I assume that your prices are for a regular singer? I pay a bit more than that (up to double?) for seasonal or one-time gigs.

It's in the ballpark. I was getting $45 per rehearsal and Mass at St. James in Cleveland. I would suspect that in places where the cost of living is higher, you might have to pay more. I'm also rather dubious about your scale based on paper credentials. If you're paying singers, merely as singers, then you will expect from them pleasing and technically proficient voices allied with great reading ability. Those are the only people you should be hiring, and I'm not convinced that, within that group, experience is such a factor. OTOH, if you want them to be true section leaders, then vocal teaching experience is relevant and should command a premium. At the Cathedral here, starting pay is fairly modest, but there's a dollar-per-service bump for every year you're with the choir. And they do extremely well.

Around here it's a depressed area so the fees are on the low end. I know that the NPM issues a list of suggested fees, and that includes orgaqnists, musicians, singers and for various events. But what you have listed as potential pay amounts seems reasonable.

What would you pay someone who doesn't (and isn't pursuing) a voice degree but can sing well? Or is that not an option at all?

"Market price" here in St. Louis is lower...unless we're talking seafood!

$40-50 a "call" is standard around here. I am unfamiliar with a sliding scale for rehearsal vs. liturgy. I don't think I'd want to go there.

I don't have money in my budget for section leaders; one of the conditions of my job is that I continue paying a contemporary group to play at our Sunday evening Mass...that would be a wonderful "choral scholar" budget.

I would be wary of paying too much attention to the sheepskin. My wife has a masters' in voice from UT-Austin and is a beautiful singer, but I have some very good cantors here that could be almost as good if they had the time to spend on it.

Finally, for what it's worth, it is hard to find good, dependable singers around here who will do church gigs, especially if you need men. This is frustrating, since men are usually what we need! I am fortunate to have a volunteer singer with a voice degree in my tenor section, but one is always worried about sickness if you're depending on one person...

It might be prudent not to change the current cantor arrangement at funerals...or cutting the summer singers.

I understand that I, as a hired director of music of a parish, was accused to "trying to make a living off the church" (!) by busybodies.

While you are trying to save money for the family, seeing you singing from the console at the funeral for their dad/mom and knowing that a month ago Sheila sang the Ave Maria for the neighbor's aunt's funeral, can cause tongues to wag, especially among those that love to hear Sheila sing.

I hate to say this, but it is always better to leave things at a parish as they are and add to what it going on, rather than cutting things out. No one is going to complain if you sing a duet with Sheila at the funeral.

But if Sheila's not there...tongues will wag. You are only making $25 more by getting rid of Sheila...but it could end up costing you.

The only way that it might work would be if you charged nothing extra for singing from the console.

But remember, they've just spent more for a wooden box that, after admiring it for a day or two, is going into the ground to rot, more than they spent for any furniture in their home that they intend to pass down to their children!

"Oh, it's too bad Sheila couldn't be there to sing. Is she sick?" - "No, we decided to save $100!"

And...saving the church money over the summer by cutting the paid singers can have the same effect.

Now, if your priest has asked to you make cuts and save money, go for it. If he has not...

Thoughts, friends?

Frogman, I agree with you totally. Unless and until you know the politics in the parish, and are in the ruling party, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. Personally, I would rather teach an all-volunteer schola than hire any professionals. As soon as you hire professionals you are giving your schola the message that they are not good enough. If you rehearse with your schola twice a week they will improve very quickly. As they get better you will attract more advanced singers. Maybe you won't be able to do 2 liturgies a week at first, but proceed brick by brick.
There is a paid group that sings about once a month at our parish and I think they are paid $400 per mass. They sing polyphony and chant. They sing on special occasions too, such as Christmas Midnight Mass and this does in fact send the message that our choirs are not up to the job.

I'd echo Olbash's post on human relations. The Catholic church has a miserable reputation in its dealings with church musicians. Moreover, I wouldn't be trying to save the Pastor money unless he's specifically asked you to. Standard management practice is to do your job and do it well and not try to fix up the whole company.

Hi Adam,

Your original post didnt specify locality, which is a big factor. The Oakland diocese sets the minimum fee for cantors at $55 per call, whether rehearsal or mass, while substitutes at San Francisco churches can expect $70-100. These are both lower than AGMA rates which start at $75/hour.

Like BruceL, I can't see an upside to the proposed sliding scale, which will either greatly irk undergraduate hotshots or price out willing doctors, and suggest that you pay according to proven ability instead.

I, like Franny, am in the South, and my church job is for Anglicans. I inherited 8 section leaders who, 10 years ago, were paid $30 per service (the choir rehearsal is on Sunday mornings before the one sung liturgy, which is high-church Anglican out the wazoo--plainsong, Anglican chant, 1 or 2 motets, a different "Communion Service" each season, two sung Passions and an orchestral Mass at Christmas Eve and Easter). For various reasons unrelated to their ability and unrelated to me, four of them left soon after my predecessor left, and while the vestry wanted to cut the music budget, I argued for raises. We're up to $40/call and double pay on holydays for the veterans (all 50+, lovely singers with no training but tons of experience) and $50 for the soprano, of which we've had three different undergrad voice majors. They sing from Holy Cross Sunday to Pentecost; the summer is all volunteers. (There are 8-10 members of the church who sing in the choir, depending on job/family/school situations.) That level of pay is on the low end for the local Protestants, some of whom pay both singers and instrumentalists for an 'orchestra'; and considered exorbitant by the Catholic parishes, who mostly don't pay people except for the organist. I am a volunteer schola director and get no monetary support from the diocese or the two parishes which have Sunday-obligation EFs where my schola assists (not because the pastors don't want to, but both parishes are pretty small and not rich).

I am presently seeking a new soprano section leader and am having a terrible time of it, as finding one who can sightread well and then take the time to learn the music, sing with a lovely tone in both choral and solo contexts, and be friendly and supportive with the choir members, is quite difficult.

If anyone knows of a good soprano in the South looking for a job, message me privately and I'll give the particulars.