Does anybody remember being a kid and playing basketball or football with your friends and relatives? Do you remember the one kid, or several kids, that nobody wanted on their team - the one that was always saying, “Pick me, pick me!”? Well, it seems to me that scenario never goes away; it only manifests itself in new areas.
There is no doubt that many kids’ feelings have been hurt over always being the last one chosen for the team. And on top of that, their team is not very excited about them being on the team. It causes one to wonder why these people perform so poorly when they play. It’s almost as if they fail because that’s what everyone expects of them. You would think that someone would try his/her best to prove that he/she should have been the first person chosen. Some people do this, and despite all their efforts, despite the fact that they did their absolute best, they were still no good at the game. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just may be that they were not meant to excel in or sometimes even be a part of that game. That doesn’t mean they’re not good at anything.
Now, instead of they football field or the basketball court, I see this scenario in the music departments of churches. There are sometimes people that have a greater desire than anyone else in the music department to be used. In some cases, these people are not the most talented or musically inclined people in the church. They will always be at practice on time and always volunteer to sing or play anything you start teaching. Sometimes we give them a chance and sometimes they change our minds about their ability. Sometimes, our original opinion is only reinforced.
How does a music minister/director handle something like this? Do you let someone that you know is tone deaf sing in the choir? Sure, that may be alright if you have a large choir and the tone deafness can be covered up. But what if your choir consists of 10 to 12 people? No matter what size a church is, there is pressure to use people or lose them. This presents an issue, because you may have a pastor telling a music director to use this person. And the music director is thinking if I use this person, it make us all look bad. I don’t know, maybe I’m the only music director that has had these kinds of issues. It is very time consuming to learn and teach parts to singers and even more when you’re trying educate your music department on how music works. To some it may be discouraging to have to use someone that appears to have no talent or skill whatsoever. It may even cause you to feel like all the work you’ve done is for naught.
And now we are at the part where I’m supposed to offer some sort of remedy to this ultimately uncomfortable situation. Well I hate to say, but I have no remedy. I wrote this because I would like to know what others’ opinions are in this matter. So, please let me know what you think, or what you’ve done in this kind of situation.
God Bless!
There is no doubt that many kids’ feelings have been hurt over always being the last one chosen for the team. And on top of that, their team is not very excited about them being on the team. It causes one to wonder why these people perform so poorly when they play. It’s almost as if they fail because that’s what everyone expects of them. You would think that someone would try his/her best to prove that he/she should have been the first person chosen. Some people do this, and despite all their efforts, despite the fact that they did their absolute best, they were still no good at the game. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just may be that they were not meant to excel in or sometimes even be a part of that game. That doesn’t mean they’re not good at anything.
Now, instead of they football field or the basketball court, I see this scenario in the music departments of churches. There are sometimes people that have a greater desire than anyone else in the music department to be used. In some cases, these people are not the most talented or musically inclined people in the church. They will always be at practice on time and always volunteer to sing or play anything you start teaching. Sometimes we give them a chance and sometimes they change our minds about their ability. Sometimes, our original opinion is only reinforced.
How does a music minister/director handle something like this? Do you let someone that you know is tone deaf sing in the choir? Sure, that may be alright if you have a large choir and the tone deafness can be covered up. But what if your choir consists of 10 to 12 people? No matter what size a church is, there is pressure to use people or lose them. This presents an issue, because you may have a pastor telling a music director to use this person. And the music director is thinking if I use this person, it make us all look bad. I don’t know, maybe I’m the only music director that has had these kinds of issues. It is very time consuming to learn and teach parts to singers and even more when you’re trying educate your music department on how music works. To some it may be discouraging to have to use someone that appears to have no talent or skill whatsoever. It may even cause you to feel like all the work you’ve done is for naught.
And now we are at the part where I’m supposed to offer some sort of remedy to this ultimately uncomfortable situation. Well I hate to say, but I have no remedy. I wrote this because I would like to know what others’ opinions are in this matter. So, please let me know what you think, or what you’ve done in this kind of situation.
God Bless!
No comments:
Post a Comment