.

Jerald Simon 22:00

Oh, it was wonderful. We even, my mission president decided we would put together a missionary choir. We had over 240 missionaries, elders and sisters, that we would bring in from all the different areas, and we would have them sing in this big choir at Christmas time at all the local malls. And every week we would sing Christmas songs in English and Portuguese. I was at the piano. We had another elder who had released a few albums playing the saxophone before his mission. Somehow we found a saxophone that he could play. We found another elder who played the violin, and we had an elder who had been at BYU in the men's chorus, and he directed the choir, and it was superb. It was such an unforgettable experience to share the gospel through music.

Darla Brandley 22:57

So it's your talents being used for missionary work. I love that. And it's specifically your um the way that you can touch as many people as they can, because it's your talent, it's the way that you can touch as many people.

Jerald starts his music school post-mission

Jerald starts composing meditation music and poetry books

More about Jerald’s book, “The Musical Realm,” and album, “Sweet Melancholy”

Jerald Simon 23:12

I always tell people the two universal languages: one is a smile because everyone speaks a smile, regardless of culture, race, destination, locale, everyone can speak a smile. The other is music. Music can touch people, it can teach people. And so after my mission, when I came home, I met my beautiful wife up at Weaver State University, and we were on the Institute Council together, and we were married, and I started teaching piano lessons. And initially, I was teaching a few students here and there, and then all of a sudden it started to balloon. At one time, I I had almost 50 piano students, and I came out with a few music books. I created a company called Music Motivation, and I started coming out with various music books to teach music the fun way. And what happened was I went from having almost 50 students to having almost 100 piano students, one-on-one piano students, which no one should do. That is a big that's that's a lot. I was working, my daughter, who is almost 20 at the time she was a newborn, and I was teaching Monday through Saturday almost 10 to 13 hour days. Wow. And I just couldn't say no to anyone. But part of the problem was I had all these students who hated the piano. Since my company's called Music Motivation, they came in and their parents or their piano teacher said, I want you to teach my son. Most of them were teenage boys who wanted to quit piano lessons. And so they did not want to do anything. And I had this challenge: how do I motivate and excite these students? And I started composing and creating music for them during their piano lesson. They could tell me, they could pick a style, choose a genre, they could tell me what they wanted me to create or compose, and then I composed it during their 30-minute lesson. I would actually compose it, then notate it on the computer, print it out, and send it home with them. And I would tell them, all you have to do is learn how to play this and then bring it back. And then next week I want you to perform it for me. I remember one student, three days after I had done this, his mom called me and she said, What did you do at the piano lesson? And I thought, oh boy, here I I'm in what did I do? I don't know what and she said, she said, I can't get my son off the piano. All he does is keep playing this song over and over again. And it happened to be called Game Over because this kid said he only wanted to play music that sounded like video game music. And so I started creating and composing music for these students. The next lesson, not only had he mastered it and perfected Game Over, but he actually came to his lesson and he brought his friend who wanted to start taking piano lessons from me. And I started coming out with music book after music book. I've come out with over 43, 44 music books, most of which are original compositions that I've created, many that are meditation, relaxation, music, hymn arrangements, different styles, different genres. But I started really wanting to focus on peace and positivity, and how to help people experience more peace and positivity in their life. And I started drawing more on my experience as a young boy, what I went through, and also I wanted to help people understand that they can turn to the Lord for their ultimate peace and positivity. And I started creating meditation and relaxation music. And I would actually go out into nature and I would record ocean waves and I would record chirping and the bees buzzing, and I would record the wind or rivers and streams. And then I would incorporate that with music that I created that was set at 60 beats per minute to help people feel more peace and positivity. And I started coming out with motivational, inspirational poetry books that I've written. And I'll I may read one or two of those, you know, later. And I started coming out with here's a book, How to Experience More Peace and Positivity in Life, The 30 Day Challenge. And everything that I was doing, it was having a similar theme, how to combine motivation and music. Of course, my company is music motivation. But I started, you know, motivation in a minute, where I would take original photography, I love photography, and then I would write a little motivational message that people could read in under a minute. And so as I started, as an example, I'll the musical realm. I just barely finished this. Is a new book I just finished. And this is kind of what this is what I'm trying to do with individuals and with myself. The musical realm, the subtitle says Look to the Light and Listen to the Music Within. And it's a story about five children. Many people who have read this say it's as if I took C.S. Lewis and combined it with Augmandino. And it's like a combination of the two. But there's a boy who's almost 14. His name is Matthew, a teen boy. And what happens is, and I my son is named Matthew, but Matthew goes to a piano lesson with a new mysterious piano teacher named Markham Darius. And during the first lesson, Markham Darius can tell that Matthew isn't feeling it, doesn't want to practice, doesn't want to play the piano, and so his piano teacher tells him that he will never truly enjoy and appreciate music until he gets inside music and discovers what it's all about. And with that, a lightning bolt bursts from the sheet music on the piano in front of him, and fog begins to creep out and seep out through the music onto the floor and surrounds him. And he hears cries and groans from within the sheet music. And of course, you hear the thunder, and and Matthew is sucked inside the musical score, and he enters the musical realm, and the entire book is learning how to look to the light and how to listen to the music within. To listen to the music within, which of course is listening to the Holy Ghost, that conscience, that still small voice that is within us. And so for me, that has been my entire focus is how can I help share peace and positivity with the world. Wow.

