Quarrelsome Choirs

[David Coram]

Euthanasia?

 

The term implies a degree of consent from the recipient. A good semi-automatic ought to stifle any dissent and quarrelsomeness - and, of course, would ensure there are no witnesses.

[Contrabombarde]

I had the misfortune of landing myself with an exceptionally stroppy bunch in my university days. It was something of a poisoned chalice as I was the fourth organist to try running the show in less than a year, and within a few weeks of my arrival one member made a big show of arguing with the vicar and dividing the choir right down the middle ("nothing personal against you", he told me, "it's a problem I have with the vicar"). To the choir's apparent dismay, I actually got on really well with the vicar, and the congregation just appreciated the fact that they had a musician on the organ bench for once.

 

I couldn't win. Choose simplistic music and they thought it was trite. Choose choral repertoire and they said it was too dificult. Attendance at services was hit and miss, sometimes I ended up singing the tenor part from the console if the tenor failed to show up (and I'm normally a second bass).

 

in the end the vicar and I dismissed the choir and I settled on playing voluntaries.

 

Nothing unpleasant, we just said they couldn't sit in the choir stalls any more and there wouldn't be any more accompanied music over Communion. The choir members were to sit scattered amongst the congregation and end support to the singing.

 

It was noticable that within a few weeks they were tending to congregate on the front couple of rows (being Anglican, the congregation had that annoying habit of filling up from the back first). Then winter set in and they were cold, so they started wearing their robes and vestments again. Then the church got a bit full one morning so they decided to sit back in the stalls.

 

The following week I submitted my letter of resignation and have never played there since.

 

My deep sympathies to anyone who has to experience personal, as opposed to vocal, disharmony in the worshipping environment.

[Guest Roffensis]

Sometimes a good slap will help with the Ladies.

 

 

R

[Malcolm Kemp]

Clergy and organists/directors of music, by the nature of their jobs, come and go whereas, by and large, the core congregation stays where it is in perpetuity. Human nature being what it is, people form themselves into cliques. Organisations such as uniformed youth, choir, servers, Mothers' Union &c., all start out with the best of intentions but can - and often do - gradually develop into odious cliques which, some may argue, hinder the work of preaching the Gospel. Then, worst of all, those with a liking for power and authority form themselves into the greatest curse presently afflicting the Anglican Church, namely committees, and they get very upset when they don't get their own way. Some churches delight in putting their clergy and musicians on pedestals so that they can promptly knock them off (their pedestals) again. There are even people around who want all worship to be exactly as it was 50 or 60 years ago. What planet are they living on?

 

In reality the church is no different in this respect from many other organisations and I speak as one who spent almost 40 years in the Civil Service. We asre dealing with people. Perhaps we are there to meet people where they are (however difficult they may seem) and gently lead them to where they need to be. If only it were that simple.........

 

In the back streets of Brighton is a small, very extreme Anglo Catholic church; many Brighton residents probably don't even know it's there. It has a very densely populated parish, previously of ordinary, working people without any pretentions and now mainly young professionals who can easily walk to the station. From the early 1950s they had a marvellous Vicar who stayed for over 25 years and ran it rather like an Irish RC mission church. The congregation were totally united, faithful and loyal to their church. The first thing he did on arrival was to abolish all organisations so that everyone would work as one team.

 

Having aid all that, choirs can be a wonderful aid to worship, bringing people to their knees and to the numinous in worship which is on a different level to the banal and informal. I suspect that this is more likely to be achieved in churches with semi-professional or fully professional choirs or where membership of an (unpaid) choir is seen as a privilege and not as a right just because the person concerned happens to believe in God.

 

I sympathise greatly with Holz Gedact's friend but, as other posts have shown, his situation is by no means unique.

 

End of rant.

 

Malcolm

[Guest drd]

Clergy and organists/directors of music, by the nature of their jobs, come and go whereas, by and large, the core congregation stays where it is in perpetuity. Human nature being what it is, people form themselves into cliques. Organisations such as uniformed youth, choir, servers, Mothers' Union &c., all start out with the best of intentions but can - and often do - gradually develop into odious cliques which, some may argue, hinder the work of preaching the Gospel. Then, worst of all, those with a liking for power and authority form themselves into the greatest curse presently afflicting the Anglican Church, namely committees, and they get very upset when they don't get their own way. Some churches delight in putting their clergy and musicians on pedestals so that they can promptly knock them off (their pedestals) again. There are even people around who want all worship to be exactly as it was 50 or 60 years ago. What planet are they living on?

 

In reality the church is no different in this respect from many other organisations and I speak as one who spent almost 40 years in the Civil Service. We asre dealing with people. Perhaps we are there to meet people where they are (however difficult they may seem) and gently lead them to where they need to be. If only it were that simple.........

 

In the back streets of Brighton is a small, very extreme Anglo Catholic church; many Brighton residents probably don't even know it's there. It has a very densely populated parish, previously of ordinary, working people without any pretentions and now mainly young professionals who can easily walk to the station. From the early 1950s they had a marvellous Vicar who stayed for over 25 years and ran it rather like an Irish RC mission church. The congregation were totally united, faithful and loyal to their church. The first thing he did on arrival was to abolish all organisations so that everyone would work as one team.

 

Having aid all that, choirs can be a wonderful aid to worship, bringing people to their knees and to the numinous in worship which is on a different level to the banal and informal. I suspect that this is more likely to be achieved in churches with semi-professional or fully professional choirs or where membership of an (unpaid) choir is seen as a privilege and not as a right just because the person concerned happens to believe in God.

 

I sympathise greatly with Holz Gedact's friend but, as other posts have shown, his situation is by no means unique.

 

End of rant.

 

Malcolm

 

Hardly a rant.

 

Not only in churches, but elsewhere (particularly where amateur music-making is the, at least avowed, aim) committees exert their harmful influence in the name, one supposes, of democracy. (!)

 

Interesting to hear of that church in Brighton.

 

Quite agree about the use, function, and make-up of a choir.

[bwv572]

I suppose that it's the bad experiences that stick in the mind and resonate with a few of us. On the other hand, my experiences in Upton upon Severn were with a keen and friendly choir who welcomed me unreservedly and supported each other. I was sorry to leave them.