Playing for Protestant services
  • TCJ
    Posts: 986
    The latter may not enjoy the fullness of the Christian truth. But they clearly have at least a good dollop of it, especially when compared to some of the options out there.


    Partial truths are often more dangerous than outright lies. If it's not the fullness of the truth, why would I want to be involved at all? Also, a plumber who comes out to fix a broken pipe in a protestant church is not doing the same thing (or even close to it) as an organist who assists. Such thinking is what ultimately brings about moral relativism and false ecumenism. It is one of many reasons why the Catholic Church is in such disarray right now and why so many Catholics are not... Catholic. And, of course, that is why we can't find many full time positions of quality in Catholic churches!
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,165
    Where are you from?

    Full time Directors of Music are pretty much the norm here with many churches having two full time musicians.

    Prior to moving to the USA I lived in Canada where it was very rare to find full time DM jobs.


    I live in Deep East Texas, behind the Pine Curtain.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    And, of course, that is why we can't find many full time positions of quality in Catholic churches!


    No, you can't find those positions because the priests are not willing to pay for them. Might also explain why some Catholic musicians choose such bad music and perform at such a low level. You do get what you are willing to pay for.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Carol
    Posts: 856
    I surely hope Catholic musicians are not deliberately choosing bad music or performing at a low level. Sometimes we may be tempted to do so, but we would never actually do it as it would be a sin, in my opinion.
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,165
    It's not that they deliberately choose bad music or to perform at low levels. They are doing the best they can with the limited training (or lack thereof) and resources that they have.
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Carol
  • Incardination
    Posts: 832
    This seems to be an universal problem - and I agree that MOST do not deliberately choose bad music, but as a result of lack of training / understanding. I've been almost exclusively EF for a long time, and I've seen many situations where bad music reigns. Propers always done a la Rossini, and then the practice of the psalm tones rushed through so that we can get to "real" music; none of the great composers, just the pieces one was familiar with in the 50's and 60's that were in vogue. Some schmaltz every once in a while might be understood; a steady diet, no.

    Lack of training; lack of understanding; lack of effort to improve the standard.

    I've also heard of bad music deliberately chosen - such as the organist who played a Lady Gaga piece (presumably a variation) when leaving a given situation as a way of lashing out over perception of how he was treated.

    On the other hand, I've seen a great deal of improvement in general, improvement that I think is also more universal, at least in the milieu of the EF. More and more choirs doing full Propers or at least a mixture that leans heavily toward full Propers; much more high-caliber polyphony; much less "low-brow" liturgical music. More drive to education, more drive to improve the standards.

    The improvement seems to be accelerating and more and more options exist all the time. There is light at the end of the tunnel - at least enough that one can see the tunnel. Hopefully others are seeing something similar.
    Thanked by 2tsoapm Carol
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