I do. Because of my pastor, my choirs, my supporters, and ... my paycheck (which helps me support my family).

I don't because of my insulters, my why-pay-musicians, my why-do-we-call-God-a-He, and my do-anything-to-undermine-church-teaching types.

But mostly, yes. And I feel lucky, because I had a bittersweet relationship with my church music jobs for the first 12 years of my career.

There is a level of spiritual awareness and involvement, a sense of real friendship with God, a specific awe and love of God, a sense of doing his work, and of leading others in their praises, in 'church music' that cannot be defined. The very next thing to it would be holy orders or the religious life: there is an undoubted spiritual kinship - and, a profound love of the liturgy that, sometimes, seems to surpass that of priests, themselves. Even when things seem most irksome, one could not imagine any other life. (And, I think, some callous priests and pastors know this very well and exploit it mercilessly and without scruple.) Someone once said that when you play 'O come, all ye faithful' at midnight mass, you know why you became a church musician. Well, for some that might sum it up; for others it would well be some other aspect: perhaps chanting 'alleluia, pascha nostrum' on Easter Day, or leading one's choir through Weelkes' 'Alleluia, I heard a voice', or Palestrina's 'Haec dies', or Howells' 'Like as the Hart'. Or, it could well be that moment when one's fledgling schola of three and a half members finally mastered 'In splendoribus'. Often, it may be knowing that the parish music plays an enormous part in the 'cure of souls', and that one is, thus, truly ministering to people's spiritual health. Or, it just might be becoming suddenly aware that one's choir has magically entered into a realm of greater musicianship, or that one's congregation has made awe-filled strides in communal music-making. Whatever they may be, the particular joys of one's vocation in church music are, I am sure, in a class by themselves. We are 'they whom David set over the service of singing in the house of the Lord'. We are the successors to the Biblical Levites. An ancient and honourable pedigree is what we share. We fulfill two roles in one: we are responsible for God-oriented praises in the sacred precincts, and, by that token, we are evangelists. As psalm xxviii reminds us 'in his temple doth everything speak of his honour'. We share in assuring that it does. The Lord's temple and his praises are like unto nothing else in our daily experience. (In a just world 'choirmaster', like 'deacon' or 'priest', would be a formal ministerial 'order'. And - I think that at some times and places it was... was.)

So, even at the most vexatious of times, our reward is knowing that we have been endowed by our heavenly Father with the gift of music, and that it is our responsibility (our, in the words of the Book of Divine Worship, 'bounden duty and service') to return it to him and share it with his people. This is for what we were put here. This is for what we were given our gifts by the 'giver of every good and perfect gift'. Stravinsky himself, who was deeply religious, once said that (in so many words) 'music is a gift of God, and when we perform it, it returns to him from whom it came'.

To answer the question, 'do you love your job', I would, at this point, have to say that I have loved all my 'jobs'. At best, I have been able to offer just about anything imaginable from the polyphonic repertory and a very great serving of what might appear in any English cathedral choir's list of accomplishments. I have worked with members of the Houston Symphony, and with some very good (and some not so very good) amateur and professional instrumentalists. It has been my joy to direct professional choirs, semi-professional ones, and various grades of volunteer ones. And, most of the time my superiors were supportive, and, if not positively supportive, at least not at all negatively unsupportive. Currently I have not a full-time post, but enjoy very much the work I do at Houston's University of St Thomas teaching Gregorian chant, being the choirmaster of St Basil's Schola Cantorum, and being engaged there for special masses throughout the year. And, Walsingham being my actual spiritual home, I can do naught but heap praise on Edmund Murray, our choirmaster and organist, and am happy that I can reflect on having been the founding choirmaster there. Too, I remain active as a recitalist and lecturer, activities through which I can touch people spiritually and be touched likewise by them. Any form of music making that unites us in the love of God can but be a 'job' that is loved.

