In July of 1830, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation for his wife, Emma Smith. Given shortly after the restoration and organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the revelation emphasized the important role of sacred music in worship.
Among the Lord's instructions to Emma Smith was a charge to compile sacred hymns that would be pleasing unto Him. The revelation explains: “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me....” (Doctrine & Covenants 25:12)
In line with Emma’s charge, as an apostle, the Prophet Dallin H. Oaks quoted the following from Elder Stephen D. Nadauld in a 1994 General Conference address entitled “Worship Through Music”:
If I would teach with power
The doctrine and the plan,
I’d wish for gentle music
To prepare the soul of man.
And then press forever
These truths upon his mind,
We’d sing the hymns of Zion,
With their messages sublime.
The Apostle Paul likewise taught the Saints to worship through “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” singing “with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).
In 2018, the Church announced plans to create a new global hymnbook and children's song collection. Members throughout the world were invited to submit original hymns, songs, and lyrics. More than 17,000 submissions were received, representing one of the largest collaborative music efforts in Church history.(More detail on the status of this work can be found at this LINK).
The work on the Hymns for Home and Family, has been moving forward in Japan. An able and talented worldwide group of volunteers, contractors, and Church employees has been fully engaged in this incredibly challenging Church-wide process. In a year celebrating newsworthy historical matters, it is also appropriate to highlight a member who has been working for many years to make other gospel-centered sacred music available in Japanese. His work has added to the growing store of "songs of the heart" here in Japan.
On his 12th birthday, a young man raised in a Buddhist family in Japan received a gift from his cousin. It was a single phonograph record of the United States singing group known as “The Carpenters.” It was his first exposure to music in English. He loved the music and it gave birth to a new desire to learn English and to hear more English musical performers.
Pursuing his interest, he became a fan of several artists and groups, including the “Three Degrees” and “Tavares.” At 17 he became the president of the Japan Tavares fan club and was filled with dreams of going to the United States to learn English and to attend concerts by his favorite music artists. In that role he went to radio stations and promoted the broadcasting of music and albums done by Tavares.
His dreams were encouraged further when he won an English speech contest. The prize for the winner was a ticket to go to California the following summer. With strong ambitions to advance his English conversation abilities, he encountered two missionaries of the Church. He confessed that he had no interest in religion but wanted to be friends. He then said, “do you like music?” He quickly learned that one of the two missionaries also was a fan of Tavares. That led him to invite the missionaries to his home to listen to music and speak English. The missionaries hesitated and had a brief debate – likely dealing with concerns over mission rules about music. When the debate ended, they accepted the invitation and went with this young man to his home to be his friend.
The young man was Nobuaki Irie. Nobuaki reflects that he is forever grateful that those young missionaries let the spirit direct them to go with him to his home and commence a friendship. That friendship blossomed into a sincere interest in the Church and led, ultimately to baptism.
Baptism led to a call to serve a full-time mission. Missionary service exposed him both to the hymns of the Church and to a new genre of popular sacred music.
Nobuaki recounts that his mission president called four missionaries who were talented singers and had them perform musical firesides in every unit of the Church in the mission. Their performances deepened his conviction that sacred music could touch hearts and help people feel the Spirit - opening minds, and souls to the light and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In response, Nobuaki added an additional motive and goal to his life plans. He was determined to have some role in using music – the “songs of the heart” – as an effective tool to open communication between the Lord and His children – a prayer. He firmly set a goal to translate and perform sacred music – “songs of the heart’.
Post-mission he gathered a few friends and performed firesides much like those he saw done by the missionaries in his mission. Those performances became sustaining fountains of joy and light for Nobuaki and his friends, filling the hearts of those who attended.
He returned to BYU, taught at the Missionary Training Center, and was blessed with a chance to meet Janice Kapp Perry and begin a long and mutually rewarding relationship. Nobuaki reports that she willingly agreed to collaborate with him in the translation and production of her music into Japanese. Years later when he asked her why she agreed, she responded that it was because the spirit told her that she could trust him.
