It never works when I do this, but I guess I lose nothing by trying. Does anybody out there play the organ professionally? I’ve got some questions for an article I’m working on. In case anyone thinks this is desperate, I do have other sources, but I’d like to talk to some people who are out there doing it for a living and I figure trying all avenues can’t hurt.
My Mom was a (professional) organist/choir director for over 50 years. I don’t know if it will help you in the questions you have to ask, but I could try to answer them in her stead. (My Mom passed away last June.) I can tell you this much–it’s definitely not a high paying profession. Unless the job is with a high profile and wealthy church. The competition for those types of positions is probably fierce. At times, she worked for two churches to make ends meet. Even after she retired, though, she was still playing every Sunday, as a substitute, in various churches. She said that she needed the money, but really I think that she enjoyed playing too much to actually be able to stop altogether. She didn’t have the responsibility of directing a choir, though, and could always turn down a job if she didn’t want to do it. She even played the Sunday before she went into the hospital last January.
Well, sorry if this isn’t what you were looking for. I can try to answer questions–email me at the email in my profile if you want to.
That is the kind of thing I’m looking for, though obviously I’m hoping mostly to hear it first-hand. The organ and church music program here was just cancelled, and I’m curious about the demand for professional organists and such.
I’m sorry to hear about your mother.
I was once a professional organist/choirmaster, at least in the sense that I got paid. I was not professionally trained and I just sort of faked it; I started by filling in one Sunday for the organist who had broken his hand. I was good enough at least to get hired away from one church to another.
The pay was, of course, awful, although enough to make a difference when combined with a regular job during the week. As has been said here, the only decently paid ones are at the big churches, and the competition is unbelievable.
Those with positions at big churches are, or should be, the very best in their field. Those at small churches are in it for love, not money. Even at the big churches, the job is so stressful that the salary is probably not worth it, but then anyone who plays music for a living did not choose music as a profession because they hoped to get rich, or even comfortable, doing it.
Your music program might avoid being cancelled if they looked about for volunteers willing to take it on. A talented volunteer might do it for the resume-building. But it’s impossible to avoid the expense of maintaining a pipe organ, which might be partly the reason the program was cancelled. It’s too bad, isn’t it?
My brother-in-law is a professional organist, and a very good one, at that. He got a PhD in Organ Performance from Duke University. Currently, he’s working at a pretty large Catholic cathedral, where he not only plays for services, but also teaches music (at their private school). He works a LOT of hours, has very few days off, and gets paid crap. I think I’m making roughly the same as he, and I only have a bachelor’s degree. However, he’s in the process of interviewing for a job at a university, which he said would be a significant increase in pay. I think he said there are about six people or so who applied for the job, which gives some idea of the competition.