I gave up and became a truck driver.
  • searchfgold6789
    Posts: 30
    Follow-up to: https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22352/advice-needed-auditions-and-job-applications/
    TL:DR; I was burned out of my first two jobs straight out of college (DMA) back to back. The first one mysteriously asked me to resign and offered me a severance package, which I took, and I never found out the real reason. The second one siphoned the organist wedding and funeral pay and refused to fix the issue, and instead the Diocese proposed to change my job description; I walked off that job, as there were other red flags too. The people here gave me wonderful advice and encouragement. As I went along being unemployed and still rejected by even the most intuitive posts, I gradually got more panicked and frustrated, as you can see from one or two of the comments. That thread left off with me still being unemployed.

    We also had another baby during that time. Since I graduated, our family has spent more time on food stamps and medicaid than bringing in a non-zero household income. This should not be possible considering the alleged demand for qualified church musicians, and the well-documented "revival" of Catholicism in many parts of the country. Something is wrong here.

    I wound up moving back to my home state close to family. I acquired my CDL in 7 weeks, and the state paid for it. The CDL school had job boards listing companies that were specific pipelines from that school. Instead of you applying to the job and hoping to win a contest to get the job, you talked to a recruiter and they tried to convince you to join their company - they applied to you. If you struggled to get a job, there were people who you could talk to at the school to help you.

    I was hired by a local company within two weeks of graduating, and now my job is to deliver cases of soda to local restaurants and stores. The entry level trainee compensation package is better than what I made at either church job. I will not lose my job if management changes. If I do something wrong, the boss tells me what it is and I correct it. After I go home for the day, no one bothers me and I just chill with my family. I receive good health insurance mostly paid for by the company. It is a very physical job, and there is a risk of injury, but I know how to use my body thanks to Alexander technique, and I will not wear down. Instead, now I'm in the best shape of my life.

    Out with it now, is the church field as we used to know it just dead/dying? I have heard of many similar stories, and the BS I went through is certainly seen as typical by my more experienced colleagues. But having gone through the process of entering the transportation field, I laugh at the fact that I jumped through so many hoops to find a low-paying church music post without even being 100% sure I'd get the job and it would last.

    Maybe it's time for major changes in the church music profession. What if church music had the bare minimum professional standards that truck driving does? Then we would abolish pointless audition contests, require salary ranges to be posted, hold Dioceses accountable for mistreatment, make sure qualifications are adequately recognized, and provide standardized trainee programs - all things that most professional fields have. How do we make this happen? :)

    It's still my dream to work full-time teaching people how to sing together for the liturgy, and providing glorious organ music for Mass and the Office. But it's just a dream, I guess. I tried as hard as I could, and at the end of the day I don't regret getting those degrees.
    Thanked by 2DrJS Lars
  • DrJS
    Posts: 17
    Thank you for the update. I'd seen your previous posts and I'm glad to see that you're living a better life. May God bless you and your growing family.
    I feel your pain. Like you, I have a DMA. I'm in my first week on the job in my second Catholic position in two years, and I'm already looking for an escape, and, if possible, a way to leave Catholic Church music forever. I desire to provide beautiful music for the liturgy, but all the leadership wants is an ugly NO factory at the cheapest possible price. I've been subject to unpaid work, non-agreed upon changes to my job description, emotional manipulation, and a complete lack of regard for my area of expertise.
    For the past year, I play the music that's worthy of the Mass when no one's around. It's a private hobby. I put almost no effort into what's actually played at Mass, because the low quality repertoire (from the 3-letter publishers) requires no skill and rewards no effort.
  • TCJ
    Posts: 1,056
    It's true that there is a great need for good quality church musicians.

    The problem is that the priests and the churches haven't figured that out yet and others are afraid of the sheep.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,642
    There is a great need for talent and intelligence, and some ambition that leads to competence, at all levels of the church particularly in places where she was historically nonexistent as an institution but is now being asked to do more with fewer clerics and far more laity than anyone ever believed would be served in that territory, even geographically smaller ones than in times past, like my own diocese, Nashville (cut in 2/3 in 1970 when Memphis was created, cut to its present size losing the other 1/3 in 1988 when the see of Knoxville was erected).

