Paying an organist

[VML]

Are there any parishes that employ a paid organist or MD? This is presumably when there is no parishioner to take on these tasks. If a young musician say a music student, who is not a Catholic, and not connected to the church is playing the organ for Mass each week and is also expected to rehearse the choir, should he/she be paid and if so how much?

I am sure most of us do the job to serve God, the liturgy and our parish, and would not expect payment except for the occasional wedding or funeral.
But when regular attendance is requested of someone from outside, it would seem to go beyond the ministry of music, and into the area of whether the labourer is worthy of his hire.

I am looking for an answer for another forum.

V

[Gwyn]

I've got a feeling that the RSCM give some useful guidelines regarding this, maybe on their website. I'll look it out.

edit: Ah here we are:
http://www.rscm-oxford.org.uk/salaryscalesites.htm
Sadly I'm not an affiliate and so unable to access the required info.

I'm never completely comfy with the idea that a ministry in the church should be served by someone from without so-to-speak. We'd be reluctant to have a non-catholic eucharistic minister, catechist or reader. That's for another thread though.

[quaeritor]

There's a thread not very far back (last accessed mid October) with a job ad such as you may have in mind - someone associated with that might have some ideas. (If I knew how to do those link things I'd have given one.) Then there was another back in May for an MD for Leeds.

If you have any contact with a local Anglican church they may be able to help - they tend to have paid organists and at least for weddings etc a scale of charges. The same goes for your local undertaker who will be accustomed to providing one for funerals - as also will the local crematorium.

I share the unease at having to pay - or indeed at being paid - but "Dignus est operarius . . " and, at least for special occasions I'm also uneasy about stealing some struggling musician's rice bowl by turning out for nothing.

[mcb]

I am sure most of us do the job to serve God, the liturgy and our parish, and would not expect payment except for the occasional wedding or funeral.

I think perhaps that's the wrong way to look at it - it's not a question of a musician who ought to give freely of his/her talents withholding them unless payment is proffered. It's about the Church giving a fair reward for work, when more is being demanded than the Church could justly claim for free.

To my mind, in a ideal world every parish would have a paid musical director. It's no more shocking a suggestion than saying a parish should pay its secretary, or the priest's housekeeper, or the person who services the central heating.

What are the benefits? Above all, the fact that there's a professional relationship means that parish music is taken seriously: from one side, commitment and high standards are expected; from the other, there's the need to respect the MD's professionalism, training and experience.

The commitment involved from an MD fully engaging with the role and its responsibilities is far more than could fairly be asked of even the most dedicated volunteer: study, planning, preparation, rehearsal, leadership are all part of the weekly routine, to say nothing of writing and arranging new pieces, exploring additions to the repertoire, keeping abreast of official documents and new (and old) thinking. Even in a small parish this could easily add up to a third of a working week, every week of the year. A bigger parish has greater needs.

(One way to think of it is that the MD's 'salary' [a grand word for what's likely to be a small sum] actually pays for the extra - the commitment beyond what can be freely given and justly taken.)

The newspaper you're least likely to read is the free one that gets stuffed through the letterbox. So with parish music - if it's all given for free it's much easier to overlook its value and its importance.

A paid MD who somehow found they didn't need the money - unlikely, I think, for people who earn their living from making music - could always give some or all of it away to worthy causes within or outside the parish. But that shouldn't disrupt the basic equation, that the role and its responsibilities matter enough, and deserve to be done well enough, to warrant a professional footing.

To answer V's specific question (viz. how much?) - I know of one or two (big) parishes that have come up with a similar figure, namely around £5,000 per year. For someone who earns a living from their musical activities, and needs an annual income of, say, £20,000 (which would have to be someone with no family responsibilities, or a very frugal lifestyle) this amounts to a quarter of a working week - say nine or ten hours - on top of some more hours given freely, in the way I've described above. So it seems to me that a sum of that magnitude is a minimally fair reward, in a parish context, for the services of a committed and qualified professional.

OK, I know it's not going to happen. But wouldn't the world we work in be different if it did?

M.

[VML]

Thanks for that, it would be good!!

I also see Gwyn's point about the necessity for organist and MD to be a part of the Church to fulfill the ministry. Some knowledge of or commitment to the Mass is desirable, but I have found that committed members of other churches often show more respect and reverence than some of our own.

