I agree, Adam. There are definitely some major pros to the scenario you're describing.

Maybe job ads can specify, "This position entails dealing with a bunch of junk, sometimes when you aren't even at the office."

When task X is "make the liturgy happen with excellence," there are many moving parts that need organization, which requires a broad set of skills, including people and musical skills, none of which are really quantifiable in "hours worked."

Right, and perhaps the "just wage" a/k/a "family in frugal comfort" model actually endorsed by the Church, should be replaced with the pay for excellence model everyone is arguing for.

Just a thought piece - but what if instead of hiring individuals, parishes were to contract out to an organization, we can call it Sacred Music Corporation, or SMC for short, which agrees to provide excellent liturgy in return for some rather high fee by today's standards--perhaps a sliding fee, depending on number of choirs, number of Masses, etc.

SMC provides choir director/organists and cantors who have been certified for quality. If a choir director/organist or cantor doesn't measure up in the field, they can be let go or reassigned. SMC has resources for music selection suggestions, "worship aid" printing/distribution, copyright management, music distribution to choir members, even choir communication tools and work-at-home rehearsal kits. It's possible that based on schedules, there could be multiple choir director/organists assigned to one parish, or a single choir director/organist covering multiple parishes. Specialty rehearsers could be brought in to teach particular skills. There could be regional centers for cantor formation. Professional singers and instrumentalists could be rotated through the network for occasional special Masses (say, 1 per year per parish, on a random Sunday). Pastors would still be consulted regularly for their input, especially about local devotions.

Economies of scale are realized, musicians are allowed to focus all of their time on music, quality is achieved in places where it was thought impossible before, organizational politics is reduced, salaries are generally higher, and people regain the trust to donate.

Chrism, that's an interesting model; it is reminiscent of medieval guilds. I don't see it working in the short-term for a variety of reasons that are probably clear to all, but that doesn't make it bad, obviously.

It would certainly address one of the big elephants in the room here, which is that priests and parish administrators frequently make terrible judgments about hiring and firing musicians, the end result of which is unnecessary heartbreak, disillusionment, or worse.

Two of the biggest downsides would be the potential insider/outsider dichotomy and the problem of attaining power within the corporation. What happens, for example, when the Vice President of Gregorian Propers insists that the President's preference for "old Solesmes" has tainted the SMC's pool of schola directors, and the VPGG starts a splinter organization devoted to semiology and calls it the "Sacred Music Consortium," a clever marketing ploy that creates confusion among the populace? This would create the perfect opportunity for a multi-talented but uncertified rogue with no other job prospects to swoop in and undercut the competition, but at the risk of his life at the hands of the SMC's (and SMC #2's) secret thugs.

A colleague of mine had an idea for a religious order, let's call them "The Canons of St Gregory," part of whose formation would be in chant, choir directing, organ-playing, and Liturgy. These brothers and priests would then be assigned to different parishes - two canons per parish - whose sole duty would be to lead or support the parochial music program, as choir-master, precentor, organist, etc.

We didn't go into monitary details, but I would presume the Canons would recieve, for lack of a better word, an allowance from the order for personal expenses (i.e. brylcream, etc.); and would be given room and board at the parish Rectory, but no salary. Music books would be paid for by the Order, therefore freeing the parish from buying 30 copies of the Graduale, or Masses by Lasso.

I would venture that they would be bound to the office in common, since there are two conons in each parish, which would help spearhead the singing of the major hours in choir at the parish.

If nothing else, its an interresting concept.

Great idea Kathy! I've seen that happen when a music director leaves a Parish. The choir and cantors all leave with the former director and the new hire has absolutely nothing to start with. It takes at minimum three years to get a decent program running successfully and unfortunately by that time, the Parish has taken a huge hit.

Is this really the starting point for implementing CST in salaried employees? Music directors who make less that the average teacher? You guys realize that Chrism isn't Bob and Bob at Initech, and you don't have to justify your job to him.

Good quality and consistently good quality music come from someone managing the music program, guiding it to excellence and keeping it there. It's not a fluke. It's somebody's job and they do it.

@Andy: Too funny!

"What would you say...ya do here?"

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