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Ben Gaughran – Singing Coach


I have many mentors in my life that I am very grateful for.  Most of them are older and more experienced and have taught me lessons through their experience.  However a few times I have come across mentors that didn’t need experience or seniority to teach me important lessons or to give me great gifts.  Here is the story of one of those younger people that I will always be grateful for, not because of their life experience or their grand wisdom but because of their force of character and the quality of their personality.

I met Ben Gaughran when I was living in his grandmother’s home in England.  I was about 20 and he was only 15.  Ben, his grandmother and their entire family were very close and so we saw Ben around the house regularly. 

My missionary companion at the time was John Parker, he and I got along great and really enjoyed working together.  John was an impressive person himself and he loved to sing.  He came from a family where if you wanted to get a dirt bike then you had to learn to play every hymn in the hymnal on the piano and they sang together every morning.  He was a confident singer and felt comfortable singing in front of groups, and often sang solo in church meetings.  I on the other hand was barely comfortable singing in the crowd.  Only after a few years of trying to be more courageous with my voice and experiences like being in my school musicals was I willing to sing out loud in the congregation.

With that context comes one of the ways that Ben blessed my life.  Because he was responsible for the music at the church (remember he was only 15) and because he was the pianist for the choir he convinced John that he needed to join the choir.  Because we were missionary companions that meant that I was joining the choir as well.  It went really well, it was one of those ward choirs with barely enough men to split into two parts.  I was trying to sing the bass line and after some time at our first practice I was asked to un-volunteer for the volunteer choir.  That is right the choir director asked me to leave, or suggested that I sit in the pews and just watch.  Trust me this is good for the confidence of an inexperienced singer.  But there I was kicked out of the same choir that plead for anybody to come and join because numbers were so low.

It was only a few weeks later that Ben, responsible as he was for the music, asked if John and I would sing a duet during an upcoming meeting.  He was crazy, I told him so.  I had no interest in making a fool of myself and I told him so.  But with his assurance that he would help me to practice and John’s determination to sing his way into the hearts of the congregation I was shanghaied into singing a duet in front of the whole church.

What made this a special experience for me was not that I ended up singing.  But it was watching the way that Ben decided that he was going to help me be successful in this endeavor.  He worked with me to determine my range and helped to find a song that would fit in that range.  He recognized that not knowing the words would be an added obstacle so he helped pick a song that I knew well and was comfortable with.  Then, night after night he would come to our home (his grandma’s) and practice with us.  He would go through my part time and again and make sure that I knew my notes, he worked tirelessly to try to get me to sing out and really use my lungs.  The whole experience for me started as embarrassing and awkward but he would not let up.  He couldn’t stand the thought of me singing and feeling like I had done a poor job so he pushed me to be so comfortable that when that day came that I could have a good experience.

That day did come and I did have a good experience.  I was no Pavarotti but I felt comfortable singing to people that I loved and performing a song that expressed words that are important to my heart.  I was able to forget  the nerves that had concerned me and confidently just sing.  I honestly don’t know if I was off key, if people could hear me over John or if it sounded pleasant at all.  I do know that by the time Ben was through with me that I was not scared to stand up in front of a large group and sing my heart out.

Ben is older now and has his own family, he and I have crossed paths a few times since when he has visited Utah.  But I will always remember him.  It was the combination of Ben’s love of music and his magnetic energy that pushed and pulled and prodded me along. He moved me a long distance with just the force of his character.  For that I will always be grateful for Ben.
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