The sun., 1908-03-22
lHg CHOIR FEELS HHT PINCH
0WER PAY ~ NEW CONTRACTS
FOR CHURCH SINGERS.
I eSb, IN aChurch ChOlr NOt Easy 70 Get for
An Unknown Sinser-There Are Many
Applicants for Every Vacant Place and
Ways Of Muslo Committees Are queer,

Applicants Tor ENefy Nhehhb FlAce hlt
Ways Of Music Committees Are Queer
Thls ,is the season when the annual con
iaets between the churches and theil
musicians are made, and the musicianI
I've discovered that some Of them are 4
81 the pinch OF the recent financial dis
lrbances more than they have yet felt II
one churches have reduced salaries and
fhen have decided not TO make contracts
d begin on May 1.
In Brooklyn several churches have an.
tounced that they will not try to all certain
DO places until next October and will hire
smporary singers for May and June. By
= doing they will save vacation time sal
&ries. OF course the church singers will
bier by just 30 much.
Sopranos have suffered least, heng the
ast voices TO be let go. Tenors are con-
tiderei Injuries for churches. although they
1re important for opera houses, The new
broadway Tabernacle Tor instance, has
aver had a tenor soloist Walter c. Gale,
ne orEanist, gets along with a chorus and
eoprano and contralto soloists,
Securing an engagement in a church in
~ metropolitan district, which includes
ne Jersey towns IA far away NJ Paterson,
great ordeal for the stranger singer in
New YORK. The leading soloists OF other
tlties look upon this district as the most
desirable in America and are always plan
Ming 20 land here.
II Is not that they consider church salaries
- much better because as q general average
4 ihsy are not Pittsburg, Philadelphia and
perhaps Boston pay some salaries rs large
y are TO be obtained here. The high water
mark Is 81 500, and very few got that The
imposed opportunities in the concert field
4 md the chance TO hear and perhaps learn
lFom the grand opera singers are the lode
stones.
The stranger soloist who hears some VI
i New Yorks highest paid church singers
tonoludes that he is better qualified, and
bften that Is the case TO get hearing
3 generally difficult matter.
There are so many very bad singers
. lrying 70 settle here that persons running
Ire music in the churches are necessarily
! on the defensive. They do not want to
waste their time in hearing unworthy
candidates. and they usually look for sup
tlies among established soloists.
When II was learned several months
100 that Edward p johnson would leave
! 10 Brick Presbyterian Church owing TO
4iaRe and concert engagements a tenor
4iihOut reputation went to see the
trKanist, s. Archer Gibson, at his house
b arrange for a hearing.
tCome out and try my new auto, said
. m, Gibson. Il take you home And
+ was done During the ride MIR. Gibson
aid: IF Mr.. johnson leaves we have
mother man in view We like nearly IA
veil as we do him as singer and whose
& work we know We don't know what
rou can do and we couldn't find out in the
limited time left, You might do some
4 Nv things well and yet be inefficient for
feneral work"
4 SIN other words first class New York
y nhurch wants some one with a reputation
ard won't give any one without a reputa-
I lIon q chance TO make one, said the tenor
lh0ughtfully.
sThat's about it., replied Mr.. Gibson.
You'll have to come up by way Of the
4 amaller Jobs, and il will take a long time,
4 Drobably,- SO this tenor got no hearing
4 a the Brick Church, although il is not every
. hDDllcant who ia rewarded for trying by
. being taken home in an automobile.
Then the applicant went down to the foot
. of the ladder and began TO try TO climb.
4 The first thing newcomer In New York
1 hes 70 do IL TO register with church music
! intelligence Office, commonly called music
4 bureau. II costs SO 10 register, but before
. YOU register you must sing for the critic
. Nho runs the bureau. After you have
Z a1ng for the critic he takes your $40. There
nay have been an instance In which the
ffific has declined TO take the money and
hdvised the asprant to seek other fields,
but u Ia not on record.
In view OF the attitude of the music
bureau man toward the judgment Of church
music committees he Is justified in accept
ng almost any one who may apply, because
f hs has seen in his time many a singer
considered by him and other musicians
and singers TO be very poor material be-
eome very successful in securing Temu-
horative employment while his betters fail
. Having taken your money he insCribes
4our name in his book and rates you in one
/ rf two classes. The first class runs from
4 Nothing up 10 $500 year as the worth OF
re candidate The second begins with
. 200 as the minimum and takes the limit
81 the other end.
The more a singer gets the better pleased
II the buTeaucrat because in addition to
. fhe SO registration fee, which Is his whether
. ~ &C. ycu get a. engagement, he else gets
per cent Of your first years salary in
any new job. This applies whenever you
change and secure a joh 10 which he has
. nent YOU, and you have 10 register anew
! zach year II you expect him 10 notify you
+ % chances, II may be inferred that he
+ would like TO see all churches change all
heir singers every year.
Subsequently 10 your registering he
nctipes you Of every opening he thinks you
night fll, Many organists are his friends
. and are under obligations to him for divers
Inas0ns They usually call upon him 70
. Furnish substitutes at short notice when
one Of their soloists gets sudden cold
+ IhBuch cases he gets 10 per cent. Of what the
+ Substitute gets.
These friendly organsts always notify
4 ihe bureaucTat Of impending vacancies
and are preiudiced against applicants who
come to them unsent by the music bureau
man. because these organists also consider
4 that he has weeded out many undesinbles
] that they would otherwise have 10 hear
Hng. and when vacancies are TO be filed
4 Il IA poor job that doesn't provide 100
applicants for every place. Likewise the
F. rlngers enrolled in the bureau notify its
head Of what vacancies they hear OF, pro-
eided II is not one that they would like 20
f flil themselves
Some churches, on the other hand, do
not like 10 have the music bureaus send
. them unknown singers The bureaucTat
Knows this too, and when he notifies a
I olient Of such an opportunity he also adds
Don't use my namel'
In such case when the organist or COM
mitteeman asks you the source Of your in
formation as 10 the prospective vacancy
You must dlssemble. The don 't-mentlon-
: Iny-name organlst and the committeeman
have some reason for their position in the
liter. .The music bureaus, they say,