While prep for my upcoming gig is going splendiferously, my church is gig is taking up a lot of my mental space. This is dire because I think my mental space is not that big due to old age and burn out from the church job.

I meet with my boss today and will probably discuss some of this with her. Basically I’m look at two issues: job creep and increasingly low commitment from singers. 

I mentioned the job creep to my boss last meeting. I seem to be taking on more and more duties for this gig.  These include increased meetings, weekly notes in the bulletin/service leaflet, and computer/internet resourcing. I have put some pressure on myself to perform more difficult organ music. This is satisfying but requires a lot of prep time. 

I also find that I feel anachronistic when I expect volunteers to actually come to rehearsals and actually come on time. I probably have shot myself in the foot here by not being more clear about my expectations of choir members.  The erratic commitment to rehearsals has drained me to the point that I find it difficult to bring the choir to the high level of performance I expect. Last night I had a full house (of course) for Ash Wed. I didn’t even notice if people came on time or not. They probably straggled in. Come to think of it, one tenor wandered by during the pregame and asked me if I had extra anthems. I told him I didn’t know. Maybe. 

I had one person volunteer to join the choir after my plea to the cong this post-Xmas. Also during this period attendance has sunk to all time lows. People seem to think nothing of making commitments to other stuff on rehearsal night. They’re job gets in the way. 

Also I invited the youth choir to sing with us on Holy Week. We are singing “Crucifixus” from the B minor Mass by Bach on Palm Sunday. The director emailed me that evening rehearsals would not work for any of her choristers but she would prep them. I could just add them on the Sunday morning.  This was probably the final blow.  I would not approach this piece this way with professional singers much less volunteers or young people. 

So I’m going to talk to the boss. Outcomes could include everything from dropping the choir to Steve quitting.  One outcome I can’t handle is no change.