UTH SLENCZYNSKA gave her first1 public concert when she was four years old and later studied with the great legends of GOLDEN AGE PIANISM: Alfred Cortot, Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri, Isabelle Vengerova, and even Josef Hofmann. When she was nine years old, Slenczynska stepped in—at the last minute—as a replacement for Sergei Rachmaninoff (whom she also studied with). Her greedy and abusive father forced her to practice 9 hours a day starting at the age of six. If she dared to refuse, young Ruth was denied food and sleep. While studying with Rachmaninoff, she once complained about practicing 9 hours each day. Rachmaninoff said: “Nine hours? That’s nothing. For a period of my life, I used to practice 17 hours a day.” When Slenczynska asked why he felt the need to practice with such diligence, Rachmaninoff replied: “Because someday I want to have a technique approaching that of Josef Hofmann.”
What Musicians Do • It would be easy to become discouraged (suicidal?) if we compare ourselves with the great artists. The stories about child prodigies such as Camille Saint-Saëns, Josef Hofmann, Isaac Albéniz, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, César Franck, Ignaz Friedman, and Georges Bizet seem beyond belief—to say nothing of the accounts we have of Franz Liszt. But something struck me powerfully when I was preparing my “musical outline” for the feast of the Immaculate Conception:
* PDF Download • MUSICAL OUTLINE (Immac. Concep.)
—In 2024, this feast is transferred to 9 December.
What struck me was how much is demanded from church musicians.
(1) First of all, we are expected to play our instrument perfectly at all times. It doesn’t matter if we feel ill. Nor does it matter if we don’t feel inspired at that moment. We are expected to play at tempo (with minimal wrong notes).
(2) We are expected to choose inspiring music perfectly suited to each liturgical season. This has become infinitely more difficult owing to the “vernacular craze” which has taken over the church. It was hard enough to find the proper music—pardon the pun—when only Latin was allowed. There are more than 7,100 languages spoken in the world, and the quality of music in each language varies tremendously (to say the least).
(3) We’re expected to introduce new melodies constantly, but we get yelled at when insufficient music is selected which “the people know.” We’re expected to be at least one month ahead at all times. We must take into consideration when particular singers are going to be absent—because once the Mass in question arrives it’s already too late!
(4) Other church groups can demand attendance. For example, the confirmation program and the RCIA program hold a “carrot” at the end of the stick. If somebody doesn’t show up for mandatory classes, they are denied the carrot. But church musicians cannot force anybody to attend rehearsals. We must be sensitive to what our volunteer singers have going on in their own lives: deaths; work obligations; financial trouble; psychological problems; spiritual problems; marital problems; and so forth.
(5) We are expected to know everything about the liturgy and utilize many different liturgical books (often hard to obtain). Many of the texts are restricted in one way or another, which means we spend a lot of time typing out texts which should be readily available to Catholics but aren’t. Then we’re required to compose melodies for those texts, harmonize them, write out parts, and typeset everything. I create rehearsal videos for my choir, and I know many of my colleagues do likewise. Rehearsal videos take an enormous amount of time to create.
(6) We are expected to produce beautiful music no matter what. Many times, we have choir members who are sick or out of town—but nobody takes that into consideration. Our job is to produce beautiful music: Period.
(7) We are expected to be masters of various computer programs so we can produce (for example) the ORDER OF WORSHIP for Sunday. I haven’t even mentioned anything about fundraising, which requires a ton of other skills. I suppose things might be easier for someone born with a trust fund—or someone who’s independently wealthy and does church music as a “hobby”—but how many of us are in that situation? Nor have I mentioned the hours required for us to search for repertoire and hone our singing and playing skills. Nor have I mentioned the stress that comes from doing weddings and funerals. Nor have I mentioned that most church musicians are not paid a just wage—or anything close to a just wage.
Church Musicians Guild? • Something which I spoke about five years ago would be the creation of some sort of “Guild of Church Musicians” or “Guild of Catholic Choirmasters.” I really believe we church musicians face intense psychological pressure (as well as physical, spiritual, and financial demands). I haven’t made any progress in this area, but perhaps something like this can be established at some point.
1 This was no free concert; everyone in the audience had to purchase a ticket to hear her play.
