Hiring ringers for an all-volunteer choir
  • btodorovich
    Posts: 32
    Hello all,

    My 16-voice volunteer adult choir is preparing to sing part 3 of Messiah on Trinity Sunday. Our rehearsals are falling behind schedule, and I have recently had spotty attendance from many of my singers, including several strong ones. Because of this, I decided to seek out hiring some ringers to give the choir's sound a boost. My choir is certainly capable of singing this music... I've provided plenty of good rehearsal time, sectionals, and practice aids for them to learn their parts (about half of them do not read music). At the same time, I do not want to risk them looking bad in the performance.

    When a few of the choir members got the word about this, they became significantly upset with me. These folks in question think that my bringing in outside help is simply expressing my lack of confidence in the ensemble. They also feel that if more experienced singers are being paid to sing, then the volunteers should not even bother coming to sing. One of them made this sentiment clear by opening criticizing me in the middle of our last rehearsal, and the same singer gave me an even more in-depth speech this morning before Mass.

    Has anyone ever encountered such a situation before? How was the conflict resolved? What did you need to do to gain the trust of your loyal volunteers back? I certainly want to stand behind my decision, since I do not believe I have done anything wrong. At the same time, I cannot risk losing members. Thoughts???
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,115
    How did you tell choir? It sounds like you didn't (it sounds like they "got word" rather than hearing this during a rehearsal before you did it). I would say that I would have advised the choir first, because this is not an unusual problem, even if it was invited by the spotty rehearsal attendance (the message on the score is that the best singers are most needed to help anchor their respective sections well during rehearsals).

    One may think that, because the Catholic decision-making structure is monarchical on paper, that it is monarchical in practice; in reality, it's much more consultative (especially in Mediterranean Catholicism that does not read law with the same mindset of the Anglosphere), to avoid an unnecessary brutta figura.

    In my veteran all-volunteer choir, we accept paid ringers for concerts (never for liturgy) as needed (it's not always needed -but for Handel, all-volunteer choirs often need an assist for first tenors, due to the awfulness of Handel's choral tenor voicing...), but are always advised in advance so there is an opportunity for courteous colloquies per section as volunteers need.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    They say that you're expressing a lack of confidence in them, and that certainly seems true (and warranted). And that could well lead them to express a lack of confidence in you as their leader. It could get ugly.

    I highly recommend that you spend a few hours over the next day or two, making phone calls to your choir members. Mostly just listen. As a wise boss expressed it to me, "Let the lava flow." Just let them express their frustration. Judging from my own experience, by and large they will be pleased and grateful that you called. And then also have a pad of paper for two things. Jotting down suggestions: you may find that the most unlikely choir member has the most brilliant, easily-implemented suggestions. Talking points: at some point in the conversation, there will be an opportunity to steer the conversation back to your very reasonable plan to bring in support for the choir as they face this rather intense challenge. It might help to have the reasons for that plan all spelled out in bullet points, not only to keep things clear but also so that every single choir member hears the exact same thing from you, and nobody says "Well, that's not what s/he told me."

    I agree with Liam's advice, but at this point that horse has left the barn, so the best you can do is damage control.

    By the way, I've had problems getting my choir to retain the trickier passages from Messiah as well. One thing that can help is that they have these videos on youtube that pick out each part, with all the parts together in the background, and the score is visible in the video. It's super helpful. Although it's possible to get criticized for recommending this, I've found out!

    Anyways, I would totally talk to your people. A lot of them are probably not delighted that the "sour apple" member keeps upsetting the order of things, actually.


    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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