There were, to be sure, vexing moments along my fifty-and-continuing-year journey in church music. I remember thinking at one point that if I heard Martin Luther's name one more time I would scream (but my Lutherans and I did, really, have a very good relationship, and mutual respect and love - and I would have to say that the pastor at this historic downtown church was and is a far finer Christian than many priests I have known). It was no fun, irksome, really, having a scold of a Dominican priest hire me to build a schola cantorum and a parish choir, and then complain before a month had passed that 'oh!, you will become so firmly ensconced that I will never get rid of you'. That lasted about three years. But, I love what I was able to do there - and, the music that I left in the choir's library. Then there was Msgr Victor di Primeo, the only really 'high church' Catholic priest I ever knew well or worked for. He took the Novus Ordo and celebrated it with the same ceremonial that he had practiced before the council. That was a glorious experience! A solemn high NO mass with three ministers on the altar, all readings sung, etc., every Sunday! In all, I have served Lutheran, Episcopal, and Catholic churches, and am grateful for my experience and spiritual growth at each of them. What other kind of work would fill one's soul with the God-given beauty that comes from practicing our Levitical role? In my imagination, the only thing that could come near it would be being someone like Francis of Assisi or Mother Theresa - being the hands of God for those who literally have nothing. (The Dominican priest who was afraid that I would become too ensconced once said that if he hadn't been a priest he would have been just as happy being travel agent. That says a lot!)

Yes! I love my 'job'. None of us expects the proverbial 'bed of roses' in this life. Come to think of it, a bed of roses would be rather a thorny affair, wouldn't it?

(A closing thought: we often hear, as a sort of dreadful caution, of the negative effects of, say, science playing God in people's lives. It occurred to me that, actually, we are called to play God in people's lives. What does that mean? 'Love one another as I have loved you'. It means doing Godly things for people and being Christ-like to the extent that we are able. I have no doubt that our music is a vehicle for introducing just such Godliness into people's lives... and! receiving it into our own lives!)

And, a little levity -

What did the pastor say when his choirmaster asked if he really had to do an alternatim magnificat by Palestrina at solemn vespers next Sunday?

'Do you love your job'?

MJO, I think you summed up my thoughts on one sentence: "Even when things seem irksome, one cannot imagine any other life."

I really hate my job. Hate hate hate it. The politics are frustrating, the level of commitment continuously wavering, and there are days where it seems like an uphill battle to even get myself to care. Heck, it doesn't even pay anything at this point anymore.

But chant, polyphony - I can't get rid of them. They're like a benign addiction. Peter was right- where else can we go? Jesus has the words of eternal life. Musicians have the added bonus of having these words set to music. Where else can we go?

Yeah, I like it. I'd like it even more if I had a dozen trained singers who could read. But I have to learn humility, so I'm glad the job allows me to do that.

Yes, I do love my job, very much in fact. I'm really blessed. I have a wonderful pastor and we think a lot alike. Our associate pastor is right out of the seminary and a gem. There is a great staff at the church too. I also have a lovely choir. Most don't read music, but they are SO dedicated, so supportive... I can't imagine a better group. One of my many perks is that I'm not the organist (only if needed and that is not often PTL) and my organist is fab and he often tells the choir what I'm afraid to, and this works well.

What would make my job better? More money! Not in salary, but in other ways. The organ could use an overhaul. Our ceiling could use some of that great enamel paint which was mentioned at the Colloquium. There are little things, which would improve with an unlimited budget (or a larger more limited one.)

Prayers for you, Kevin.

Yes

Good clergy. Good vision. Strange history of music here, but mostly positive (nearly unanimous) reception to anything resembling sacred music.

Beauty speaks for itself.

@Soprano: LOL, violin is a vocation by itself! They come in pairs around here and I imagine in most places. Violinists can't function very well with others lol! I only manage as well as I do because I was a pianist first, violin came later. But many of my violin-playing friends walk similar paths.

progress ... to gently nudge my parish towards using sacred music has been completely wiped away,

tiring to hear the Mass described as merely a prayer and a meal

These data points are related. Go. Shake the dust. In my experience (I'd love to hear counterexamples) those who will not endure sound music will not endure sound doctrine. I'm tired of catholike churches that won't be Catholic.

Good luck, and my prayers.

