Summertime Choir Suggestions from Wendi

Wendi has some interesting thoughts on the Proper care and Feeding of a Choir...summertime. Be sure to read the whole post – I’m just giving you a few tidbits here.

Don't let your choir loft be empty this summer!

This particular post is part rant, part suggestion.

First, the rant.

Why does the choir stop singing in the summer?

…."Summertime is when people are out of town so the numbers will be down anyway. We might as well recess until September."

Ok. So your regular members won't be there every week. But rarely do people go on vacation for three months.
…
Yes I admit it. It irritates me that summertime is treated this way...in many churches at least as regards the music

Can you imagine the outcry if the priest were to leave parts of the Mass out during the summer to make it shorter, or drop down to only one Mass because "people go on vacation".

…Well...same thing for the music. The sacrifice of the Mass deserves our absolute best effort, every single week.

So here's my very direct statement to you music directors out there...it's a vocation not a job. If you are treating your position like it's a job, trying to get away with doing the minimum, and looking from vacation to vacation...you are in the wrong profession.

Now the suggestion part. [she offers a number of suggestions – read the post!]

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Too many churches take the summer off. People go their separate ways and we all meet back at church in September.

This does not really foster a sense of community or family which is I think, partially responsible for the decline in parish life in general.

Besides...Jesus never takes the summer off. We shouldn't either.