Weekend Mass schedule

cmbearer

For DMs specifically:

What is the ratio of your parish's total number of weekend Masses to the number that you are directly involved in providing music for? And are you present at the church for those Masses for which you are not playing/singing/conducting the choir?

I am curious if my situation is standard practice. We have 4 weekend Masses. My pastor expects me to be at all of them even if I am not directly responsible for the music. At our Saturday evening Mass, I regularly have an organist and cantor to cover and our Sunday evening Mass is covered by our "youth band".

Thanks for your input!

melofluent

Depends upon what he's paying you, and what that figure meant, implicitly or otherwise, in his mind at the time of your hiring.

Wendi

The music directors I've worked for personally were expected to be there for all the Masses. As was I when I was interim.

matthewj

I think it depends on several situations:
1) Your pastor's expectations
2) Your desire to see your program run a certain way
3) The competence and reliability of your organists/cantors
4) Your other responsibilities

On #1 - if your pastor expects you to be there, and you can't convince him that you not being there is not a better idea, be there.

On #2 - the only way to really make sure your cantor/organist does what you desire them to do is to be there, at least sometimes, to make sure.

On #3 - I once worked at a place with a full time organist who was not reliable. He would often be late and sometimes show up wearing blue jeans. In these cases, were I not there, things would have been bad.

On #4 - Do you need to be elsewhere during those Masses?

Adam Wood

wearing blue jeans

NOT a liturgical color.

CharlesW

I play and conduct for three morning masses. Someone comes in and does the afternoon EF mass and the folk people do the evening folk mass. I am there for the three morning masses, only.

Spriggo

We have five weekend Masses (1 Saturday and 4 Sunday). I'm there playing all of them.

matthewj

We have four different levels of Masses with music at the Cathedral:
1) With choir and organ
2) With cantor and organ
3) With choir and organ (Spanish)
4) With a cantor alone

I'm present for all Masses in categories 1 and 2, unless on vacation or away for work reasons.

My assistant is at all Masses in category 3.

A cantor is assigned for any Masses in category 4, which tend to just use Latin and vernacular propers, a Gregorian ordinary, and the Marian antiphon at the end.

We try to use levels 1-3 for any Masses that include both a Gloria and Credo, and use #4 for sung Masses that do not have Gloria/Credo.

TCJ

At my previous post, I had five Masses, two on Saturday and three on Sunday and I was expected to play for all of them. It has been said to me by others that it is too much to expect from a person on a weekend, but personally, I found it to be fine.

Adam Wood

I had five Masses, two on Saturday and two on Sunday

bonniebede

To give and not to count to cost...;-)

Orkaa

I have five weekend masses and i attend three, two of which i conduct the choir and i play the keyboard for the other. So if your Pastor expects you to be there, probably its because thats what makes him comfortable and i guess its for the best.

cmbearer

Thank you for your feedback. Let me clarify. I am not opposed to serving at the Masses on the weekend. But several people have also said to me that they are shocked to learn that I am at all the Masses (which got me thinking...) I feel my "40 a week" work hours are heavily scrutinized to the point of being made to clock in and out (as a professional salaried employee) and so I want to maximize the efficiency of my work time by actually working while "on the clock" and not having to put in "extra" hours during the week to see that other things get completed. Unfortunately it was not ever clear at the time of hiring what the expectation was, lesson learned. I promise, I'm not complaining (except for maybe the time clock thing!); I'm just curious about what happens in other churches. I love my job. I love that my job serves the Lord and His liturgy. I love that my job allows me to teach children and adults about music and its role in the liturgy. Thank you again for your comments!

Earl_Grey

2 + 2 could = 5 using common core math if you can explain yourself.

Bookkeepers tend to only count the hours one spends working at a desk in the parish office. Time spent planning, rehearsing and playing at Mass doesn't count as "work".

Also, if a musician were to be at the church from noon to midnight 7 days a week, the bookkeeper may still not be happy since you are not sitting at your desk at 8am.

In my last parish I played 4/5 Masses every weekend. The 5th Mass was LifeTeen over which I had no oversight, but when the band wanted to take off the Sunday following Christmas to spend time with their families, I was expected to play that one too.

CHGiffen

Rounding error:

7/3 is (about 2), but 7/3 + 7/3 = 14/3 is (about 5). So, (about 2) + (about 2) = (about 5), sometimes.

Sometimes also, (about 2) + (about 2) = (about 3), because 5/3 is (about 2), while 10/3 is (about 3).

TCJ

My addition is just fine. Apparently my spelling is so bad that I mistake two for three. Fixed!

Salieri

Bookkeepers tend to only count the hours one spends working at a desk in the parish office. Time spent planning, rehearsing and playing at Mass doesn't count as "work".

Why I'm glad the parish bookkeeper is also and organist and DM at another parish.

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