I sing in a church choir. The director is a talented composer. The benefactors of the church commissioned him to compose an anthem for a special occasion. The choir will perform his anthem tomorrow (Jan. 20).
The minister asked me to present the check to our director at the end of the service, in front of the congregation.
The more I’ve thought about this, the less comfortable I am. We commissioned him, so we, in essence, paid him up front because we knew he’d compose a kick-ass piece. (And he did.)
To me, presenting the check after the performance kind of sends the message, “Now that we know you wrote something good, we’ll pay you.” That is the very opposte of a commission.
I am more than happy to thank our director publicly for giving us such a wonderful piece of music. But handing him a check as part of that…I think he’d be embarrassed.
What shoud I do?
That’s really f’n weird I think. What you guys did was hire someone to do something for your church, which was a business transaction. The cost will obviously be public in the church’s books if anyone cares to look it up but making an occasion out of paying the guy? eep!
Thanking him in front of the congregation is great but paying him there, as you said, is … gauche?
Unfortunately the day to present is tomorrow so you guys can’t come up with some other cool way in the form of a gift to thank him. I don’t know what to tell you what to do…
I agree. The composer should be thanked profusely and given a chance to take a bow in front of the audience. The check can be presented privately.
I’ve seen the thanks and applause route many times, but never handing a check.
Maybe hand the cheque over in an envelope, along with a thank you card? So what the congregation sees you hand over is not a cheque, but a card?