Many belated thanks to all those who responded to my plea for the group's
collective wisdom on paying singers in church choirs! Our situation has
happily resolved itself (for now) without any change in our present
arrangement. But, the exercise has been helpful - though somewhat painful -
in getting my thoughts more clearly together, and distributing them to some
key people in the process...so at least some of the lay leadership are more
informed about the value of the paid singers we have, and of the possibile
downside of reducing or eliminating them.

Following are some of the responses I received...many of them say similar
things, and all were well thought out, but I wanted to keep the messages the
way I received them!

Thanks again to the members of the list...you are a GREAT resource!

Peter DuBois
Director of Music/Organist
Third Presbyterian Church
Rochester, NY
PADroch(a)aol.com

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Besides all of the usual reasons for professionals (education of the choral
members, leading the volunteers, being a professional example, dependability,
continuous reliable output of the choir, and beautiful SOUND), we should pay
professional singers simply because they deserve it. They deserve the same
respect any professional instrumentalist gets. Volunteers are important and
wonderful. AND so are the professionals who command decent pay for their years
of study and hard work.

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1) They are always there and therefore you can plan accordingly.

2) The volunteer singers learn their music more quickly and feel more
confident
knowing they can depend on the professionals.

3) You can perform more challenging, more rewarding music.

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My husband subscribes to choralist, and I happened to read your message.
Here is my perspective, as a trained and talented amateur. Our own church
choir has 8 leads, and a number of other people who are both experienced and
educated--studio music teachers and school music teachers, as well as some
who trained in music and then walked other paths. A question that is
sometimes raised around our place is, "with all these talented people
willing to sing for free, why do you need paid singers?"

1) The trained amateurs in our choir have demanding professions which
sometimes intrude on Thursdays and Sundays. They can't achieve 100%
attendance--80% is more like it, in a good year. With professional singers,
you are buying Thursday nights and Sunday mornings, thereby guaranteeing
consistency.

2) The trained amateurs' expectations are high because of their education.
Our church choir has been a satisfying experience for them precisely because
of these eight professional leads who keep the choir's achievements at a
high level. If the choir loses its leads and the overall standard drops
somewhat, some of the trained amateurs may become frustrated and leave as
well. They appreciate the quality that the professional leads contribute.

3) Our society is mobile, and people's families are scattered. Having paid
singers gives you the assurance of quality over Christmas and Easter, when
some of your good unpaid singers may be out of town with their families.

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#1 They fill in the holes when the volunteers can't negotiate the various
challenges.

#2 There are far fewer restrictions to you the person selecting the proper
literature for worship. Can't begin to count the times that I made a second
choice because we didn't have the voices.

#3 The security that paid section members provide to a volunteer choir is
very substantial.

#4 In this day and age the trained singers needed in a volunteer church
choir
situation are going down/up different pathways. They don't want to sing with
a
bunch of limited in ability singers. Those better voice folks sing with
symphony choruses, strong community choirs, small select ensembles rather
than
the church choir. The musically strong church choir draws the musically
strong
choir participants. During my forty years of active church music leadership
there were many fine singers that were members of the congregation who decided
to not make a commitment to the ongoing church choir program. They frequently
said " Call me when you have a special need where I can help out. BUT I don't
want to be there week after week "

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Here is my rationale for having paid singers:

1. A paid singer provides consistency to the section. Volunteers have
competing obligations of job travel or family commitments which may
legitimately take them away from the choir on occasion. Without the paid
anchor, the balance of sections may be compromised, or even the viability of
the selected anthems.

2. A paid singer is a resource to the choir, providing (one hopes) a model
of good vocal technique, professional attitude, and musical phrasing.

3. The choir learns the music faster with a solid anchor, and can produce a
higher level of music-making to edify the congregation and contribute to the
service.

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Having pro section leaders does the following for my choir:

Gives them confidence, helps them to learn their parts more quickly.
Good section leaders help their specific voice part in tonal production and
give tips on technique.
Ensures that if key volunteers are not present, that at least you have a
strong singer in a section
THe church hires other pros--ministers, musicians, sec'ys, etc. If music is
important, then why not pro singers?
If a church choir sounds better because of the pro voices, more people will
want to come on board as volunteers. Nobody wants to sing in a mediocre choir.
In these times, when people are so busy with all their work/family stuff,
it's difficult to get volunteers to commit fully. Pros must commit--they're
paid.
Boy choir members were always paid something.
God doesn't mind people getting paid to make great music.
Michelangelo was hired to paint the Sistine Chapel, and he had helpers.
Hope this helps, and good luck. It's an ongoing battle. I'dbe interested in
the replies.
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Paid section leaders:

Insure a consistent quality of music in worship regardless of the comings
and goings of volunteer choir members.

Give confidence to the volunteer members with their strength of musicianship
and sightsinging skills, thus attracting more volunteers to the group.

Make it possible to bring more challenging repertoire into worship,
answering the priority for the highest possible quality of musical art to be
placed as an offering before God.

High quality music (on a more mundane level) will without any doubt attract
a larger congregation and therefore support itself financially. Maybe you
should put in for a paid orchestra as well!

Best of blessings and good luck on your quest!
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At First Presbyterian in Bakersfield, California a similar question
recently arose regarding our "scholarship" singers. My predecessors and I
have always been careful to limit ourselves to using college and
university music majors in these positions, so our situation may not be
analagous, but for what it is worth here's the jist of our argument in
favor of "employing" students in this way. Just as we have interns in
Christian education and youth work, we have section leader/soloists in
music ministry. Many of those students who cut their teeth as leaders in
our choir have gone on to become music ministers and professional soloists
in local churches. The Pastor, Elders, and volunteer choir members all
understood and supported this rationale.