It’s 9:03 on a Monday morning, and as usual, BYU students are running late to class.
As they walk quickly, some even breaking into a run, they hear snippets of the other classes through the open doors they pass. Words in Portuguese, Chinese and scientific-jargon float past, but there’s something else they hear:
Music.
Some teachers begin their classes with a prayer. For others, starting with a hymn helps set the tone. It's not just music classes either, religion and other subjects start with music as well.
But at a university where the main aims are obtaining an education that is “spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging and character building, leading to lifelong learning and service,” why would music rate high enough that the school not only has a whole building dedicated to music, but 426 pianos spread across 331 buildings?
We can give at least partial credit to the university’s founder, Karl G. Maeser.
PRELUDE
Maeser was a young professor in Germany before he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1855. Soon after, he took his family to America, where they spent a few years in Philadelphia before moving on to the Salt Lake Valley. There, Maeser became the first principal of Brigham Young Academy, the predecessor to Brigham Young University.
These are all common facts. A quick search on Wikipedia will tell you that’s the jist of Maeser’s story. But what is not as well known are the many disciplines Maeser taught.
George Sutherland, a student of Maeser and a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said of Maeser, “I have never known a man whose learning covered so wide a range of subjects, and was at the same time so thorough in all.”
Manfred Heller, from Germany, said “he taught classes in Salt Lake City in several languages, including math, accounting, drawing and music.”
“The school that he went to, the teachers college, they required them to be part of a choir that was famous,” said A. LeGrand Richards, author of the book "The Educational Legacy of Karl G. Maeser." “And they would have to learn piano and violin as part of their training.”
When Maeser and his family were living in Virginia, trying to save money for the trip across the plains, he began earning money as a piano teacher.
One story recounts how Maeser walked into a piano store one day, looking for potential piano students. He met a man and his two daughters who were planning on buying a piano. The purchaser asked to hear one of the instruments being played, but the only person who could play in the store had just stepped out.
“Brother Maeser, having overheard the conversation, handed the salesman his card, which had his references as a teacher, and said he would play for the gentleman,” said Alma Burton, author of the book "Karl G. Maeser: Mormon educator." “The man buying the piano was ex-president of the United States, John Tyler, and after he heard Brother Maeser play, he hired him to give music lessons to his daughters. From then on, Brother Maeser had no difficulty in getting pupils.”
CHORUS
Even when Maeser became principal at BYU, his teaching of music didn’t stop. He still taught music classes, but he also included music in his non-music classes as well.
In "Karl G. Maeser: Mormon educator," a contemporary Desert News article described Maeser’s methods of teaching his students:
“The exercises commence and close with singing, for which purpose a choir has been organized, and is assisted by as fine a cabinet organ as is to be found in Utah. … Prof. Maeser is the organist and practices the hymns with the choir, which he may want them to sing, in a separate singing lesson, once a week."
Susa Young Gates, daughter of Brigham Young, recounted the inception of the musical department during the third academic year of the academy.
“A room was set apart for the Music Room, and it was carpeted, hung with pictures and the windows draped with lace; in fact it was made as cosy and pretty as limited means and unlimited interest could make it,” Gates said. “It was a rendezvous for all the merry evenings when the Polysophical failed to prove an attraction.”
The influence of Maeser’s music also reached far beyond the classroom.
In an account, Eva Maeser, daughter of Karl G. Maeser, said that in Provo, students would gather in the Maesers’ home on Friday and Saturday nights.
“They would sit on the floor at his feet, in rapt attention … while this great teacher told the stories of the great plays and operas,” Eva Maeser said.
There are also spiritual impacts of Maeser’s music.
Hannah Gruse, a descendant of Karl Maeser, explained that her family remains very musical, even after many years. Her aunt is an opera singer, her mom plays piano and she plays violin. She and her siblings come together to sing hymns on Sundays.
