"Train your future replacements"
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,100
    Didn't want to sidetrack another thread, but here was a comment that struck me
    >> train your future replacements.


    I agree,
    however
    three times I've brought on a new singer who would make an excellent successor... in every case, the person moved out of state.

    The need to support oneself / one's family is basic! but it seems to work against the church choir in particular. We deal with complex choral music, a large % of which is only used during a certain part of the liturgical year (not to mention weekly Mass propers), so it will take at least one full year ("EF" calendar) to get a new member of such a choir up to speed.

    In whatever place he is assigned, a priest I know discourages his choir from learning a polyphonic Mass. As soon as they learn it, he said, the soprano moves away. Voice of experience, apparently. :-/

    In "olden days" when Catholic schools were the seed beds for new singers, perhaps working people didn't need this much mobility ... at any rate, if your parish has a school, but not a program for teaching chant (and choral singing, including simple motets), maybe you could see what might be done there.
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • sergeantedward
    Posts: 195
    This is not a problem special to the Church. People deal with this in every organization. Solving the problem of retention and staff churn is so basic to running an organization, it's extremely telling that low quality music + high churn has been a hallmark of working in sacred music for...well, for at least the three generations I've engaged with on the topic.

    Retention, churn, job meaningfulness/satisfaction, compensation/benefits...there's no secret to how this all works on a macro (economic) and micro (psychological) level. Countless non-profits and for-profits do this every day, and have for centuries.

    It's not as simple as training opportunities or mobility.

    It's about spending the money on competitive compensation + strong leadership at scale + positive reputation for the job + giving employees agency/ownership. None of which the Church (generally speaking here...) is going to be putting towards music in my lifetime...!
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    three times I've brought on a new singer who would make an excellent successor... in every case, the person moved out of state.


    Just because former members of our choir now sing in places as far away as the Australia, Singapore, and Southern California. As well as those that now sing in other choirs across Europe, this I see as a feature not a bug. I am rather impressed when I hear the music programmes from these far flung places.

    so it will take at least one full year ("EF" calendar) to get a new member of such a choir up to speed.


    This is an investment in the future, hopefully your choir but if not the work should go to good use elsewhere.

    a priest I know discourages his choir from learning a polyphonic Mass. As soon as they learn it, he said, the soprano moves away. Voice of experience, apparently.


    God always provides, but you need to try! Perhaps singing the Polyphonic Masses will encourage singers to join. We have a professional musician who joins our amateur choir to sing Polyphony (we sing interesting and usual polyphony).

    We have found a number of musicians sitting in the pews with cotton wool in their ears. But when we turn up singing interesting music in latin they quickly come up to join us or even start their own EF choir.

    N.B. The only paid musician we have is the parish organist!
    Thanked by 5Richard Mix CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn Carol mmeladirectress
  • PaxMelodious
    Posts: 443
    The three you have trained are likely serving the church elsewhere. The actual one who will replace you may not have been trained by you. But they were trained by someone. If everyone trains someone, there will be enough people to go around.
    Thanked by 4tomjaw M. Jackson Osborn Carol mmeladirectress
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    We will be losing one Bass shortly, he is heading off to a Benedictine Monastery to try his vocation. One of our Tenors is applying for the FSSP, this I think is good news.
    In other news also good, last week we had two new members who want to sing chant and this week we have another new member with lots of experience singing polyphony!

    Oh and yesterday we had the first of a monthly meeting with lessons for children to sing chant. 12 children attended!
    Thanked by 4M. Jackson Osborn Carol mmeladirectress StimsonInRehab
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