    The bare minimum norms of even moderately sized small businesses are not observed: I rather tend to dislike small businesses, as their dysfunction leads to great injustices: big corporations might not be great, but the fear of a lawsuit makes it somewhat easier to get the right thing which you are owed as an employee.
  • wspinnenwspinnen
    Posts: 37
    Many graduates of my organ/sacred music program (Indiana University) have left the profession full-time for other lines of work. In some cases, they still do music on the side. The further I get from graduation, the more I understand why they left.

    My experience from job hunting when I graduated two years ago was horrible, and the job I initially accepted was a nightmare, but that's another story.

    I think that many of these parishes who advertise for a music director, organist, etc., already have someone they know lined up behind the scenes. This was the case with at least two or three jobs I was interested in, one of which was a cathedral organist position. They act like they're casting a wide net just so they don't get in trouble. It's nepotistic and demeaning.

    It was equally discouraging when I watched other graduates in my cohort and the one behind me have cushy jobs lined up one-two months before graduation, and they seemed to have barely tried at all with the application process. It made me wonder, what the he|| am I doing wrong? What's wrong with me?

    I think you made the best decision for yourself right now.

  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,449
    As someone who left full-time church work a while ago also, I understand where you're coming from. I hope you are able to make use of your talents and skill in a limited way and (somewhat) on your own terms while you are supporting your family outside of music. I still play sometimes and cantor other times when I'm needed, though this is infrequent. As my (many!) children get older, I hope to be able to participate in sacred music more often.
  • Diapason84
    Posts: 150
    I am seeing good signs with younger priests attempting to set the ship straight liturgically but it will take time, and it will require these priests growing in numbers and attaining positions of influence in dioceses, offices of worship and bishops' conferences. And also parishioners supporting their priests.
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 767
    I am seeing good signs with younger priests attempting to set the ship straight liturgically but it will take time, and it will require these priests growing in numbers and attaining positions of influence in dioceses, offices of worship and bishops' conferences. And also parishioners supporting their priests.


    It would be helpful if the older generation who helped cause the mess we’re in now were limited by the amount influence they’re allowed to have in parishes.

    My Diocese has some sort of renewal thing going on in all the parishes. Based on the survey they sent out, it’s basically geared towards all the married people in the parish and families, but liturgical renewal was on the list. There were a number of us younger Catholics who wanted an authentic liturgical renewal in accordance with Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and Musicam Sacram, but were put up against people of a certain age who want to dumb down the liturgy and the music (someone wanted us to start singing children’s songs (think “This Little Light of Mine” type stuff) during Mass. My friend with a Master’s from Christendom College was on one of the committees, but she had to step down because the meetings were causing her migraines, both literally and figuratively, with the stuff people wanted to do and change in the Mass. She’s the most charitable person I know, and even she, feeling frustrated, mentioned the “biological solution”.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 12,088
    I don't know how musicians are able to work in that field for the Catholic Church full time. I played for years but as a federal government librarian music was a side job and I was never dependent on it. I finally reached the point with our last pastor when I decided putting up with that bellowing windbag was not worth it. Also, I really had aged out of trying to please anyone else. It is a fact, unfortunately, that those Christians are often hell to work for and with. I still play for my own amusement but only for others when I feel like it and when it accomplishes a timely goal. No more 'beagles wings' or 'amazing grass' or whatever is currently popular. searchfgold6789 enjoy your new job and remember that there is life outside of Catholic music. Who knows, God may provide you with something musical that is perfect for you. However, it is always good to have something else to fall back on. To paraphrase Wilde, I think it is, the way the church treats its musicians it doesn't deserve to have any.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 588
    Sadly, your story is not unique - whether in the smaller world of church music or the bigger world of professional music.

    It seems to me that there must be efforts made at the undergraduate level to ensure musicians have a ‘backup’ set of skills to protect them against the inherent risks of work as a professional performer. Whether those are built into their degrees, offered as a separate concurrent degree or otherwise obtainable through technical colleges, I simply don’t know.
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