Improving the Music – Part 2
Now that your pastor is on board, how do you implement a plan in your parish?
by Mary Jane Ballou
This article is reprinted from Sacred Music Journal, Volume 146, Number 4 | Winter 2019] page 30, with the permission of Managing Editor, Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka.
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Part 2:
Music Director, Choir, and Congregation
You and your pastor want to take the music in your parish up a notch or two.
Great.
In part one of this discussion,1 the focus was on evaluation of the current state of music in the parish, your own self-evaluation of skills, and creating a written plan for presentation to the pastor to secure his support for proposed changes.
This article will assume that these steps have been followed and that the pastor is on board with the project.
Now comes the next phase — everyone else.
This includes your choir, cantors, and all those good people out in the pews on Sunday.
You have convinced one man; now you must convince many more.
First, let us consider the choir (and the cantors).
The key to success here lies with you.
You must believe in the value of your proposed changes and you must be able to present them confidently.
If you need a boost in this direction, I recommend investigating the work of social psychologist Amy Cuddy on presence.
She presented a talk on body posture and confidence at TED2 Edinburgh in 2012.
There are several iterations of this talk available on YouTube and I recommend watching at least one of them and giving her suggestions a try.
If you approach your choir with an attitude of apology or defensiveness, you have lost before you started to play the game.
Change is hard and there are bound to be singers who are resistant.
Timidity or bullying will only fuel their discontent.
Simply introduce the new music and start the work with assurance.
You need to know that music perfectly yourself.
No fumbling, no apologies, or lengthy explanations.
If questions and/or comments start popping up, ask that they be held until the end of rehearsal.
Salvage the good music in your choir's existing repertoire and let the bad sink quietly.
Do not attempt an overnight overhauling of your church's repertoire.
Take it one step at a time.
There is no need to condemn composers or styles.
It is rather a question of substituting better music that will appeal to your singers and be accessible to their skills.
Be lavish with compliments.
If a piece is universally hated by the choir, let it go.
If all the music in the pre-Midnight Mass concert has been awful or theologically unsound, replace it with carols that everyone loves to hear and sing.
If you need to make changes with your cantors, the same steps need to be followed.
Perhaps they no longer need to signal the congregation's response in the responsorial psalm.
After fifty years, it is not necessary.
It can be cued by the organ and the psalmist simply looking up and out.
They can rest both hands on the ambo or hold their music in both hands.
If you are changing the psalm settings, either text or music, allow ample rehearsal time for learning new arrangements before you put them into place.
In the immortal words of Aesop, "slow and steady wins the race."
Gradual and progressive change is more likely to succeed.
Sing a short setting of the introit before the entrance hymn.
Retire hymns that don't reflect the spirit of worship that you and the pastor (remember him?) are aiming for.
Look for a communion hymn with short verses and a memorable refrain and keep repeating it for an entire season, so that the congregation eventually can sing it if they
wish without looking at a book.
The same point is true for the congregation.
There is no need for special announcements or justifications of changes.
Just make the changes incrementally and stick with them.
If the Glory to God has been a setting with a refrain, change to a setting that is through-composed.
Changing other parts of the Mass Ordinary should be carefully thought out and thoroughly rehearsed with your choir and cantors before introduction to the congregation.
Use music that is in your music issue or hymnal and post the numbers, if you do not use a printed worship aid.
Will there be compliments from the congregation?
Perhaps.
Will there be complaints?
Certainly.
How to respond to complaints is one part of your music ministry you need to master.
Whether the complainer is a choir member or congregant, you need a strategy in hand or you risk being caught "flat-footed" and uncertain.
Here is a point worth remembering before panicking: many people in the congregation are indifferent to the music.
These folks come to Mass on Sunday for a multitude of reasons — obligation, prayer, community, respite, reception of the Sacrament, etc.
They regard your and the choir's contributions as secondary.
For those of us who live and breathe sacred music, this is unimaginable.
At the same time, they are unlikely to complain.
A second point is that you cannot make everyone happy.
It is simply not possible, and you will only tie yourself into a knot trying.
Accept that fact from the start.
How to cope with complaints about the music?
Here are some thoughts.
If the unhappy person is delivering the complaint personally, LISTEN carefully and completely to what he or she has to say.
That honors both the individual and your congregation member's right to voice an opinion.
Do not argue or apologize.
Instead, thank the person for telling you and say that you will consider it in future planning.
Do not try to change the individual's mind at that moment.
If the objection comes in the form of an email or text, wait at least 24 hours before responding.
Your emotions will have calmed down and you can again offer thanks for sharing the opinion and assurance that it will be taken into consideration.
If you hear repeated complaints about the same issue, it is probably a good idea to review the music in question.
Keep the pastor in the loop as you move forward.
Pastors uniformly loathe surprises.
Ask his opinion on how things are going.
Most critically, remember that his complaints or concerns are on a different level than any others.
In summary, these are the points to remember:
- Always work with the pastor and other clergy.
- Be assertive but not aggressive, gracious and courteous, but not apologetic or cringing.
- Implement changes in music and liturgical practice carefully.
- Be prepared for hard work with your choir and do that work cheerfully.
- Treat complainers with respect and pleasant resolve.
Listen to them.
- Pray without ceasing and seek positive support from like-minded colleagues.
No pity parties.
At the same time, you are the music director.
Your musical training and your knowledge of liturgy are important in enabling the music in your parish to offer authentic worship to God.
Go for it — and may God be glorified!
Footnotes:
- Mary Jane Ballou, "Improving the Music. Part One: Music Director and Pastor," Sacred Music 146, no. 3 (Fall 2019), 38-41.
- Technology, Entertainment, Design, an organization sponsoring conferences on "ideas worth spreading," and providing thousands of online
video presentations. [ed.]
Article date: Fall 2019
Mary Jane Ballou is Music Director at an Ordinariate parish in formation in Jacksonville, Florida.
Copyright © 2019 by Church Music Association of America
Reprinted by permission of copyright owner.
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