Posted by js on May 16, 2003 at 20:09:17:
In Reply to: Re: What ever happened to.... posted by Patrick Martin on May 16, 2003 at 09:48:41:
I used to play in a hired church orchestra consisting of approximately 30 musicians. This job still exists to this day. After a few years I determined that I had heard every sermon the fancy-suited whitehaired gentleman had to offer and I "retired" from the orchestra for the sake of my own sanity.
The weekly check was not impressive, but enough to demonstrate respect for those involved as the only rehearsal necessary (due to the level of musicianship) was a brief run-through prior to the first service.
This was a very large church, but there was an even larger church in town with an all-volunteer orchestra. That gigantic-er church not only had a choir director, organist, and pianist (along with dozens of other music staff) but a full-time orchestra director. One day, the full-time orchestra director came into my music store and worked the conversation around to (not knowing that I played in the not-quite-as-gigantic-paid-orchestra-church's orchestra) the paid orchestra church's policy of paying the orchestra musicians. In a pious tone, he stated that the not-quite-as-gigantic church was "depriving their congregation of a blessing" by hiring their orchestra.
Knowing that he was not only paid, but indeed full-time, I quipped, "Some of us might not wish for blessings to be bestowed upon others lest they be bestowed upon us."