You can't please all the people all of the time

[gwyn]

A "I completely disagree" button might also be of use.

[oopsorganist]

We have smilies and they are a similar thing.
So what is that then?
You will carry some clout if you are male/ or have a moustache?
Thought so. Also, I always thought there was a bit of "You're not from round 'ere, are you?" going on in my case.
So woman might be discriminated against in the practice of church music? I suppose doubly so, since women tend to have very little leisure time to spare as they work and also tend to families and homes. So have less energy to be around and to spare for extra things ...and there are cliques and what have you in some places. It's not very Jesus is it?
But to return to the opening post, it might be that the answer to any criticism, or indeed praise, is "So what?" Whereas thanks are always the way to someone's heart.
If you came here today to sing your favourite hymn, maybe that is a little problem, or even to hear great music, or to hear bad music. Maybe. No one goes up the readers and moans. Or the altar servers.
But hey we have Safeguarding for the latter. Maybe we need that for church musicians? The safeguarding musical interface ministry.

[JW]

If you were to thank musicians at Mass, then you should also thank the cleaners, maintenance people, servers, readers, eucharistic ministers, deacons, priests, coffee makers, greeters, children's liturgy people etc etc.

I definitely agree that more affirmation than we get would help the music ministry in so many ways.

My own particular moan is that organists rarely get acknowledged in funeral Mass booklets, even when you play gratis for a friend. I once contacted an FD about it and they said it's not their policy. It's a petty issue but it gets my goat!

[oopsorganist]

Yes that is true we don't thank the altar servers etc ect or maybe just on high days and holidays. It tends to be thought that doing that kind of service is a duty and priveledge. Maybe I can't spell priveledge - must find another word, it doesn't look right. Honour. But then again, such persons are on a rota and this is sometimes not the case with say, an organist.

But we should have a back stop for the organist or other musicians who are likely to have made some kind of decisions re the music and therefore are exposed to cries of "You ruined my favourite hymn".

A new title should be given to musicians. Rather than Musical Director, Organist, or Choir Leader they should now be know as Dot so as the become more user friendly.

A range of t - shirts is available for the safeguarding musical interface ministry. Choice of..
I got the organists back/ Organ back stop/Hope that wasn't your favourite hymn/If you don't like the music BSE/Dots' Feedback Loop.......etc

[VML]

[oopsorganist]

monkey.jpg

New t shirt with logo
Pay Peanuts Get Monkeys.

Don't know if this will work - not good at doing images.

[High Peak]

monkey.jpg

New t shirt with logo
Pay Peanuts Get Monkeys.

[justMary]

My interpretation FWIW is that if one person is especially pleased, one dissatisfied and the rest sufficiently content not to say anything you must be doing OK.

Indeed - or even well more than OK, moaners usually outweigh compliments.

Personally I'm in a very happy place where I get very few complaints - actually less than would be justified. And the entire team of musicians (I'm just the admin and occasional quasi-flute-ist) gets lots of very public thanks. But I know that my situation is most unusual indeed.

Seems to me that organists have it particularly bad, because they are hidden in the loft: an amazing number of people don't actually realise that there's a human being up there at all, much less know how skilled they are.

A while ago, I started a blog-post applying the "how to handle a customer complaint" process that I learned from a big service company to being a church musician. I really must try to finish it: some people find it really helpful to know that getting complaints is really just part of the job, and that if you aren't getting any then you probably aren't being brave enough.

[High Peak]

......if you aren't getting any [complaints] then you probably aren't being brave enough.

I think that this is a very valid point.

[JW]

Perhaps part of the problem is that musicians, especially organists, are seen as remote. How do we counter that? It's not as if we can wait outside the church at the end of Mass and shake everybody's hand!

[gwyn]

......if you aren't getting any [complaints] then you probably aren't being brave enough.

Or possibly one of the few who follows the directions in the GIRM.

[High Peak]

Or possibly one of the few who follows the directions in the GIRM.

That has been one of my problems. We have introduced several things that are in keeping with GIRM norms which have not been the "norm" in the parish in a long, long time. As such, we have met resistance from some. It's not only liturgists who are in need of an increased awareness of how things "should be" and why. But how to do this?

[gwyn]

That's a very good question H.P..
Somewhere in the mix there needs to be some serious top-down directive; that'd be a start.

I'm in South East Wales. At a Saturday evening Vigil Mass a couple of weeks ago the p.p. said that he hadn't prepared a homily so he meandered a little until he eventually reminisced about the Nativity Vigil Mass when a mobile phone had gone off during the celebration. "Now what was the ring tone?" he asked; at which the women at the back of the church spontaneously erupted with "Sexbomb sexbomb you're a sexbomb uh, huh".

How does holy mother church catechise her way out of that one? Ye gods!

[JW]

That's a very good question H.P..
Somewhere in the mix there needs to be some serious top-down directive; that'd be a start.

I'm in South East Wales. At a Saturday evening Vigil Mass a couple of weeks ago the p.p. said that he hadn't prepared a homily so he meandered a little until he eventually reminisced about the Nativity Vigil Mass when a mobile phone had gone off during the celebration. "Now what was the ring tone?" he asked; at which the women at the back of the church spontaneously erupted with "Sexbomb sexbomb you're a sexbomb uh, huh".

How does holy mother church catechise her way out of that one? Ye gods!

One of several characteristics of a thriving parish is that the Sunday liturgies excel. This applies to everything, including music and homilies. There's no excuse for a bad homily - see paragraph 135 onwards of Evangelii Gaudium.

As far as catechesis is concerned, are people actually seeking this, because there's little evidence of it? If they aren't catechised from the influence of being brought up in Catholic families, being prepared for Communion and Confirmation and attending Catholic schools, then there's precious little chance of it happening later!

In a metamodern individualistic society the indivual rules; therefore religion and a relationship with God is what you are personally comfortable with. Anything else is 'fake news'! To catechise our way out of that, we need to focus more on God and less on the individual. I have felt for a long time now that the Primary School RE schemes of work which start with the individual and progress on to God have it the wrong way round.

[oopsorganist]

Which week was it?
Was the Gospel the Woman at the Well?