How I Lead as Stake Music Coordinator | An Interview with Emily Poaletti

Emily Poaletti grew up in southwest Wisconsin, went to Brigham Young University-Idaho and got a vocal music degree, then moved with her husband to Northwest Arkansas. She has taught private voice lessons for eight years and has been the music director for five different children’s musicals. Emily has served as a ward choir director, ward music coordinator and stake music coordinator, as well as in Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society presidencies. She loves having the chance to sing with others of faith, and served on the music committee for the Bentonville temple open house and dedication this year, also directing one of the dedicatory session choirs. Emily is the parent of five boys. She loves to be in nature with them and convinces them to sing with her at least once a day.
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Putting Jesus at the Center of Your Ward | An Interview with David Butler Music Library: Hymns How to Send Mass Text Messages on iPhone There is already a discussion started about this podcast. Share your thoughts HERE.

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Highlights
4:40 Introduction to Emily and her calling as the stake music coordinator. She has spent the majority of her adult life in musical callings along with having a degree in music from BYU-Idaho. 8:10 The story of getting called as the stake music coordinator 10:00 Emily has a team around her that she calls her worship team. It’s a unique calling that you can decide how to set up. She has an organist, secretary, and an events planner. 14:00 Music is a unifying force. Music teaches doctrine. When we are singing together, we are worshiping together. 17:20 Defaulting to an intermediate hymn. Should leaders do it or is it just tradition? 19:30 Teaching the children doctrine through the primary songs that they will carry throughout their lives. These songs can unify families and congregations. 21:30 Be careful about traditions. Is it actually helpful and unifying or just something that we are used to doing? 22:50 Meticulous preparation. There is a lot of prep work in this calling because it involves a lot of events. 25:20 Emily shares ways they were able to be more effective with time and getting everyone checked in quickly. 27:50 Don’t overthink the music that you are going to prepare. Going straight to the hymn book can be just as powerful. 29:10 Inspire saints to use their talents. 31:00 Get the youth involved! They want to contribute and be involved. 33:20 Prelude musical numbers help set the tone of the meeting. Having an instrumental prelude is low stress for the performer and can be a great way to help people share their talents. 35:45 Using technology in her calling. For example, using google forms and QR codes for people to sign in with large groups. Documenting using google documents. 37:45 Emily loves using the markups tool on the iPad or iPhone. You take music and easily edit it for a musical number. 39:50 The iPhone shortcut gives you the ability to mass text everyone but the replies don’t go to everyone. It’s similar to a group text but not. 41:50 On the Church website they have the option to change the key of a hymn. 44:20 A great app that might be underutilized is the sacred music app. It's very easy to make a playlist. 47:00 Emily shares her final thoughts on how her calling has impacted her and made her a better follower of Jesus Christ.

The Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints' mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org. Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay, John H. Groberg, Elaine Dalton, Tad R. Callister, Lynn G. Robbins, J. Devn Cornish, Bonnie Oscarson, Dennis B.