OBODY but a fellow choirmaster could understand the intense stress experienced by church musicians during Holy Week. Within the space of seven days, tons of different Masses and ceremonies take place—each of which demands a completely different program of music. For instance, you can’t use the same music for Good Friday as you do on Easter Sunday. It’s not a mere matter of “choosing repertoire.” For each choral piece, there can be stress. Is there sufficient money in the budget to purchase the requisite scores? Do we have enough copies? For singers who skip rehearsals, can the correct scores be placed in their binders without too much confusion? Is it in the right key, matching the accompaniment? How many singers will be there?1 Can the choir learn the piece in time? How can so much repertoire be learned by volunteers without causing them to become discouraged or quit?
Video Footage • Since Covid-19, many Catholic churches “live-stream” their weekend Masses. The following (rather disturbing) footage emerged of a choir director who couldn’t handle the stress of Holy Week:
Too Much To Mention • Of course there are 1,000 sources of stress which I haven’t even mentioned. For instance, when we sing the texts and music called for by the official books of the Catholic Church, we are often attacked by people who ask: “How come you don’t do music we know?” And I’ve said nothing about the complexity of selecting music for the 1970 Missal, which often has multiple languages: English, Spanish, Latin, Vietnamese, and so forth. And I’ve said nothing about the difficulties of trying to involve the congregation—when they have been unjustly deprived of authentic sacred music for 60 years (meaning the traditional music is unfamiliar to them). And I’ve said nothing of making sure the various “orders of worship” are prepared.
People with good intentions (but who just don’t understand) often say to us: “Just take a vacation!” They fail to realize that one cannot simply show up on Sunday and start singing and playing. Our vocation requires immense amounts of preparation, research, and planning. The worst is when people say: “Don’t work so hard—just use what’s available.” But this is unacceptable to the conscientious choirmaster. That would be like saying to a priest: “Don’t work so hard to prepare your sermons—you can mix in a little bit of heresy and nobody will care.” Or it would be tantamount to telling your pastor: “Invite a Protestant preacher come and give a homily every once in a while—nobody will care.”
1 Some singers promise they will attend but end up getting sick, quitting, or going out of town.