This is not my full-time job, but I devote a lot of time to it, and I love it.

Are there set-backs? Yes. But the movement is generally in a good direction, and we are already in a very good place to begin (chanted propers every mass, quality choral music at the choral mass, etc.). So yes, I love it.

I had much more responsibility for the music at my former parish, where I was 'nudging' as others say, basically as a volunteer, but with some autonomy. Then they hired a DM who thinks that electronic drums make a wonderful addition to the music on Sundays. (Believe it or not, this woman has a degree. Didn't seem to help...) I do not really know what the priest (whom I admire in many respects) there thinks, though I told him what I think and soon thereafter left for my current situation.

At this point I'm intending to retire ASAP. I love my job, but I'm wondering where the lions are (oblique Bruce Cockburn reference.) As I've intimated many other occasions, perhaps the vocation of Director of Music (short-lived it may have been) is now officially an endangered species.
My only recommendation, be conversant and philosophically okay with a spectrum of modalities.

This forum encourages people to go into jobs that, if you are competent or better, you will be ousted from.

I am not sure I understand how this forum "encourages people to go into jobs...they(you) will be ousted from." This forum and CMAA encourage music and liturgy that is, let's face it, not the norm anymore. Neither is it widespread in the grand scheme of things. There seems to be great exultation over new parishes that adopt good sacred music, but they are not the majority of parishes out there. How this will all shake out 30 years from now is anyone's guess. If you are in a parish that values good sacred music, give thanks.

I suppose I am resistant to both encouragement and discouragement. I have a distressing tendency to do as I please and have reached the age where that seems a good thing.

All that is going on now is an aberration that will cease, as it has over time, once again. Because of the internet, that change will happen quickly instead of slowly as these church musical cycles used to take.

This "aberration" has been going on for better than 50 years. It may change in the future, but none of us will be around to witness it. It is just as possible that it may not change. The music being proposed as the "norm" by CMAA is anything but. Don't misunderstand since I love that music. It has, however, been pushed into a corner and is not normal usage in most parishes. The reason music has remained relatively constant in my parish is because it meets congregational expectations. Add to that the longevity of pastors. The pastor before last was there for 38 years while the recently retired pastor was there for 17 years. This is unusual. We are considered so conservative and traditional, most of the trendy priests avoid us like the plague.

As a Byzantine layman, we are not allowed to touch the sacred mysteries. The cavalier handling of the holy in Roman circles has always baffled me and I freely admit I don't understand it. However, the Roman authorities seemingly have not exceeded their jurisdiction by allowing it.

Clarification. Something can be a norm without being normal.

Yes there is a distinction between the two. It seems the norm has become the new normal and very few want to go back to the older normal.

I can't say that I love my job. I like certain parts of it, and certain people that I work for/with. I am grateful for the job and am happy for the most part. But often I feel alone in the pursuit of something beyond the particular tastes and demands of the parishioners. The staff's official position is to have "something for everyone." But our smorgasboard of musical styles hardly includes any chant, Latin, or polyphony, because no one is asking for that, except for Holy Mother Church and her vote doesn't matter that much to people.

