[Trombone-l] Church musicians idea

[clayton murphy]

In my position as faith relations coordinator for the local Habitat for 
Humanity affiliate, I am in contact with many of the churches in my 
community every day and read dozens of church news letters each week.  
Personally, I am a member of a fairly large Presbyterian church and, in the 
past, have either been a member of or an employee of a variety of other 
sized churches.  In almost every one of these congregations there has been a 
discussion surrounding the role of music in worship - performance or open 
participation - not the question posed by Tim.

On the surface, I like the idea of the church filling the role that is being 
abdicated more and more by schools - public and private.  Certainly, looking 
at the history of western music, we see that the church was a huge supporter 
and patron of not only music but all of the arts.  The church, at various 
times, has also taken part in the education of musicians throughout much of 
the last several hundred years.  So why shouldn't it resume this role today? 
  It seems to me that in order to answer that question, one must first 
decide what the mission and role of the church is or should be.  The answer 
to that question can be answered broadly, but I know that one group of 
people telling another how to behave will not work.  If it did, we wouldn't 
need all of the various religions or political parties or . . . well you get 
the idea.  So what it boils down to is each denomination and actually each 
church must decide for itself what its role is to be and how it wants to 
serve its congregation and community.

In our church, we have several full time music staff positions plus a dozen 
or so paid part time staff.  The paid staff will give lessons, as part of 
their job responsibilities, to members or their children in return for 
participation in the music program at church.  Very few people take 
advantage of this on an ongoing or regular basis.  We have had fits and 
starts of a couple instrumental programs but nothing that has become a going 
entity.  The church does make its facilities available to several musical 
groups in the community - both for rehearsal and performance space.  I do 
not know the details of any rent.

I do know of several churches in our area that allow their music staff to 
use the building for private lessons.  Sometimes these people lease the 
space from the church while others consider that to be part of their 
employment compensation.  Of course there is the whole liability issue to 
consider.  (We can't forget our legal system!)  That can be an obstacle to 
overcome is some situations.

At the end of this, I feel that it would be wonderful if we could get the 
church to provide this to our communities.  I don't think that it will 
become a wide spread practice.  This is too bad when you consider the amount 
of space that most churches have and how many hours a week they actually use 
most of it.

Thanks for bringing this one up, Tim.

Murph