Your pastor ... should then not have relayed the complaint to you. If this happens again, a response could be "I am so relieved, then, that you didn't need to tell me that after all."

You could always buy an identical pair and wear them with the price-tag on...

Haha probably. She wouldn't want to see what I wear during practice. Ladies who play organ, Lularoe leggings are PERFECT for practicing LOL! Or yoga pants paired with random t shirts from like twenty years ago...
The ironic part? This is probably the same person who threw a fit about my candidate for the accompanist position, but was able to overlook the several DOZEN visible tattoos and Sia-style hair that the other crazy candidate had?

Perhaps the musicians should wear ROBES, then you can wear, or not wear, anything you like underneath them

It seems to me that protestants wear robes way more often than Catholics.

I wouldn't complain to the pastor about something like jeans, but I don't exactly consider jeans/denim to be appropriate Sunday church attire, either...

I don't have a problem with jeans if they are clean and neatly fitted. If they have holes, tears, rips, and are dirty, then no.

The problem with denim or jeans is that they can only go so far in terms of dressiness. Chinos are more more versatile in going from casual to semi-dressy, which is why I stopped buying jeans.

At least they're not polos which exist in the no man's land or uncanny valley of being simultaneously too casual and too formal (not to mention too ugly) to be good for anything.

These denim slacks are definitely not a worn out pair of tight Levi's with rips and holes. They're also very dark colored and from a distance do not look like denim. I never wear tight or revealing clothing, either, and these are loosely fitted. Oh well. I agree with M. Jackson about the Muslim ladies. We have a growing Muslim population here and they're always dressed beautifully.

I'm assuming this is a Catholic Church, therefore one is in the House of God. It's not the price of our clothing that makes it suitable for Mass. One should always strive to wear their Sunday best on Sundays (which does NOT include jeans, generally speaking). For women this means a modest dress, skirt, or dress pants and a modest dressy top or blouse. That being said, the Church Clothes Police need to be told to pipe down and mind their own business.

@SponsaChristi: You assumed wrongly. I currently work for a United Methodist church. And since I'm still pretty annoyed with the situation, I'll state AGAIN that these were dark denim slacks, NOT jeans, and I was wearing a modest, dressy top with them, along with dressy shoes. YMMV. I fear at this point that further comments from the pastor or the congregation via the pastor about my clothes will not be met with any kind of grace or patience. I cannot afford new clothes right now and I have to make do with what I have, and that isn't much. I'm not happy about the situation but I have bills to pay and three children to dress. I'm last on the list of priorities, so when comments like this are thrown at me I do NOT take them well. At all.

I wouldn't wear those pants on a day I was directing the choir and in front of everyone, but when I'm tucked away in a corner I really don't see the problem.

Unfortunately, to a parishioner, you were visible and, in your own words, not wearing something you wear when in front of everybody.

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A church I know of is trying to figure out how to deal with a doctoral piano candidate who appeared for the organist job interview and for the first church service wearing cut-off short jeans and a t-shirt.
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Choir robes, especially in a Protestant church are almost a requirement.

Solves a multitude of potential problems...leaving only flashy earrings to deal with.

My grandmother was born in 1884, so she was definitely old school. As youngsters we were told that we were not to act like "long-necked heathens." Also, to not go out of the house looking like trash. My brother and I really didn't understand about the long-necked heathens until much later. When we were older we figured out that granny was talking about that African tribe where the women wear gold rings around their necks. Their necks appear longer, but they actually depress and deform their shoulders. So, we have tried to not act like the aforementioned heathens and while not overdressing in our hot summer climate, we dress decently. Good lessons, I think, which many younger folks wouldn't understand.

A bit related, when I was teaching in a public school, we called a mother about her daughter who was wearing a high, bare midriff shirt. When the mother arrived at school, guess what the mother was wearing. High shirt with bare midriff, a navel ring, and a tattoo. Of course, no such outfit would be complete without accompanying flip-flops. It's hard to blame the kids when they grow up with bad examples.

My (maternal) grandmother was also born in 1884. She passed away when I was only 8 years old, but I remember traveling to Ames, Iowa for Christmas with my grandparents there, every year, a family tradition until they passed away (both in 1948).

Women never look as formally attired in any sort of slacks as they do in something like a plain-black skirt.
Post-partum me, when push came to shove, might have begrudgingly still worn maternity dress pants, but denim of any sort, as someone commented above, can only be so dressy.

Nobody wants to make you feel bad.
It would be a good idea, though, to avoid wearing them again.

Suited and booted is the only way to go to look really formal.

if you're a man (and at a formal affair in Texas), yes. :-)
I'm with CCooze.

and the thought occurs that who knows, a guy might like to see someone out there who doesn't look like him.