I gave up and became a truck driver.

searchfgold6789

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.

DrJS

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

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

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.

wspinnen

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.

irishtenor

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

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

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.

CharlesW

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.

Palestrina

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.

davido

Perhaps the university music system is partly to blame for creating job expectations that don’t match reality. The degree costs the equivalent of accounting or nursing degrees, but the wages and commitments don’t match. Music is much more of a vocation than most other jobs. Professional musicians usually express this to students, but everyone has to learn it themselves through experience.

ServiamScores

I’m of the mind that most people cannot do this full time. Most churches don’t pay a living wage. I was only part time for years until I happened upon two consecutive jobs that were a bit atypical. One was under a traditional pastor who budgeted for Latria first, and the rest flowed from there. The other is a cathedral job, and I think we can all figure out why a cathedral would make sure they have a full-time musician. They kind of cannot … not. But for the average parish, they cannot (or will not) pay wages that support a family any more. Tithes are through the floor, attendance is a 10th of what it was 30 years, etc. etc.

32ContraBombarde

I get it. It's all too common in our line of work. Much of my work in sacred music has been a side gig, sometimes for similar reasons. And I've happily walked away from ridiculously toxic environments.

But, just to provide a little counterpoint lest it all seem doom & gloom to onlookers: the unicorn scenarios do exist at the parish level. I've experienced it three times, and I'm blessed to be in one now. No need to get too deep into the nitty gritty, but thanks be to God I've landed a DoM/organist role that pays appropriately for the local cost of living such that I am supporting my stay-at-home-mom wife and three kids and keeping up with a homestead farm on my DoM salary (funerals and weddings additional, but the salary pays the bills). I have a pastor who has my back 100% and wants nothing more from me than to be unapologetically faithful to the mind of the Church, and is willing to invest in it. A parochial vicar who is totally bought-in on excellent liturgy and high standards for music. And a bishop (and diocesan Director of Worship) who are fully supportive of parish efforts to revitalize liturgy and sacred music along the "reform of the reform" lines. And still more, a crop of seminarians in the diocese who, from my experience, are all of the same mind: do what Mother Church teaches, and be willing to invest in liturgy. Not that my job doesn't have it's challenges (it has plenty). It's definitely still vocational. But it's rewarding, exciting, AND it pays the bills. And as I said, I've been part of two very similar programs in the past at the parish level.

This in no way discounts the real disappointment and struggles you've all hit on in this thread. I've been there, too. It's real. But maybe my current situation can at least be a little beacon of hope that these scenarios do exist. And I think--slowly, slowly--we'll see more of it. God willing.

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