N THIS 22nd OF SEPTEMBER, we pause to celebrate the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins: prominent characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The author also introduces us to Hamfast “the Old Gaffer” Gamgee, father of Samwise. At first glance, he is just a simple gardener in Hobbiton, fussing over potatoes and roses. He will never go on adventures himself, but his life’s wisdom and stability profoundly shape his son Sam—the very hobbit who assist the Ringbearer to Mount Doom.
On closer examination, we will see “the Old Gaffer” as the parish choir director of Middle Earth. Indeed, there are striking parallels. A faithful choir director—especially one who takes seriously the Church’s tradition of sacred music—plays a role similar to the Gaffer’s. Both are guardians of tradition, both provide stability to their community, and both cultivate beauty in hidden but enduring ways.
Guardian of Tradition • The Gaffer is wary of novelties, preferring the methods of his forebears: “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish,” he says, reflecting his earthy wisdom. Likewise, the Church has consistently urged that her musical traditions—Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, and the pipe organ—should not be discarded in favor of every passing fad.
Like the Gaffer, a choir director is often the one reminding a parish that some things—like good soil or sacred music—are worth keeping and cultivating, even if they take more work than quick fixes.
Down-to-Earth Wisdom • The Gaffer is not lofty. He is no Elrond or Gandalf. Yet his homely wisdom—when to plant, when to weed, when to wait—proves invaluable. So too with the parish choir director. Most directors are not famous composers or scholars, but they carry the practical knowledge of how to choose music, how to balance rehearsal time, and how to foster harmony among singers who have long workdays behind them.
A Keeper of Community • The Gaffer never leaves Hobbiton. His focus is small: tending his little garden. Yet that garden sustains his family and shapes the character of Sam, whose fidelity helps save Middle-earth.
In the same way, a parish choir director may labor in obscurity, preparing psalms, motets, and ordinary settings week after week. Few parishioners may realize how much work this takes. Yet through this hidden service, the choir director “tends the garden” of the liturgy, enriching the prayer life of the parish and forming the souls who participate.
Pope Benedict XVI once said: “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed… At the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10; quoted in Sacramentum Caritatis). The choir director waters that font with beauty.
Hidden Influence • The Old Gaffer never seeks recognition. His name is hardly known outside Hobbiton. Yet his influence through Sam shapes the fate of Middle-earth. So too, the choir director is not the star of the liturgy. Ideally, he disappears so that Christ may shine. Yet his hidden labor forms the prayer of the people, deepens their encounter with the sacred mysteries, and echoes in their souls long after Mass ends.
St. John Paul II wrote: “Sacred music is a means of lifting the spirit to God, of giving the faithful a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy” (Chirograph on Sacred Music, 2003). That foretaste comes through the faithful labor of those who, like the Gaffer, tend their gardens without thought of glory.
A Touch of Stubbornness • The Gaffer is stubborn. At times this seems narrow, yet it preserves what is good. Choir directors too can be stubborn: insisting on fundamental musical qualities that enjoy “pride of place” within the Mass. The choir director doesn’t choose things for preference. Rather, he is obedient to the documents of the Church.
Pope Francis once cautioned against a “do-it-yourself” liturgy, reminding us that the Church’s tradition is received, not invented (February 14, 2019, addressing members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments). This is precisely the role of the choir director: to resist reducing sacred music to entertainment or self-expression, and instead to keep it rooted in the soil of the Church’s living tradition.
Conclusion • The Old Gaffer, simple gardener of the Shire, teaches us something profound about the vocation of a parish choir director. Both are guardians of tradition, humble cultivators of beauty, keepers of community, and hidden influences shaping the future.
As Tolkien shows, even the smallest, most hidden work of fidelity can shape the world. And as the Church teaches, sacred music—faithfully cultivated—helps souls taste the eternal. In this light, every choir director is something like the Old Gaffer: tending the garden of the liturgy so that, in God’s time, fruit may grow that is destined for eternity.
So it is that the road goes ever on and on for the parish choir director.
