Ricky is a talented arranger and composer who graduated recently from Berklee College of Music. I could be more descriptive of this man, but his responses to the questions I’ve asked help define him, you’ll be impressed. If you would like to listen to his music you can purchase it on iTunes, you can follow his website and blog here. (You can also listen to some of this site.) Take the time to listen, maybe even while reading this post! 

The ability to create music seems to be instilled into your very being, if you could convey just ONE message with the music you make, what would that message be?

Of all the mediums of communication, music has a distinct power of transferring information in the domain of emotions. While sometimes emotions appear to be irrational, I believe that emotions can be perfectly logical and rational. In the latter case, emotions are capable of sensing truth in its purest most refined state. As sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are senses of the physical body, rational emotions are the senses of the spirit within us. We can understand compassion, mercy, and justice, through emotions on a level that would never be approached from a purely mental conception of the idea. We can sense good, evil, right, wrong, truth, and error. Considering the ability of music to communicate on this deeper level, the one message I would like to convey is that within each person there is an eternal spirit of infinite worth with a unique identity and individuality. Though the things of this world appear to live and die, in the fulness of reality, there is no death as we perceive it through the physical senses. In proportion to the degree that we see past the mortal sliver of understanding and begin to view the immensity of reality through the spiritual senses, our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors naturally shift focus from the ever-changing desires of the body to the long-term desires of the mind and spirit. Instead of desiring the temporary satisfaction of physical indulgences we desire to satisfy the yearnings of our eternal spirits, to love others, to find truth, and to stand for justice. As the Creator has said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” To understand these concepts at a mental level won’t have the transformative effect it will have to feel them at an emotional/spiritual level. If it is possible for music to help convey that message in that way, then that is what I strive to do.

What is the biggest challenge you have overcome?

Being convinced that each human has infinite potential and control of the direction of their life, anything that I have considered to be a challenge has only come from the inside, from myself. The challenge that in my weakness I would do something contrary to my long-term goals. The challenge of giving up what I want in the moment, because it would forfeit getting what I desire in the future. The challenge of accepting newfound truth even if it means letting go of a dearly held misconception. The challenge of changing my behavior to harmonize with my ideals. The challenge of not allowing my self-esteem to be affected by anything other than my relationship with God and myself. The challenge of placing myself in another’s shoes and extending mercy. The thousands of choices I face everyday in what to think, feel, and do accumulate to the final result. What seem to be “big” challenges are usually just the result of days, months, and years of smaller ones. The biggest challenge I have overcome in my moments of greatness is the same as the one that I have failed in my moments of weakness, the challenge of accepting the grace of the Savior and allowing it to give me the strength needed to overcome.

What is your definition of liberty?
Liberty is dependent upon knowledge of truth and obedience to that truth. To the degree that one understands the natural laws of cause and effect, they have more power (knowledge) to accomplish their will. One can either choose the desired action or the desired consequences, but the natural laws that inextricably bind them are fixed. To the degree that one obeys that knowledge (aligns their actions in accordance with that knowledge to yield a desired consequence) they have greater liberty to effectually bring about their will. Liberty is more than the simple ability to do what you want when you want, but it is the result of choices made with knowledge and self-mastery. As the great prophet Lehi said “[We] are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil”. Many of our choices can leave us in the chains of addictions (physical, mental, emotional), they can also leave us in the bondage of unwanted consequences of our actions. Thus the unwise use of ones freedom to act results in captivity. In todays society there is a vicious lie dogmatically spread, that liberty is the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want however you want. Many are deceived by it and some are mindlessly obedient to it, boasting of their “freedom” while they are in the act of tightening their own chains of debt, addiction, disease, ignorance, broken hearts, homes, and relationships and all of the other undesired consequences. Through the lens of this lie the true definition of liberty would seem a paradox, but as the scales of darkness fall from our eyes we begin to see that obedience to true law brings liberty.

In raising your daughter with your lovely wife, what are some things you hope she’ll take with her (that you’ve taught) when she grows and can do things on her own?

We hope that she can experience the sweet joy of striving to become her best self, discovering and developing her gifts and talents to spread light, truth, and goodness to this world in ways that only she can.

What is one thing you wish you could tell every person you meet, passing boundaries, and social norms?

I love the feeling of bringing joy to others. So I would share one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. The sound philosophy, the ancient wisdom, the mysteries of life and the universe, knowledge so sacred that it was handed down through generations, protected through wars, engraved on metal, buried in secret for hundreds of years. The Book of Mormon. If you haven’t read it, I would invite you to search it’s contents for the answers to life’s greatest questions. If you are familiar with it and have already read it, I would invite you to go beyond reading it to searching, studying, and pondering the principles contained in it. Those ancient prophets who wrote in it were some of the greatest prophets, statesmen, philosophers, colonizers, and kings to live on this earth. It has the greatest minds of the history of the Americas. They had such a complete and unified understanding of eternal truth that all of their various writings can be harmonized into one congruent science of life and salvation. It ought to be studied with greater attention than any other science or art, for all others are simply sub-categories of this science, and we are all students of life. The concepts that will unravel in your mind will excite the mature imagination as never before, the panoramic vistas of a brilliant eternal reality will begin to surface in your view, casting away former views as dim and grey. All things become new and bright. We’re all born with deep glowing embers inside that give us the sensation that our lives have a specific and individual purpose, this will flourish into a raging fire of light and animation that drives us to live, do and be who we were destined to be. Life begins when the Book of Mormon opens your mind, unveils your eyes, and your soul expands through the wonderful view of its’ teachings.