As much as it pains, I concur with Noel that the new normal/norm (in this case, the same and let's just agree on that to move on) is ensconced in our Western cultures. It is also wise to agree that this cultural byproduct will evolve or devolve, we hope the former. But back to reality- the real issue that friend Imassery implies does contain a third way beyond entrenchment in the false dichotomy: tradition/contemporaneous.
I credit musical stability for the situation I'm now facing, that of a long tenure directing and managing a large, multi-church/idiomatic parish music program while planning to retire. Since becoming involved with CMAA I have labored to educate music leadership at our parish and re-orient (pun OK) different strains of styles towards the inclusion of Propers, chant, and studied choices for Mass Ordinary settings into the more popular repertoires. Some would decry that proper Propers means the Latin Graduale, Liber etc. I don't think everyone ought to die on that hill. The Musica Sacra resources page is living proof that may be for a majority of American RC's a deal-breaker. This is why the Fords, Bartlett, Rice, Oost Zinner, Esguerra, Weber, Kelly's and others' innovations are welcome. A recent thread here deals with chant in Afrikans, if that's not an indicator I don't know what is. On each side of the equation "Propers = chant" the medium is still the message.
So, if a director can't or won't employ the medium through, say, the SEP at the Ensemble Mass, they're willfully ignoring spreading good seed on the ground in the middle consciousness of modern PIPs. No pastor should flinch at the chanting of an Introit or Communio within the "sandwich" approach. Is there really scandal attached to chanting an SEP before launching into a parish fave liturgical song? Not if both choices are well reasoned and performed well. And we have to give ground that we'd rather accept the use of Pluth/Tietze hymn version, or Ainslee's multi-emulative antiphons, or Macek/Tate's "popular" versions of Propers as stand alone and/or augmented (stuffed) entities.
I'm mirthfully reminded of the scene in "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" Gene Wilder's "Victor" has pondered his grandfather's treatise and exclaims "It....could....work!"
The upshot is a beneficial growth in the congregations' exposure to the native forms of the Church. It could even include some modest forms of polyphony in addition to chant and hymns. The point is to by stealth or wealth, sew the seeds of that growth.
Example, we simply chant "Lord hear our prayer." Scale degrees 7-6-7-1 as like the Litany of the Saints. It is now commonplace, acquired and fully taken up. What's been a pleasant surprise is when I "cover" Masses usually led by others who don't use this little device, is that their congregations respond naturally and likewise fully. There's no cognitive dissonance among the PIPs. And you know what? That's the sort of simple adjustment that Mahrt's been evangelizing his whole career.
The problem I see as most detrimental to vital worship practice is stasis (Homer Simpson just blurted "Doh!"), which obviously is antithetical to growth.
The Dial-a-Mass option is antithetical to that growth, it relegates musical styles to ghettos essentially. Good ol' Msgr. Mannion in Salt Lake excoriated this strain, Eclecticism, in his paradigms. Well, our congregations are blended now aren't they.
Discretion, wisdom, purpose have to be applied by pastors and their musicians.
And that's probably what our pastor will want, in addition to consistency from regime to regime, from the DM who follows my time.
PS. For credibility I will state we do keep a Novus Ordo sort of Solemn Mass aided by a schola as the principal Sunday Mass among the churches.

I'd be lying if I didn't realize that your experience is a common one, one I deeply lament. And as I've already said vis a vis Kevin's ouster in KY, it will likely remain so. I really don't have any surety as to what amounts to a solution. But I'm very skeptical that any entrenchment, especially a banal static one, is likely to sway public and "shot caller" opinion. How many of us have the real opportunity to solely change the course of regular parish worship? God bless everyone who's been provided the opportunity to minister and worship at a Cantius, a Basilica IC, an FSSP parish (which doesn't always work out so well) and so forth.
It can't hurt a DM's resume/CV to be both dedicated and versatile. And I truly don't believe that being so is a necessary evil that demeans both the Church and the DM. Integrity can be found in many ways, and I'm uncomfortable with statements that charge such folk with apostasy.

On the whole, I do like my job, though, selfishly perhaps, I enjoy it the most when I can just open up the Graduale and play an organ Mass (Low Mass), and don't have to worry about fifteen things simultaneously (are the sopranos in tune, are the basses singing the right piece, my shoe's untied and I have a pedal obligato coming up, cue the altos, ...).

Though there are times when I wish I had considered a profession with fewer problems like astrophysics.

yes I love my job, though I don't get paid.
Whats not to love about teaching music to children?
Yesterday one of the four year olds said to me ; Have you ever heard of a saxamaphone?' I said yes, i had. He said 'well its just a trumpet'.
If you are getting beat up working with immovable choirs, congregations and clergy, just make it your priority to work with the next generation of choirs congregations and clergy. I would rather be training the bishop of my diocese from the age of four than trying to change the current bishops mind who is probably fairly set in his ways. Just because i won't live to see it play out does not mean it is not real, not meaningful, or not worth doing.

My shoelaces!