Darla Brandley 31:02

I love that. That is so fun. I want to read that book. I'm excited.

Jerald Simon 31:05

I would love to have you read that book. Thank you.

Darla Brandley 31:07

I shall read any of them because I read everything. But I that's exciting. I love it.

Scott Brandley 31:14

Thank you. What a cool spin to bring in an adventure book into music. That's really cool, really clever.

Jerald Simon 31:25

Thank you. Well, and the characters, what what people have found intriguing is the characters in this book are actually real life characters in the musical realm from music terminology. He meets the grand staff, he meets the king, who happens to be a member of the Clef family dynasty. And every character, you know, they when he first falls into the musical realm, I won't give everything away, but he is surrounded by eight knights. They're knights of nobility, but they are the eighth notes, is what they are. In real life, you know, personification in the musical realm, they are real people. So all throughout, anyone who knows even just a little about music, and I explain it as it goes throughout, but it's combining music with religion and with philosophy and with a fun, exciting story. And all throughout, you know, we have Matthew, we have Simon, here we have Saint Summer, and my daughter's name is Summer. Saint Summer is a mystical angelic seraph that they meet. We have Preston the Prodigy, my son's name is Preston, Lady Giselle, the daughter of the king and queen, and they go on this quest. And of course, the quest is to help them grow and help them learn how to look to the light and learn how to listen to the music within, but they are trying to help different individuals and change people along the way, and they change in the process. You know, at the in the cover, they're looking toward the castle of contentment. And so again, it's it's this quest. We are all on this quest, and part of what I wanted to portray with this is we're striving to return back to our heavenly home. And what will it take to get there? Yeah, and what can we do? And and we're all on our own individual path, our own individual journey, but how can we help each other learn how to look to the light, listen to the music within, and return back to our heavenly home? So kind of a fun story, but yeah.

Scott Brandley 33:51

How did you come up with it?

