Janice Kapp Perry: Songwriter's life captured in film
By Molly Farmer
Mormon TimesPublished: 2010-01-27 12:00:41
A film chronicling the life of songwriter Janice Kapp Perry made it to the LDS Film Festival this January after airing on BYU TV for more than a year.
"Janice Kapp Perry: A Life of Service and Song," takes the viewer behind the sheet music and into the life of the accomplished composer. Directed by Clinton Baxter, the 60-minute documentary includes interviews from Perry's family as well as Craig Jessop, the former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, among others.
Most church members -- especially out of Perry's state of Utah -- have likely never heard Perry's name, but they certainly have heard her music as evidenced by the touching footage of 800 children in Accra Ghana singing Perry's "I Love To See The Temple," at the temple dedication there in 2004. Kathleen Hinckley Barnes, former President Gordon B. Hinckley's daughter, recounted how emotive that experience was as she was there with her parents at the time of the dedication.
"It was a very powerful moment," she said.
Perry's repertoire includes the popular children's titles "I Pray in Faith," "Love is Spoken Here," "We'll Bring the World His Truth," and Kapp's personal favorite, "A Child's Prayer."
For members whose memory of Primary is a little foggy, they will certainly recognize "As Sisters in Zion," from the LDS hymn book. What's more, Perry's sheet music is popular for youth conferences and special musical numbers.
The most compelling aspects of the film is the love and support that is so evidently shared among Kapp's family. Her children each praise her as both a mother and a songwriter, and her husband, Douglas, is beyond proud of his wife's accomplishments.
Those familiar with Perry's works may be surprised to learn that her first love was sports -- not music. In fact, it wasn't until she was 38 and laid up at home after having broken her ankle while playing basketball that she started seriously writing, with the encouragement of her husband.
"Is there something safer (than sports) that would give you fulfillment?" he asked.
Perry soon sat down and wrote "I'll Follow Jesus," and then performed it for her family.
"It was very much like the sun coming up in the morning," said Douglas of the sweetness he felt as hearing it for the first time.
"There will probably never be another moment quite like it," added her son Steven Kapp Perry, a fellow songwriter following in his mother's footsteps.
The film dicsusses the broad reach of Perry's music, as one of her most famous songs is more patriotic than religious. Sen. Hatch and Perry collaborated on the song "Heal Our Land," which was sung at the second inauguration of George W. Bush by Pastor Wintley Phipps, and later on the Oprah Show by Phipps following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Perry says in the film that her testimony is what gives her inspiration.
"I think anything good that I have written has sprung from my testimony," she said.
E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com
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Copyright © 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Copyright © 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company
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