“Music was always a big part of our family and a big part of how we actually also celebrated Jesus Christ,” Gruse said. “It's just how we feel connected and close to him through worshipping and through music.”
She further elaborated, saying that music is her worship.
“When I go about my day, I feel like I'm closest to the Spirit and to Jesus Christ when I'm listening and singing about Him,” she said. “Singing songs that just make me feel closer to him.”
“By singing together, we're joining and we're sharing our testimonies and we just project this, this faith that we have,” said Susanne Richter, Relief Society president in the Germany Potsdam Ward.
TRADURRE
One of Maeser’s musical accomplishments during his lifetime was translating some of the hymns from English into German. During his time as a missionary, some were published in "Der Darsteller der Heiligen der Letzten Tage" (“The Latter-day Saints Representer”).
He translated 29 hymns into German. “Most of his translations of these hymns are still used in the German hymnbook,” Richards said.
The importance of having these hymns available in German cannot be understated.
“I feel like it is so important to have the songs in your own language so that you can understand the lyrics and feel closer, because especially a lot of people don't know the English or don't know specific languages,” Gruse said. “Having that in their own language helps them just to feel closer to the lyrics and to feel the connection to the song.”
“I think it's not just the text, but also the melody that touches my heart and for me, the music just helps me to calm down and it's words,” Richter said.
Richards further explained that Maeser appreciated the spirit of a musical piece more than just a direct translation.
“He knew that a hymn brought music and words together to deliver a message. He believed that the words, however, needed to match the meter and feeling of the music,” Richards said in "Maeser the Man." “Literal translations could rarely do this, so he found words that conveyed the same type of spirit with the same general theme — though departing from the precise meaning of the original words — so as to match the power of the music.”
Music is still a part of BYU’s legacy today. It has the potential to connect people across languages, cultures and experiences.
“Music is an international language, no matter what the words are saying,” Jennie Listor, an opera singer and violinist from Germany, said.
Richter explained that music can help people understand messages, even when they don’t understand a language.
“We had different visitors coming in the summer, and there was one family that came from Finland and I was in charge of primary,” Richter said. “It was so nice to have a technical device and just to change the language for the kids, and just to have them set the text in his own language.”
CODA
Maeser’s musical legacy is still apparent today, in both his students and others. The importance of having music in one’s life, and the spiritually strengthening power it can convey, is clear. Some classes still begin with hymns, and many BYU events, such as devotionals or speeches, include musical numbers.
“By singing together, we're joining and we're sharing our testimonies and we yeah, we just project this, this faith that we have,” Richter said, “It's also that the promise and Doctrine and Covenants 25 that it's for the Lord, it will be a blessing for us when we start to sing and will be recognized.”
Richter further said that the power of both the text and melody can change the mood and perspective of people.
“The music, the sound is just beautiful, and it talks to my soul and helps me to express love and devotion in a completely different way than just standing there and saying something,” Richter said. “It's a unique way to show God that we love him. And then I have the feeling that I feel his love also very deeply.”
Gruse said that she imagines Maeser would be proud of how large BYU has gotten today, and that he would want the students to continue learning with music.
“I feel like that's a really good learning method to have, like classical music or something in the background,” she said. “I feel like he would want that for his students just to feel the upsides of having classical music and maybe even worship music in the background while studying, because it just helps you study a little bit better.”
There’s something beautiful about walking across campus and hearing the strains of music. Sometimes it's one person practicing an instrument, and other times it's whole choruses of students singing in harmony. But if one listens closely, they may hear and understand the messages being conveyed by BYU, even 150 years later.
“Teach me to know of the things that are right;
Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.”
A documentary on the life of Maeser and his impact on Brigham Young University was created by journalism students in the BYU School of Communications for the 150th anniversary of the university. The premier of "By Study and By Faith: The legacy created by Karl G. Maeser" will be held on Thursday, Sept. 18 in the Varsity Theater. The premier is free and open to the public.