I found it disconcerting when we invited an parishioner organ scholar at one of our big Abbey schools to play for Mass, and he stayed sitting on the bench looking bored right through the Eucharistic Prayer. Maybe it was a teen thing!
On the other hand, what are Catholic schools for...? Music fine, but that's not the whole point.

Sorry, I'm waffling! It is difficult to know what a parish should do if there is really no one of their own to provide music, and there are musicians available for a moderate fee. We on here all know it is not about performance, and the whole job is much more complex.

[contrabordun]

My regular weekly organ lessons added up to at least £10,000 of taxed income during the period 1995 to 2003. I also spent another £6,000 on a digital instrument for home practice. Whilst I don't begrudge a penny of it - it is, after all, my passion and hobby, I do think people who talk airily of making music for the greater glory of God sometimes forget how much costs in hard cash (time spent practising is a completely different matter) to get to a reasonable standard.

btw, if I'd gift aided that amount to the church, it could have reclaimed and additional £4,500 or so in tax. There must be an opportunity there somewhere...

[alan29]

A difficult one, this. It raises more questions than answers:-
Should it depend on the level of qualifications of the musician? Should a community expect to get the services of an FRCO or someone with a Liturgy/Music qualification for free?
Should amateurs do it for love?
Would a fee make it easier to deal with the incompetent enthusiast who puts everyone off singing?
When I was active and a member of the parish that I played in I only charged people who were using the church as a rent-a-venue for weddings and funerals. Everything else was gratis despite having graduate qualifications in theology and music. ( however I used to pray mightily for cold winters - can't believe I just said that!!!!)
I think the Anglican fee structure treats organists more like jobbing plumbers - turn up, do a good job, go away again. Catholic (and other non-Anglican) musicians tend to be much more involved in liturgical planning and the overall life of the parish.

Alan

[asb]

and he stayed sitting on the bench looking bored right through the Eucharistic Prayer. Maybe it was a teen thing!
.

I am a practicing catholic, paid O & MD and I stay on the bench throughout the EP so I am ready to play the Sanctus, Mem Acc and Great Amen. I presume that was why your scholar did

Unless they were all said?..!!

[VML]

Of course, if you are playing Mass parts, but he played only the hymns: Accs were on other instruments. It wasn't the sitting on the bench that I noticed so much as his complete lack of interest or attention to the Mass, e.g. sitting through the Gospel and Our Father.

[asb]

Of course, if you are playing Mass parts, but he played only the hymns: Accs were on other instruments. It wasn't the sitting on the bench that I noticed so much as his complete lack of interest or attention to the Mass, e.g. sitting through the Gospel and Our Father.

Fair enough. I have to confess that being in a loft I tend to stay put! The bench creaks whenever you get on or off, so it causes less disturbance!

[alan29]

I think the sitting thing is quite common among organists. You will certainly find it in Cathedrals/University chapels etc. I think it is something to do with that being the place where they exercise their particular liturgical office. as for looking bored ............. let him without sin etc.
Alan

[asb]

One needs to prioritise. My view is that if I exercise my function badly, it impacts on everyone. I put my liturgical functions first. For example, my reading of GIRM is that the music during Communion should start immediately after "Lord, I am not worthy..." That means that I cannot receive communion. So be it - I don't. I probably shouldn't anyway, as my mind has been more occupied with what I am doing during the Mass than on higher things.

My creaking bench precludes me from standing/kneeling etc. etc.

I was at mass in France once, and the very elderly lady "organist" was playing during the collection; when the plate reached her, she just stopped playing and fished out her purse!

[docmattc]

For example, my reading of GIRM is that the music during Communion should start immediately after "Lord, I am not worthy..." That means that I cannot receive communion.

But GIRM also says something about making sure there is provision for the musicians to receive too. I think its even in the same paragraph.

[organist]

Of course organists must be paid! There are so few of us any way we need to be looked after and cherished! In my 19 years playing in the Catholic church my salary was finally raised when it was realized that the gardener got paid more per hour than I did! As the PP said "you are worth far more than the gardener"! The real trouble was that the job just grew and grew and I kept on agreeing to do more.
When I started at the Anglicans my salary doubled for less time spent at the church but with a proper signed contract so everyone knows where we are. I do spend time on liturgical planning and there is a pastoral role as well. I am certainly not treated like a plumber and nearly every week someone remarks on some aspect of the music - this seldom happened in the Catholic church. It was more likely to be remarked on if I was absent!