By Jonathan Whitcomb [updated Sep 15, 2022]
Last month (June of 2022), I wrote the short choir piece “Come to Christ”, which begins with a modification of part of II Nephi 30:21 and over a period of weeks revised it up to version #120:
Press forward: Feast on the word of Christ;
Behold you shall have eternal life. . . .
By mid-September I had revised it many times: The final version is #134.
New Music Harmony System
The harmonic style in this brief composition for choir fundamentally differs from the common harmonic practice in Western music during the past three hundred years. Instead of having dominant and subdominant chords, this new style has a four-note chord that takes the place of both dominant and subdominant: called the “perfect chord” (4P).
It is based upon consecutive perfect fifths vertically: In the key of C, the raw form of this chord is in the notes F, C, G, and D, from lowest to highest; in practice, however, this raw form is uncommon, with one or more notes bumped up or down at least an octave.
An important point of this harmonic style is this: The perfect chord never resolves to the dominant seventh. In other words, in the key of C the note C does not resolve to a B.
Yet in spite of this difference in the basic harmonic foundation, it is close enough that the great majority of music listeners should not be shocked or uncomfortable with this new system of music harmony.
To see the full score, click on the image below:
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New Book of Mormon music for choir
Behold my Son, my Beloved Son:
Come unto Him for eternal life.
Behold His hands, his feet and side:
For you he bled and died.
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Music in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Jesus and the Twelve sang a hymn after the Last Supper
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By witness of the Spirit
I know my Father lives
He sent a willing Savior
To witness of their love
That we may share that love
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