Money isn't the answer

We did "Lift High the Cross" as well -- and then at the 11:00 the "band" did the same as an entrance hymn with guitars.

We also did "We Sing the Praise of Him Who Died" (Thanks, Recovering Choir Director!) to the tune "Duke Street."

But I have to agree with you, John. Lectors and altar servers really don't need terribly special skills. I'm afraid it's a matter of supply and demand. And there is simply a lot more to know about music than there is about reading the lessons or helping Father wash his hands. I am happy that some people are financially secure enough to do the work without needing compensation, but if we shouldn't pay anyone to assist at Mass, then the priests should all live in poverty as well and beg for their food and shelter.

The amount my church pays me is substantial enough for the one rehearsal and two Masses that I can't easily give it up, although I also have a "day job" and play the 11:00 service at a Lutheran church until the "band" gives up its deathgrip on the 11:00 Mass at my church.

So yes, voluntarism is great. I'm sure Father will ask for volunteers to move the Italian marble altar and rewire the sanctuary next year. Yeah -- that's a good idea.

I had a soloist wannabe in the choir a year or two ago who had a good voice and about three months of community college voice lessons. After Christmas, during which time she constantly looked as if I'd run over her dog, she sent me a four-page E-mail about how her heart told her she needed to sing solos, and if I couldn't give her solos to sing *every week* she had to leave the group and go where she was appreciated.

Now, I had cajoled and coaxed and tried to educate this woman in the proper way to control her voice, but her technique was totally undisciplined, and you never knew what was going to come out of her mouth -- above d (near the top of the treble staff) it usually resembled "Comanche War Cry." Whenever she had to sing a solo, she would turn bright red and sweat profusely (to the concern of the parishioners and other choir members).

So I told her that I couldn't guarantee her any solos ever. I also told her if she got on an airplane with a pilot who said that "his heart" told him he could fly and that he didn't need any training, she was a braver soul than I.

Well... working with singers can be tough because for some reason, singers can be friggin nuts! It amazes me how sometimes really bad singers just have to sing, sing, sing. Sometimes, it's tough, but you just have to let them go. "Go forth and sin(g) no more!" "Have you thought of joining the bell choir?"

There is one reason, and one reason alone, that suffices for paying one's choir director.

If you pay someone, you can fire him! (or her.)

You can't fire volunteers.

I'm with you on this. It takes a lot of work to plan out the music, rehearse the music, rehearse the choirs, make sure the cantors and organists are scheduled and on board, and so on. Four Masses every Sunday, fifty-two weeks a year -- plus making sure there's musicians available for weddings and funerals -- not to mention special parish events and the extra liturgies around Easter and Christmas. And you're going to find a qualified someone to do all this for peanuts -- or for free -- when they could be out earning a living or spending their limited free time with their families? The parish is rolling the dice if they're going to count on someone doing all this -- and doing it well -- for free (or even for peanuts.)

Of course, paying the music director well doesn't mean you're going to get good music. A nearby parish has a paid director who apparently is widely respected. I attended Mass at this parish on Sunday, a Mass personally cantored by the music director -- no "Lift High the Cross" or any other hymns that had anything to do with the day. Instead it was the same old insipid, pseudo-pop hymns. The parish has a nice organ, but for three songs out of four they use the piano instead. The selection heavily favors some of the Glory and Praise warhorses (Be Not Afraid, On Eagle's Wings) and newer pieces that sound like they were written for Barbra or Celine to sing, or like they came from the soundtrack to a preachy cartoon for kids.

Ah - but you can fire volunteers. It's just much, much more difficult than firing an employee. And when I say difficult, it's parting the Red Sea difficult. 40 days in the desert difficult.

BTW - the "Glory and Praise" warhorses are actually part of the 4 horses of the apocalypse.

Yes, John, that's why I can pick up extra bucks working the other side of the street until our enfeebled (at least culturally) "band" person gives up the 11:00 Mass. Heck, even if they want pop music for that Mass I could do a better job.

Sheesh!

I think instead of "warhorses" the G&P "songs" should be thought of as, er, what is left behind by warhorses. Ahem.

Ms. Dashwood is sadly mistaken if she thinks that a good music director is not worth his keep. Music is an important part of the liturgy, and doing it well is usually a fulltime job. I'm all for volunteering (I do a lot of it myself) but there are some things that take too much time to rely on volunteers. You can have a volunteer choir, for example, but the planning/organizing etc. needs more time and specialized skills (as others have pointed out). It's really the same as saying that the lector crew needs to have a leader who can organize and train them, and 9 times out of 10 that is a priest or pastoral associate who's getting paid by the parish.