Jerald Simon 33:53

You know, I actually started the idea back in 2016. I came up with the idea for the book. This is book one in a five-book series. I've already outlined books two, three, four, and five. Right now I'm working on books two and three. I actually have most of the first five chapters on book two finished, and I'll be finishing that in the next few months, and then I'll start finishing book three. But I actually have every chapter outlined with a synopsis of what will happen in every chapter of every book all the way through the end of the series. So I just need to finish writing the book and the series for each of the books. But I came up with the idea going back to piano lessons, and I still teach piano lessons to this day, but instead of teaching Monday through Saturday 10 to 13 hours, now I just teach three days a week, usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and it's more like four to six hours. And then I focus more of my time on books and albums and doing motivational speaking or fires or doing other things on top of that. But I'll always teach. I love teaching. And again, it was this idea of how do I combine everything I love? Music, teaching, philosophy, motivation, inspiration, poetry, how do I combine everything in a way that I can try to help people get excited about this musical world? And then I started thinking, well, what would I call it? The musical realm. And then they enter the musical realm. And so even at the very end of this book, I on page 322 of the book, I then tell people book one is the musical realm, book two is the dismal abyss, where they go to a place that is they don't have the light, they can't hear the music within. And so it's the dismal abyss. Book three is the age of enlightenment, book four is the realm of realism, and book five is the music continues. And what is interesting about this, right here, I have Sweet Melancholy, and I have an album that I came out with of Sweet Melancholy, and I have the piano music of Sweet Melancholy. This is what that cover looks like.

Darla Brandley 36:25

Well, I want that too.

Jerald Simon 36:27

This is for the piano. I'd love to have you play it. And so right now I'm actually finishing an album of Sweet Melancholy that has orchestrations. I have just the piano uploaded, people can listen to, but I'm finishing an album where it has the piano. I already recorded the piano, and then we're adding strings, cello, and violin, and then we're adding some acoustic guitar. But what is fascinating is at the end of the musical realm book, Matthew is given a new piece to play that is actually found in Sweet Melancholy. And so I incorporate the music that people can hear. And what most people don't realize in this book, and this is it's like those little hidden gems that you can find different places. I actually have about 15, 16 albums that I've come out with, and most of the albums have anywhere from 10 to 16 individual songs that I've composed. Some have lyrics where I'm singing. You know, I have a song titled I Believe God Has a Plan for Me where I'm singing, and then we have guitar, drums, bass, and you can hear that. But throughout this book, I have the titles of almost every song from every album I've done and every music that I've composed written in this book just in everyday speech, where people may not know what I'm doing, but they'll read a sentence and it makes perfect sense. But I've included the title of my song within that sentence. Just as a little hidden vestige for them to find and a little nugget. Even some of my poetry, I've included some of the titles of the poems that I've done within the book. So just a fun way to kind of tie everything together in one collection.

Darla Brandley 38:35

But I love that. That is so fun. I want to like pick them out now. I want to go read them both.

Scott Brandley 38:40

Yeah.

Jerald Simon 38:41

I'd love to have you read it. Thank you.

Scott Brandley 38:43

That's cool how you integrate the music with the book, too. Yeah.

The power of music theory

Rearranging hymns on the spot

Jerald Simon 38:49

Well, music is so powerful, and I think sometimes we don't realize how powerful music can be. And music hits us on so many different levels with a lot of my meditation relaxation music that I've composed. I usually will compose it at 60 beats per minute because the heartbeat responds to rhythm. Now, music composers know this, and film composers do an outstanding job of using that to their advantage. If you think of Jaws as an example, John Williams did a masterful job. He used a minor second interval, and it was just that second interval going back and forth to create the Jaws theme, but he starts slowly. Now, when our heartbeat is at a calm, rested rate, it's about 60 beats per minute. Our heartbeat responds to rhythm. So as the rhythm speeds up and gets faster and faster, our heartbeat starts beating faster and faster until we actually scare ourselves because the heartbeat is beating so quickly because of the music and the acceleration of the rhythm. And it's masterfully portrayed in Jaws, that very theme. Starts out slowly, and then it gets faster and faster and faster and faster until we scare ourselves. And music has a power to both not only move us and change us for the better, it can be both instructive and destructive. It can both hurt us and heal us. Music, depending on how loud it is, depending on the words that are attached when you have lyrics with music, it can be used for good or unfortunately for evil. And one of my favorite things to do, I do various firesides where I will go and speak and I will perform and I'll sing, but I'll also just play instrumental music. And I love taking hymns from the hymn book or the primary children's songbook, and I love asking the audience to tell me what their favorite hymn from the hymn book is and why it's their favorite hymn. And when they tell me that, and they share the story behind why it's their favorite hymn, I then incorporate what they've shared with me into how I arrange the hymn, and then I arrange the hymn on the spot. And if they talk about a very turbulent time, I may make the left hand a very rugged, turbulent sound, or if they talk about how it was a very dark, depressing moment in their life, I may put the music in a minor key signature and make it sound dark and destructive. And then we have a transition where we go from the minor key to the major key as if they're receiving the light. And I it's just something I enjoy doing because I can feed off of what they explain and what they share with me.