As Nobuaki learned, the translation of music is a unique and extremely demanding technical, cultural, and linguistic challenge. Translating a “song” for a different language and culture demands more than technical ability – it requires the perceptivity, sensitivity, and intuition that will transfer emotions and feelings across the linguistic and cultural divide. And, for sacred music, one must add another dimension of knowledge, experience, talent, and ability. The person, the translating artist, must use these added powers to effectively and artistically transfer the deep and broad spiritual elements of the composition so it resonates in the souls of the “foreign’ audience.
Janice Kapp Perry “trusted” Nobuaki Irie precisely because she spiritually sensed that he would find a way. During a later musical tour with Nobuaki in Japan, that prompting was fully vindicated as she personally saw and felt the sublime and divine impact of her “translated” works in the lives of the people of Japan.
A similar deep and rewarding collaboration with Kenneth Cope has founded a strong and mutually blessed and trusting friendship between them. Nobuaki loves the humble, pure, and sincere soul of this talented composer and musician.
The collaborations with Janet Kapp Perry include translation and participation in the production of albums that contain 36 of the sacred gospel songs composed and published by her. Nobuaki also participated in similar collaborations with Kenneth Cope and some other noted artists that involve another 30 or more songs.
The love of the transforming power of sacred music of all kinds has been artfully woven into the very fabric of Nobuaki’s life. Music flows through his veins and vibrates in his heart and mind. It garnishes and adds life, color, and joy to all aspects of his life. He has worked full time as a college level English teacher while also competently shouldering and carrying a host of other responsibilities and callings in the Church. Nobuaki’s life is hallmarked also by his love and service to his family and a multitude of friends. These things are, as they should be, the main fabric of his life - his “full-time” occupations. Yet woven into his personal tapestry of life is, and always will be, the divine and life-giving brilliance and light that only his devotion and love of “songs of the heart” can bring.
Amazingly, his devotion to the work of bringing songs of the heart to others has been largely as an unpaid volunteer. On his own he participated in a musical tour with a group called “Afterglow.” Over the years, Nobuaki has also collaborated with artists including Janice Kapp Perry, Kenneth Cope, Michael McLean, Jericho Road, Jenny Phillips, Hillary Weeks, and bless4. He has translated, performed, and helped produce dozens of sacred songs for Japanese audiences.
His numerous musical firesides and performances throughout Japan, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Taiwan are the products of his personal commitment to sharing the light of music. Of those firesides, he was asked whether they have led to missionary opportunities. His response is “Oh, yes. That’s the reason I do them!” He deeply treasures the many moments when missionaries have approached him after a concert and excitedly reported that the friends who attended the concert “felt the spirit strongly…and….” – insert any one of many saving changes of heart, mind, and action for which the missionaries had been praying.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Nobuaki’s experiences are further empirical evidence of the fact that “Gospel music helps people feel God’s love and Spirit….” Nobuaki continues, “it’s definitely a missionary opportunity.” His incredible avocational endeavors with sacred music have now spanned some 30 or more years.
A non-traditional path in life has, as might be expected, brought a large share of opposition, adversity, challenge, and barriers. Through it all, Nobuaki remains humbly devoted and dedicated to his early “call” from the Lord. He continues to play a role in assuring that the delight and joy that is felt by the Lord and His children through the rich spiritual treasure that sacred music delivers will continue. He still voluntarily travels the country organizing and performing concert firesides – letting songs of the heart bless and fill hearts, minds, and souls. His inspired work joins the many other endowments that the Lord has made to the people of Japan as a means of opening hearts to the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, in the end, the work is its own reward – always adding to the abundance and joy that is in Nobuaki.
As an Appendix, please consider the following:
Explore the Church’s Music Library. It is a worthwhile journey. Click this LINK to take you there.
Second, consider the October 2025 General Conference address of the second counselor in the General Primary Presidency, Tracy Y. Browning. It is focused on the “Sacred Gift of Primary Music.” [link to talk].
Third, listen and watch: “Gethsemane video” and link to the Hymns
Fourth Review at this LINK , which is the material that recommends special youth musical celebrations and experiences before the end of 2026.
Finally:
