Church Director of Music

[Sarabande]

Gosh Guys, I am talking about a little town in the middle of the Ozarks. We don’t even have a church yet! Peace, Carlan

It’s wonderful that a church is being built/purchased, especially in the Bible Belt!!!

In regards to what is being discussed, I think it’s always good to set your goals high even if you are starting from scratch. True, that we may never achieve our highest goals, such as getting what a cathedral has or the income that a cathedral can provide, or that it will take a long time to achieve certain smaller goals, like obtaining a music director, building up a choir, getting an organ. But I think it’s better to aim higher than expectations and fall short of that, than to aim low.

I think about that working class/middle class parish which worked towards eventually getting a new organ for their parish. It didn’t happen overnight, but they set a high goal and eventually achieved it. It’s the same with this new church. The pastor is setting goals, which may seem “lofty”, especially since the church isn’t even built or purchased, but if this is to serve the entire community of Catholics, then to have a high goal to achieve either immediately or further down the line is important for a new parish and future generations.

 

[Carlan]

It’s wonderful that a church is being built/purchased, especially in the Bible Belt!!!

In regards to what is being discussed, I think it’s always good to set your goals high even if you are starting from scratch. True, that we may never achieve our highest goals, such as getting what a cathedral has or the income that a cathedral can provide, or that it will take a long time to achieve certain smaller goals, like obtaining a music director, building up a choir, getting an organ. But I think it’s better to aim higher than expectations and fall short of that, than to aim low.

I think about that working class/middle class parish which worked towards eventually getting a new organ for their parish. It didn’t happen overnight, but they set a high goal and eventually achieved it. It’s the same with this new church. The pastor is setting goals, which may seem “lofty”, especially since the church isn’t even built or purchased, but if this is to serve the entire community of Catholics, then to have a high goal to achieve either immediately or further down the line is important for a new parish and future generations.

Very Good! Peace, Carlan

 

[Cat]

Make sure you get someone affiliated with the American Guild of Organists or you run the very real risk of getting a happy clappy ****** music director - not a guaranty either way, but it does help the odds significantly.

I would challenge this.

In our city, our parish has been blacklisted by the AGO for SEVEN YEARS (almost eight years now–time flies) after the firing of a music minister who came out as openly gay. He made his announcement to the CHILDREN of the parish school–despicable behavior.

I would post links to the story, but I believe that it’s not allowed to post links to specific bishops/parishes? Also, many of the links are to homosexual newsletters and papers that tell an extremely skewed version of the story, and include other stories and features that are not appropriate for viewing by Christian people.

Seven years. No AGO organist is allowed to play at our parish by the AGO chapter.

Sounds like the Hatfields and McCoys, doesn’t it?

It’s ridiculous and harmful.

I am in the middle at the moment, trying to bring the parish and the AGO together. I hope it will work out. According to the local chapter, they are being directed in this policy by the NATIONAL AGO organization.

I just hope I don’t get hurt by my well-intentioned efforts, and lose the trust of my parish, as well as my friends in the local AGO chapter. I already get the feeling that some people in my parish question my integrity because I associate with AGO. But I also get the feeling that certain members of the AGO local chapter don’t trust me because I refuse to join the AGO until this blacklisting is lifted.

Sigh.

So my question is, is the AGO really a “music” organization? Or is it a political lobby group for liberal causes?

There are other professional organ organizations that Catholics can be members of without compromising their Church’s teachings. Our church music director is a member of one these professional organizations.

Basically, what I’m saying is “Be careful who you hire, and make sure that if someone is a member of the AGO, that they are totally Catholic in their beliefs and in their life practices.” You don’t want to get burned.

I hope this post is helpful to the OP and others.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

The only way we’ll turn our massive musical mess around in this country is by actually paying professional musicians. The liturgy needs to be a top priority.

Here are a few of my suggestions. Many of the parishes sponsoring this “musical mess” have highly-qualified music leaders who do not know the mind of the Church. I personally never joined the AGO because of their left-wing theological and political agenda, and that many of their members came across as musical snobs who looked down on Catholics.

The first thing any parish needs to do to improve their music is to have resources which contain good Catholic music. Get rid of all OCP products - Breaking Bread, Music Issue, Journeysongs, Spirit & Song, Heritage Hymnal, Flor y Canto, etc. They are a devious organization dedicated to pushing their political and religious agendas through their music and worship aids. GIA products like Gather and Worship III are just as hit-and-miss theologically as OCP, though the quality of the musical arrangements is 100% better.

Examine various hymnals which have a truly Catholic content, such as the St. Michael Hymnal, the Vatican II Hymnal, the Adoremus Hymnal, and, of course, the official hymnal of the entire Church, the Graduale Romanum.

Make sure that your church has a good, quality organ, with at least two 61-key manuals and a full pedalboard. I’ll type this in caps for those pastors and music directors reading this: A KEYBOARD IS NOT AN ORGAN!!! One cannot play organ repertoire on an 88-weighted-key Kawai or Yamaha, regardless of it’s “Westminster Abbey gigantic pipe organ” setting. If you can’t afford a brand new pipe organ, save money for a good electronic from Allen (my preference) or Rodgers, and while you’re waiting, you can find many good older models on Ebay from these companies. Pay the organist, not the ancillary musicians (i.e. guitarists, bongo players, etc.).

 

[superamazingman]

Here are a few of my suggestions. Many of the parishes sponsoring this “musical mess” have highly-qualified music leaders who do not know the mind of the Church. I personally never joined the AGO because of their left-wing theological and political agenda, and that many of their members came across as musical snobs who looked down on Catholics.

The first thing any parish needs to do to improve their music is to have resources which contain good Catholic music. Get rid of all OCP products - Breaking Bread, Music Issue, Journeysongs, Spirit & Song, Heritage Hymnal, Flor y Canto, etc. They are a devious organization dedicated to pushing their political and religious agendas through their music and worship aids. GIA products like Gather and Worship III are just as hit-and-miss theologically as OCP, though the quality of the musical arrangements is 100% better.

Examine various hymnals which have a truly Catholic content, such as the St. Michael Hymnal, the Vatican II Hymnal, the Adoremus Hymnal, and, of course, the official hymnal of the entire Church, the Graduale Romanum.

Make sure that your church has a good, quality organ, with at least two 61-key manuals and a full pedalboard. I’ll type this in caps for those pastors and music directors reading this: A KEYBOARD IS NOT AN ORGAN!!! One cannot play organ repertoire on an 88-weighted-key Kawai or Yamaha, regardless of it’s “Westminster Abbey gigantic pipe organ” setting. If you can’t afford a brand new pipe organ, save money for a good electronic from Allen (my preference) or Rodgers, and while you’re waiting, you can find many good older models on Ebay from these companies. Pay the organist, not the ancillary musicians (i.e. guitarists, bongo players, etc.).

 

[DarrenOglesby]

I think our pianist at my church are paid, but I don’t think it is that much. She is pretty talented with it. But I wish the organ was played more often. We just have a simple Allen Organ, it would be nice if the organ was the main instrument in all Catholic Church’s. Just like it is in most Lutheran Church’s.

Unfortunatley we have turned to have a couple of singing like the mass is a performance, and none of the Congregation sings. That is why I think that most Catholics can’t sing, because we just aren’t use to singing.

And that lead to my decision to not be up in the choir loft, and try to encourage the people around me in the pews.

I’ll get off my soapbox now

 

[jc-servant]

A professional can be full-time or part-time, depending on the finances and needs of a parish. Musc topics here always seem to veer off into the debate or what style of music is appropriate and that is not the topic here really. The OP is questioning why pay for professional services at all.

OP, would you go to an unlicensed or untrained person for health care or even to fix your only vehicle or home heating system? Most people would say no. Music is an important part of our liturgy and it requires some knowledge of the liturgy and Scriptures to simply choose relevant music and get it done at the correct times during the year and during each mass. The piano is required for more music degrees and taught to more people in general than the organ, so finding a person who can play it competently and who knows Catholic liturgy is going to be more reasonable and helpful for a smaller or more rural parish. I’m at a huge, “wealthy” parish in a major metro with a professional musc director, but I’m one of the unpaid cantors he has been gradually training in liturgical and othe info needed to manage the music regardless of the arguments over style, instruments used, etc. Even though he does the hard work of researching and organizing what music we use and rehearsing our choirs and musicians, a cantor must then go work for many hours weekly to read the readings in advance, understand the psalm and interwoven theme of the Scriptures that they are proclaiming/reinforcing, etc.

We pay one regular professional pianist who has a master’s degree also. He is trained in classical and jazz which may sound odd, but he can improvise on the spot with a classical piece and that is nearly a lost art. When something goes wrong (and it does more often than folks in the pews may realize), being able to adapt and manage in a discreet way that does not distract in a mass is essential. For example, a volunteer cantor or even a whole choir can miscount or lose their place and need an extra chance to come in with a verse. You cannot simply skip them when doing something like a psalm.

Having one or two trained professionals is a way to build a group of talented volunteers into something your parish can be proud to offer back to God in a liturgy. It can grow a parish population and raise the amount of donations also. My parish has grown exponentially from a group of about 75 families in the late 1980s to nearly 30,000 parishioners now in part because of a vibrant music ministry. Unlike the stereotypical parish, we sing in our pews whether the voices are “good” or not. We may have lost some people to other masses in the area on “style” or lack of organ, but we have many people who comment weekly on how well the music enhances the liturgy, especially in teaching the lessons in the Scriptures. People can more easily remember the messages when they are set to music and that is scientific fact. It means music is an important part of evangelization and ministering to our own members as well. My own grandma when on her deathbed brought up a psalm she had heard sung as the responsorial on the one occasion when she got to come from Michigan to my parish in Texas about 6 years earlier

 

[pnewton]

I think the idea of one solution fits all, or even most parishes, is false, more a product of opinion than reality. Buying an organ is a waste if there is no organist, for example, and OCP works well for some. When the OP asks for opinions, I think it good to remember that all we give here is opinion. At the end of the day, it is the priest that decides what is best at each parish. As I see it, the only course of advice for him is gentle opinion, with deference to the final decision.

 

[johnnykins]

I would challenge this.

In our city, our parish has been blacklisted by the AGO for SEVEN YEARS (almost eight years now–time flies) after the firing of a music minister who came out as openly gay. He made his announcement to the CHILDREN of the parish school–despicable behavior.

I would post links to the story, but I believe that it’s not allowed to post links to specific bishops/parishes? Also, many of the links are to homosexual newsletters and papers that tell an extremely skewed version of the story, and include other stories and features that are not appropriate for viewing by Christian people.

Seven years. No AGO organist is allowed to play at our parish by the AGO chapter.

Sounds like the Hatfields and McCoys, doesn’t it?

It’s ridiculous and harmful.

I am in the middle at the moment, trying to bring the parish and the AGO together. I hope it will work out. According to the local chapter, they are being directed in this policy by the NATIONAL AGO organization.

I just hope I don’t get hurt by my well-intentioned efforts, and lose the trust of my parish, as well as my friends in the local AGO chapter. I already get the feeling that some people in my parish question my integrity because I associate with AGO. But I also get the feeling that certain members of the AGO local chapter don’t trust me because I refuse to join the AGO until this blacklisting is lifted.

Sigh.

So my question is, is the AGO really a “music” organization? Or is it a political lobby group for liberal causes?

There are other professional organ organizations that Catholics can be members of without compromising their Church’s teachings. Our church music director is a member of one these professional organizations.

Basically, what I’m saying is “Be careful who you hire, and make sure that if someone is a member of the AGO, that they are totally Catholic in their beliefs and in their life practices.” You don’t want to get burned.

I hope this post is helpful to the OP and others.

Thank you - good information. I’m not familiar with their politics - only that the music is first class.