Scott Brandley 41:52

Yeah. I've listened to some of your music, and I actually noticed that you did that in Joseph Smith's first prayer.

Jerald Simon 42:00

Exactly. I did that very thing at Joseph Smith's first prayer. And the reason why I did that, on that verse that I was playing, it says, In prison, I saw him next condemned. Well, I've been to both Liberty Jail and Carthage Jail. And I'm sure, as you know, when you're there, you can feel of that darkness. You think of what happened when Joseph was in Liberty Jail in the bleak and the cold winter, and yet the music sounds so happy, you know, referring to when he was, of course, in Carthage, but it sounds like in prison I saw him, you know, so happy and cheerful. And it's just so upbeat, and I wanted to put it into the minor key. So I actually took it from the major key signature and put it into the minor aeoline mode, and it changes the entire feeling and experience of the music. Yeah, and people can feel that.

Scott Brandley 42:59

Yeah, I I even liked how you started it because it was very slow and light, and it all like I don't know, it was really cool. I I liked how you put that together, it was very unique.

Jerald Simon 43:13

Well, that album was an interesting album. That's from my hymns of the heart album. Okay. And when I went into the studio to record that, and and I I'll share this every now and then. I actually didn't know what I was going to do before each hymn. What you hear when I'm performing and playing that, I I talked to the audio engineer, and I said, I haven't actually worked out what I'm going to do. This is what I'd like to do. And he's a good member of the church. His name is Michael Gibbons, and and wonderful, wonderful man. And and I said, Michael, what I'd like to do is before I play each hymn, I'd like to bow my head and say a prayer. And then I'd like us to do one take. And whatever comes out, we'll keep it. And we'll just, I may change keys, I may put it in a minor key, whatever, but whatever comes out, I'd like us to keep it. And on that particular hymn, we did two different takes. It was the only one that we did two takes on that, because I had an idea when I was doing the first one, and I changed keys, and then I thought, oh, I want to do another change. And and so I said, let's just start this over again. And I did it again, but the second time was almost completely different than I had done the first time. But I just felt like I wanted to say a prayer before recording those, and then whatever came out came out. That's really cool.

Darla Brandley 44:49

I love that.

Jerald Simon 44:50

Thank you.

Darla Brandley 44:51

That's that definitely shows talent too. I cannot compose to save my life. Thank you. But I mean, I can play the piano, but I cannot compose. And I I love that that you use that talent so for God's light. Thank you, you know, and and to to spread that. That is wonderful.

Jerald Simon 45:11

Thank you. I I know that it is a gift from God, and I know that we each have been blessed with various talents and various gifts, and and our Heavenly Father wants us to use those to build up his kingdom here on earth, to testify of him, to help people learn how to look to the light and listen to the music within, how to focus on the good in a world that has become increasingly more evil. And I think for me, many times I feel as if Heavenly Father is pouring out the creativity and it's coming to me and coming through me. And I know it's Him, it's His work. And I'm just the instrument in His hands to do His work. And that's what I try to do, is that hopefully some of my music can help someone who may be struggling or someone who may be in a very dark place because music has that power to transform and to change us for the better. And that's why I've tried to focus so much on sharing peace and positivity with the world. I feel like that has become a mission for me. And we're we know we are in the last days. We know we are preparing for the second coming and the Savior's return. And the world, there's so much negativity, there's so much pessimism, there is so much despair. And and I hope that I can help people know that they can turn to the true source of ultimate happiness, ultimate peace and positivity. It's the pureness. And that comes because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes because of his goodness, his influence, and his perfect example. And so that's why many of the poetry that I've written or the motivation self-help books that I've created, in many ways, I feel like I was creating them first for me to help inspire me. That it was as if the words were coming to me and coming through me. And it was as if I needed a poetic pick-me-up, and the Lord was able to help inspire me, and then I could share these messages with the world. Do you mind if I read a poem?

