BYU professor Stephen Jones has added a substantial accomplishment to his list of achievements as a professional musician.
Jones' titles include professor, dean, author, piano player and composer. Now he can say he is not only a contributor, but also an editor of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ newest hymnbook.
As a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati, Jones wrote the music for hymn 128 in our current hymnbook, “When Faith Endures.”
“Now, many years later, I have the privilege of being both a contributor and an editor,” Jones expressed, alluding to his current position on a Church committee.
His resume is replete with professional accomplishments. As the former Dean of the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications, Jones is the recipient of various arts awards, such as the Utah Arts Council Artist Grant and the Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center.
Jones also travels to China regularly to conduct research on the development of Chinese modern and contemporary music. He aims to write a book on the subject.
Jones’ most recent exploit is his chairmanship position on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Hymnbook Committee. Specifically serving as the chair of the Music Editing Committee, Jones was called to the position in 2019, soon after the announcement of the Church’s new hymnbook titled “Hymns — For Home and Church.”
In this new position, Jones applies the talents he cultivated at a young age — he was the Murray 25th Ward’s local musical prodigy.
Jones began taking piano lessons at the age of nine, which may be considered a late start by some musicians. But Jones was a quick learner.
“I had a great teacher,” Jones said.
Jones’ piano teacher taught him not only to read music, but to write it as well. Before hitting double digits, Jones could hear a melody and write a harmony to accompany it.
“It became very natural to me early on in my piano studies that I would have to pull out a pencil and figure out what chord would go with what notes in the melody,” Jones explained.
Jones was surrounded by talented musicians throughout his childhood. His ward choir director wrote his own music. His grandfather liked to try his hand at songwriting.
“It wasn’t unfamiliar to me to have people around me that were sort of dabbling, trying, you know,” Jones reflected. “I was just constantly fed by really good influences who were saying, ‘If you listen to this, could you write this, could you try this,’ you know, that was fun.”
Jones served as the Sunday School organist at age 11, and his favorite job growing up was washing windows at the Day Murray Music shop. The money which he earned there he turned right around and spent on sheet music and music recordings.
“I knew really early on after I started taking piano ... that music was my life,” Jones recalled. “That was a blessing.”
Fast forward many decades, the young musical genius is now a doctorate professor of Music Composition at BYU. Jones has written music for some of the most renowned performing groups in the world, including The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. He also composed an orchestral piece for the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra to perform at the inauguration of BYU’s new Music Building in the fall of 2023.
“Dr. Jones ... has a contagious enthusiasm that inspires us because he himself is so engaged while teaching,” Jinxin Fu remarked, a graduate student who has studied with Jones for four years. "To me, Dr. Jones is more than a teacher; he is a true mentor who cares about my personal growth as not only a composer, but also a human being.”
Jones’ position as chair of the Church’s Hymnbook Music Editing Committee has been an influential contribution to the Church’s efforts to unite disciples of Christ everywhere.
“Rather than the previously announced hymnbook and separate songbook for children, 'Hymns — for Home and Church' will be representative of the communal nature of music and worship with hymns and children’s songs together in one collection,” a Sept. 2023 announcement by the Church Newsroom said.
Jones compiles and edits the hymn submissions that composers from all nations have submitted to be considered for the new hymnbook.
Amid all the editing, Jones dreamed up his own original idea for the music of a hymn the committee was considering: “Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.”
The song is a traditional hymn written by Samuel Trevor Francis in 1875. It conveys the scope of Jesus’ endless love for all with symbolic and poetic lyrics.
When considering the song, Jones fell in love with the lyrics but was underwhelmed by the accompanying melody.
“The Hymnbook Committee didn’t feel like the tune to which it is traditionally sung really spoke to the text itself,” Jones explained. “It just didn’t seem like it matched. I wanted something warmer.”
He resolved to try his own hand at creating a new melody.
The hymn features an ongoing metaphor comparing the love of Jesus to the depth and breadth of the sea, flowing around eternally, Jones explained.
“This idea of water really struck me,” Jones reflected. “I had this idea come to mind and I just started jotting it down, and it came really quickly.”
Jones designed the music to mimic the waves of the ocean. Just as waves ebb and flow, the melodies of both the treble and bass clefs surge up and down on the scale, creating the feeling of bobbing on an ocean as its current envelops the space in every direction.
“I tried to portray ... this idea of the love of the Savior, like a ... wave or current that sort of flows around us,” Jones said.
BYU graduate student Ty Hawkes took a music history class and commented on the uniqueness of the music choice for the hymn.
“The chord choices are very contemporary and there are a lot of interesting harmonies that aren’t found in older hymns,” Hawkes said.
Hawkes’ wife, Amy Hawkes, agreed with his observation.
“I think I can tell how each phrase will end, but then something surprises me that I wouldn’t expect in traditional hymns,” she reflected.
Jones successfully incorporated symbolism into his interactive hymn.
"It’s hard to portray images in music sometimes, but that’s meant to reflect this idea,” Jones said.
Jones focused a major part of his service on the Church Hymnbook Committee in editing the music in the submitted hymns. He reports that most of the new hymns that have been selected feature more motion in both the melody and the baseline, a unique trait uncharacteristic of most of the music found in the Church’s current hymnbook.
With over 17,000 hymn submissions from members of the Church around the world, translation is a major part of the hymnbook creation process.
“It’s really neat to see the membership of the Church outside the United States contributing music as well,” Jones said.
The goal of the committee is to make the new hymnal universal — the same in all languages and countries. Each hymn will be found on the same page in every language, Jones said.
“If you sing in Swahili and I sing in German, we can both turn to page 47, and it will be the same hymn,” Jones explained. “I think that’s one of the chief goals, to unite us as a body of Latter-day Saints.”
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ website, the main goals of creating a new hymnbook are to:
1. Increase faith in and worship of Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
2. Teach the core doctrine of the gospel with power and clarity.
3. Invite joyful singing at home and at church.
4. Comfort the weary and inspire members to endure in faith.
5. Unify members throughout the Church.
Amy Hawkes reflected on how Jones’ hymn, “Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” successfully meets these goals.
The hymn describes "what it feels like to experience Jesus’ love, something we have all felt at some point in our lives. It can be hard to put that feeling into words, but Dr. Jones has done it beautifully,” Hawkes remarked. “It is exciting to think of congregations around the world singing this hymn. I imagine a sweet, tangible spirit filling the chapel.”
The Church has released groups of songs from the new hymnbook in waves. “Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” is among the 22 songs already available for use digitally. It can be found in the Gospel Library app, or at this link.
The Church Newsroom reported that the complete hymnal will include about 450 to 500 hymns.
With plans to release the complete hymnbook in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French by the end of 2026, the Church aims to publish the book in 50 languages by 2030.