The Sunday Musician

What motivates musicians?  Dean asked some really pointed questions yesterday in his comment on the Christmas post:

Do church musicians participate in worship? During the teaching, I frequently see them heading outside for a smoke or chatting with each other. Is a performer's interest in their performance alone? What do they love?  Actually, the ushers and kitchen ladies do the same. I know several musicians who have a deep love for God, and I apologize for painting you all the same color.  Some musicians play in a variety of church bands, in places they don’t attend unless they’re on stage. Why do church musicians move around? Is it the bands that attract them, the opportunity to perform, or the churches.

Dean also suspected he was being a jerk.  No Dean, but you're bruisin' us up a little, here!  Mostly because you've hit very close to home. 

The better the musician, the more they're motivated by the desire to play good music, and to play it with good musicians.  Most of the time when I'd call a musician and ask if they wanted to play on a particular Sunday, they'd ask two questions:  'what songs are we playing?', and 'who else is in the band?'  The better the musician, the more important this was to them.  I don't think any of them ever pick up their instrument to practice and say, "Oh boy - I can't wait to find out what someone else wants me to play!"  No, they're driven by a vision of themselves up onstage, playing their favorite music, emulating their favorite musicians.  Ask any good musician, and they'll tell you that at some point (or points) in their young life they heard or watched someone play and said, "I wanna do THAT!!"  And if they're any good, they've spent a ton of time alone, working toward this goal.

In a perfect church world (ha!) they'd stick to their own church, playing with a servant's attitude, asking how they could help, offering to play whenever and wherever it best suited the needs of the church.  I think it's a church music director's job to help them get to that point, but lotsa luck with that.  Just like everyone else, their motivations are mixed. 

I spent eleven years putting bands onstage at the Big Church.  I struggled to keep the schedule full, juggling players who wanted to play with their other favorite players, only wanted to play if we did 'fun' music, etc.  I longed and prayed for musicians who just wanted to serve.  (Actually, I had several of that type, usually not as good as the star players, but I came to prize dependability above talent.)  I sometimes privately railed against them for not seeing that the whole thing was bigger than them, that they needed to see it as an act of service, etc.

And now I'm at a small church, and guess what happens when the music director asks me to play?  I really only want to participate if I can play guitar.  Guitar is more fun than keyboard.  I want to know what songs, and who else is playing.  I have to give myself SUCH a lecture sometimes, to just shut my mouth and play what and where he needs me, to go along with his vision. 

As far as the musicians going outside during the teaching:  this is a function of the basic need for community, and they naturally want to hang around with those who think like they do and have been through the same experiences.  Still, I think they ought to be in listening to the sermon.  The community of musicians in any town is a fairly small bunch, and they tend to all know each other.  I feel for the music directors!  I'd have to be pretty strongly enticed to pick up that mantle again. 

I hope this sheds a little light on the whole thing.  If you're a church musician, I'd love to get your angle on this.  Maybe there are ways the music directors could make it better for you?  Things the churches could do?