Darla Brandley 47:45

Please, that would be wonderful.

Jerald Simon 47:48

As an example, let me I'll just read maybe one or two, but this is from my book, The As If Principle, Motivational Poetry. And this has 222 inspirational, motivational poems that I've written over the years. And I, as I've mentioned, most were written to inspire me when I was having dark days, when I needed to have my hope strengthened in my savior, and when I was needing a little poetic pick me up. And so this is titled I believe in you, and it's on page 12. Let me read this to you. It says, I believe in you, I believe in all that you can do. I believe you're intelligent. I believe in your dreams, I believe circumstance is irrelevant. It never is quite what it seems. I believe in your abilities, I believe in your word. I believe you'll do what you say you will do. Because I believe in you. You are capable, you are able, you are more powerful than you know. You'll accomplish what you want to accomplish, you'll learn and improve and grow. I believe in your future. I believe you will do your best. I believe you will prosper. I believe you will be blessed. I believe in your talents, I believe in your gifts. I believe God has a purpose for you. He inspires, prepares, and lifts. I believe in your greatness, I believe in your heart, I believe you have a mission in life, and will fulfill and do your part. I hope you believe in yourself. I hope you believe in your dreams, that I know you will do what you were sent here to do. Your life is much more than it seems. And again, that was written to help inspire me, but I hope others can read those words and and know that they have purpose. That their life is more than what it seems to be. And that comes about when we put our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and turn our life over to him.

Scott Brandley 50:11

You have 222 of those? That's amazing.

Jerald’s poem, “Where Are The Men?”

Being in the world and not of the world

Jerald Simon 50:16

I have 222 in here, and then I have a hundred and I think sixty-five in here. I have another poetry book I'll be coming out with that has another 200, and I have another poetry book I'll be coming out with actually in two months. That is kind of a silly, nonsensical poetry book, kind of like Dr. Seuss meets Shell Silverstein, and so it's a funny, but that one will be coming out in a few months, and that one is called Poetry Schmoetry. But yeah, I just I love writing poetry, and and sometimes when when I have a free minute here and there, and the inspiration can come from anything. I I went to a funeral of a wonderful man when we were living up in Fruit Heights, and of course, at funerals you often hear amazing stories, and you you hear the best of the individual. And yeah, and sadly, sometimes you think, wow, I wish I would have known this sooner, or I wish I would have talked to this individual more. But as I was listening to his children speak about him and what an amazing, phenomenal man he was and is, I started thinking about my own father and how amazing my father is. And I started thinking about my grandfathers, and I started thinking about my father-in-law and and all of the good men in the world. And I actually, on page 10, just two pages before the previous one I read, I wrote this poem titled Where Are the Men? And the words were just coming to me while I was sitting there at his funeral, and the words were just coming to me so quickly. I'll just quickly read this one. It's titled Where are the Men? It says Where are the men? Where are the men who valiantly fought for freedom and virtue and truth? Where are the men who are honest at heart, who are pure as the innocent youth? Where are the men who openly weep with women when they mourn? Where are the men who are strong as an ox, yet gentle as a newborn? Where are the men of character, stalwart, faithful and true? Where are the men who love their wives and never their vows would undo? Where are the men of substance, of honor and pride and self worth? Where are the men with courage to stand up and challenge the earth? Where are the men with manners, with morals and values and heart? Where are the men unafraid to be men who are willing to do their part? Where are the men who are manly men, gentle, noble and true? Where are the men who know what it means to be men? Are there really so few who know what real men do? Let us be men, courageous men, unafraid to do our part. Let us be stalwart, faithful and true, with morals and values and heart. Let us be men with standards, convictions, faith, and love. Let us be good men and great men with assistance from above. And again, that was thinking about all of the great men who have been wonderful examples in my life. And so I I wanted to convey that, but again it felt as if the words were just coming to me and coming through me. I believe many times that creativity it comes from our Heavenly Father. I believe many times we were foreordained to compose music or to write poetry. And oftentimes I believe we're just remembering what we had already created in our preexistence, in our pre-mortal life. It's just coming back to us and it's coming through us. And again, I I think the more we can tap into that creative self within us, because we are all children of God, our creator. He wants us to create, he wants us to be creative, he wants us to be positive and upbeat and share that peace and positivity with everyone around us. And so I'm I'm hoping that's what I can do as I continue to share these with others. Wow.