My own estimate, based on talking to my friends here at college, is that by the the average person who has completed an undergraduate degree in music has spent upwards of $200,000 on instruments and lessons, not to mention about 15 years of slavish devotion to their studies.

Should a musician choose to give that gift back to God free of charge, that's wonderful. But that is a gift that must be given freely. In other words, they should have a choice as to whether they will be paid or not. If the position requires full-time work, as it often can at a large parish, it should definitely be paid.

I may also point out that Holy Mother Church has seen fit to suggest that organists and music directors ought to be compensated for their services based on training, experience, and competency.

As a professional actor and musician, who has used both skill in the service of the Church on a volunteer basis, and the latter as paid staff, I have some perspective on this.

As a lector, I am only required to read the words of the lectionary, selected by the Church, into a microphone, using a skill of which everyone past fifth grad or so is in posession.

It takes five minutes prep, and requires my presence at church for an hour and fifteen minutes, at a time when I would be there regardless of my assignment.

As a music director, I utilize skills acqured at great expense, which only three other people in the parish have (in the case of keyboard, organ, accompanying,) and virtually NO one else has, in the case of choral conducting.

I spend two hours rehearsing each of three choirs a week. (I don't include a fourth choir in this, as I am compensated for funerals on a per service basis, and the funeral choir repertoire is so stable, although trying to offer music in languages in which neither I nor anyone on my parsish's staff is fluent takes a lot more time than most people would imagine.)
I spend at least two hours a week formatting and printing programs for the choirs, cantor, priests, etc.
I spend an hour every two weeks rehearsing the cantors.
I spend at least eight hours at the church saturday afternoon and sunday morning. (It takes close to a half hour just to remove the old and post the new hymn numbers on the four boards, which require a ladder.)
I must peruse new mass settings and choral music, often correcting and arranging music that erstwhile Catholic publishing houses have inexplicably presented in forms that do not meet the requirements of the Catholic Mass.
I must study the lectionary to plan and select music that complements and enhances the liturgies.
I must keep the music library in order.
I must read professional journals, directives from the diocesan office of worship, the latest General Instruction, the newsletter from the BCL.
I must coordinate the often at-odds different editions for the same publisher of the same music (oh, the choir hymnals' words and grace notes don't match the congregations'?)
I must keep up my organ skills.
I must vet the lyrical content of new hymns and anthems, which far too frequently are contradictory of Catholic doctrine.
I am requred to attend an average of 1.5 meetings a week, usually an hour and a half to two hours in length -- this week it's more, liturgy committee, staff meeting, religious education (we try to emphasize the catechetical value of what we sings here,) and sex abuse seminar for all who work with children.
The demands on my time from this job make it impossible to hold down another job (and not just because of the amount of time becasue of the irregulatiy of the hours -- oh, sorry, that "the holidays" is your busy time, it's the Church's too, and I have to knock offearly all next week, we're holding a novena, and no I can't take that business trip even though I told you I was mostly tied up only on weekends, that's a Holy Day of obligation.)

I love it, I am happy and proud to do it.
But I don't think being compensated (at somewhat below the average salary in our blue collar community) for a 60-hour workweek is all that extravagant.

I could make a VERY decent living from singing (I have in the recent past,) but the wear and tear on the voice from childrens rehearsals especially makes even ocasional gigs problematic (I laugh when I remember how I used to baby my "instrument"!)

I guess I could do all this without monetary compensation --- if daddy had left me a trust fund and a summer house in Kennebunkport, instead of his well-worn and much loved copy of the liber usualis.

Hi,
I was recently offered a music minister position at a local church. Not my parish but a neighboring one. I have a masters degree and teach music at an elementary school currently. I have 5 children and my wife has to work for us to make ends meet. I had to turn down the church job. It would have meant a cut in pay that would have made it necessary for my wife to work more hours or I'd have to teach private lessons to make up the difference. I can not tell my wife and children that the parish is more important to me than they are. Out of desperation the parish hired a NON-CATHOLIC to do the job. He had no understanding of liturgy and didn't last 3 months. The job is available again however they haven't yet realized that it is worth the money to have quality people. Especially when the parish can afford it.

I lead our youth choir at my parish. We are looking into LifeTeen and I've been interested in what I've been reading about it. I've been in and directed everything from Peter, Paul, and Mary wannabees to traditional and contemporary choirs. I've noticed that congregations sing when it's clear that the priest and music director are on the same page and expect them to sing. The style of music doesn't seem to matter that much as long as it's liturgical and doesn't feature solos constantly. I like having different styles of music available for our parish. Our music ministers work well together and the congregation sings wonderfully. It's odd to go to parishes where the congregations don't sing but I realized that often times the priests don't sing much either. Often times the congregation merely reflects the priest.
God Bless, Perry K.