Darla Brandley 55:06

That was very powerful, Paul. That was very nice.

Jerald Simon 55:09

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Darla Brandley 55:12

It reminds me of my own father.

Jerald Simon 55:16

I bet you have wonderful memories with your father. And it's what I do. And again, looking at it, I often tell my children when we fall down, we can get back up, and I tell them various quotes, work is wonderful and different things, but I believe that our Heavenly Father wants us, as the scripture says, to be in the world and not of the world. And how we do that is to learn how to see with eternal eyes, how to hear with heavenly ears, and and and we start to look beyond the things of mortality and focus on what is truly most important, and that is the things of eternity. And that's when the veil can thin. That's when we connect with people on a much deeper level, and it changes us eternally.

Darla Brandley 56:16

Yeah, so true.

Scott Brandley 56:20

Your poems are not only inspirational, they're aspirational.

Jerald Simon 56:25

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Scott Brandley 56:26

As you shared both of those, like it made me want to be a better person. Right?

Jerald Simon 56:33

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Scott Brandley 56:37

I feel like blessed that you shared that with us. Honestly, like thank you for sharing. That was that was amazing.

Jerald Simon 56:48

Thank you. I I appreciate sorry, I'm a calling.

Darla Brandley 56:52

No, no, I cry through the whole thing.

Jerald Simon 56:53

You're you're okay. I I completely I know exactly how that is. I I'm a weeper. I cry at everything.

Scott Brandley 57:01

So well, and your your ability to turn those your thoughts into words so eloquently is truly a gift. Because it's hard to put into words how we're feeling a lot of the times. And it is.

Jerald Simon 58:00

And he was one of those individuals where if you met him, your life was forever changed. He was larger than life. And I remember meeting an individual who had met him and had only known him for a few hours. But when we met this gentleman, and my wife said that she was his granddaughter, this gentleman began just crying, tears welling up. And he said that very thing to us. He said, One minute in his presence would change your life eternally. He said he could look in your soul, and he was very influential. He became friends, his best friend was David O'Maye, and he was a mission president, and and two of his missionaries were actually Elder Holland and Elder Cook. And one one time when he was a mission president, and Elder Holland and Elder Cook were actually companions, and they were in the zone conference. He stood up, and from the pulpit, he prophesied, and he said, There are elders in this zone conference today that will be the top leaders of this church one day. Wow. And you can imagine looking around, everyone wondering who that was going to be. Not knowing Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was sitting next to them, and Elder Cook was right next to so but fascinating. No, no, not at all. You know, 20-year-old kids not not knowing what was going on, and I know just that's so fun.

Darla Brandley 59:58

I love that.

Scott Brandley 1:00:00

But it's it is something that we can all work towards, and you know, I it listening to things like that, and I and man, I just love your entire message because it is a the music can help us to get into that state, the the words can help us get into that state, you know, it just changes your thought pattern, it puts you in a positive place. There's just so much good that you're doing, Gerald.

Jerald Simon 1:00:26

And thank you.

Scott Brandley 1:00:27

Yeah, and thanks for coming on and sharing that. And you know, uh, we are so just lucky to be able to even share your message and hopefully you know get that out there so that people can hear this because they need to. This is very much needed in the world today.

Jerald Simon 1:00:47

Thank you, and thank you for having me on your show. I know there is so much needless negativity, but if we can focus on positivity, if we can focus on what truly matters most, it will change each day and will be changed for the better. So thank you. I appreciate that.

Jerald’s purpose and mission in life

Scott Brandley 1:01:08

Yeah. Um, what do you think about like what do you want your legacy to be? I know you've probably thought about it. You probably have a poem about it.

Final thoughts and where to find Jerald’s work

Jerald Simon 1:01:17

Actually, I do, but in all of my books, I have on the front page, I usually have a little mission statement. And I have several mission statements that I've made throughout my life at various times, but this talks about my purpose and mission in life. And it's just one short paragraph, but this is what it says. It says, My purpose and mission in life is to motivate myself and others through my music and writing, to help others find their purpose and mission in life, and to teach values that encourage everyone everywhere to do and be their best. And I think that's what we all need. That's what we want. It's what Heavenly Father wants for us. It's about being better today than we were yesterday. It's about striving to be better tomorrow than we are today, but realizing that as we go about doing good, as the Savior did, we can be the best version of ourselves today. We won't be perfect, we'll still make mistakes, and that's okay. But we're striving to be better. President Nelson often talked about progressing along the covenant path. And in my book, The Musical Realm, it's the quest, the ultimate quest, the quest of all quests to help us get back home. And it's returning to our heavenly home above, being better today than we were yesterday. And we can all do that, walking hand in hand as we help each other along the way. And that's what is so wonderful about life. We're all in this together. Yeah.

Darla Brandley 1:03:01

Yeah, we are.

Scott Brandley 1:03:03

Well, I think you just got two more fans.

Jerald Simon 1:03:06

Thank you. Very kind. Appreciate it.

Scott Brandley 1:03:11

Oh, wow. Thanks, Gerald, for coming on, man. This has been amazing. Um, everyone that's watching, please go hit that share button. Let's get this light, let's get this message out there. This needs to get to as many people as possible. This is the kind of stuff that can change lives and can help people to want to be better and do better, but also give them hope, right? Like as you've been talking, I've just felt so much hope. And thank you. It's it's almost like just like drinking a refreshing drink, you know, like when you're really hot and you just get that cold glass of lemonade and you're just tastes so good. That's how I feel like listening to your words.

Jerald Simon 1:03:57

Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Yeah.

Scott Brandley 1:04:01

Well, we I think we're gonna have to have you on again because it's okay. I'd love to be fun.

Jerald Simon 1:04:07

Yeah, let me know. Anytime we'll do it. So that'll be great.

Scott Brandley 1:04:12

So the book once again is the musical realm.

Jerald Simon 1:04:15

The musical realm. Yep. It's the first book in the series. There are five books in the series, and we'll be coming out with the second book later this year. But that's what it's titled: The Musical Realm. Look to the light and listen to the music within.

Scott Brandley 1:04:30

Awesome. And where can people get that?

Jerald Simon 1:04:32

They can get it anywhere. My website is musicmotivation.com, but you can listen to my music or buy any of my books on Amazon.com. You can go to any of the streaming sites, Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, whatever you'd like. I have a podcast that I started coming out with. I just do one podcast usually a week, sometimes every other week, but it is music, motivation, and more, the positivity podcast with Gerald Simon. So you can check that out.

Scott Brandley 1:05:05

Perfect. Yeah, we'll put all of that in the show notes so people can go look at it and hopefully buy some of your stuff. I think that'll be great.

Jerald Simon 1:05:14

Okay.

Scott Brandley 1:05:15

Yeah, thanks again for being on. Thanks everyone for tuning in and to hear Gerald's story. We hope you were inspired and uplifted. And once again, go and share it with others. That's how we get this message out there. And if you have a story that you'd like to share, go to latterdaylights.com or email us at latterdaylights at gmail.com. And till then, till next week, we'll talk to you with another episode of Latterday Lights. Till then, take care. Bye-bye.