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Oct
24
2011
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Posted 206 days ago ago by Vern Sanders  34 Comments
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13 likes
  
The Church Deserves Better...
While sometimes I'm tempted to write one, this is not a rant about musical styles in the church, or worship music versus traditional music. So if you are looking for controversy, you may not find it here. But now that you are here, I do have some things to get off my chest, and here's my point...
The editorial bar in church music is set way too low. Let me explain...
I've been reviewing new choral releases for our Select 20 anthem feature in Creator magazine. And I feel like a specific publisher has let me down...and no, I'm not going to name names. Why? Because I used to be a music publisher ( I've written about that here), so I have some insight into what goes on in the editorial process of your favorite publisher(s). I know the conflicting publishing pressures of:
- quality versus accessibility
- manufacturing costs versus promotional dollars
- copy machine copyright infringement versus the cost to enforce lawbreaking
and the biggie...
- knowing that much of the choosing what to release is guesswork versus knowing that a string of bad guesses can significantly reduce your ability to survive as a business
I have my favorite publishers, too, as a working church musician, and while that list is always something of a moving target, as a media person I root for publishers when I see signs of consistently good choices/guesses...and I feel a sense of loss when I see the opposite.
Finding good music is just as, if not much more difficult these days than it was in the last half of the 20th century. In those (pre-demo recording) days, the trick was actually getting a chance to see and hear the music. Now the problem is more akin to picking through the effluent to find a prize.
| Then |
Now |
| You needed to find a music store source you could trust, talk with your colleagues about repertoire on a regular basis, or attend conferences/reading sessions |
The music basically comes to you |
| There were many more imprints/companies (and, by extension, editors) |
Editorial decisions about what a choir might want to sing on a Sunday morning are made by a surprisingly small number of people |
| Printed music was (at least the cover prices were) less expensive, and the economy was (relatively speaking) better |
It is expensive to buy an anthem, even for a small choir, and money is (relatively speaking) tight |
Along the way, the business model of a typical publisher has changed, and, in many cases, the publishers have been powerless to resist those changes we have lost many good publishers along the way. A significant core value of many surviving publishers has become their desire to sell to the mass market. And, in most cases, that means having a distributor who can push product out to the masses. And in order to be attractive to a distributor, you need to have, and continue to release, a large enough product stream in order to make a distributor think it is worth their effort.
Of course there are "alt.musicpublisher" options. Technology has made it possible for anyone to be a music publisher and have the ability to produce demo recordings for a small startup investment. Which means, there are literally hundreds of these little self-publishers in the US alone. Finding their music, however, is like a trip back to the old days. These publishers rely almost exclusively upon "word of mouth" marketing, and the landscape is littered with examples of people who discovered how to make a small fortune in the music publishing business...(they started with a big fortune...).
Let's get back to the topic, though. When you get a 2 (or 5) inch high, multiple CD package of music for review from a publisher, it is rare that the 80/20 rule does not apply: 8 (or more) out of 10 tunes go in the recycle bin. Why? In my opinion the primary reason is that the publisher needed to fill the pipeline. And like your favorite classroom or social worker's caseload, there is less attention to each individual when you have to manage a crowd. "Good enough" has become good enough
Look...maybe you can buy 30-50 anthems and two large works per year (as I was once able to do, back in the "good old days" of the 90s), but most churches can't. And when you have to wade through 20, or 30, or 50 pieces to find 2 or 5, I think there is something wrong here. And it falls on the shoulders of the editorial decision makers. So I want to issue a call for better music: send me 10 really good titles rather than 200 good enough titles so that I don't have to waste my time.
And yes I know that one person's trash is another person's treasure. But I can't believe that all these editors really have their fingers on the pulse of US church music when I get piece after piece of "choir" music that is 80% soloist, with a few choir "oohs" and "ahs" thrown in. Trust me...I can do that arrangement on a Sunday morning. I don't need to buy it from a publisher. (I talk about this in more detail in the next issue of Creator. If you'd like to get a copy, just click here.) I also don't need to buy a paper copy of a chart with a publisher's name on it in order to have unison women sing the first verse, unison men sing the second verse, and everybody sing the chorus of a hymn found in any hymnal.
But in my capacity as publisher of Creator, my editorial team and I take our responsibility seriously. When we choose our Select 20 anthems, we know that our readers count on those anthems being worth the investment. They know those anthems are not just "one and done" consumables. We (and I believe they) look for something that is interesting, not elevator acoustical pablum. I (and the musicians at my church) can deal with putting in the effort to do something that touches people rather than something that takes up space in a release schedule...or a worship service. You, my readers, have told me that you can too.
So, publishers, don't send me more music, send me better music. Then I can tell my readers what is good, and everybody wins.
Final Thoughts
You can make a difference! I know that there are music publishers who read Monday Morning Email, and, by leaving a comment, you can speak directly to those publishers. No gratuitous publisher-bashing, please. Help them understand what you want. They really do want to know. Do you agree with me? Disagree? That's OK...just contribute to the conversation, or don't complain later. I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts...
Blessings.
Vern Sanders
Vern has served in some form of church music and worship leadership for 40 years in a variety of denominations both in the US and in Canada. He is currently Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Templeton, California. He regularly consults with churches and church leaders. Click on his name above to email him.
© 2011 Creator Magazine All Rights Reserved
34 Comments
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Richard Nichols
198 days ago
1 likes
I read with interest your post and must admit that I agree with you completely. Last Friday, Bob Burroughs pointed me toward your article--thanks, Bob!--and I am glad he did. As one of those "publishers" at a lesser-known house, I hesitate to offer my perspective, but Stephen Bock's comments have given me courage. From my standpoint, our struggles are twofold: 1) finding quality music to publish (submissions) and 2) finding a platform for promoting our titles. We search diligently for quality submissions. By "quality" I mean theologically accurate texts that speak, coupled with artistically satisfying music that is still (to some degree) accessible to a non-professional choir. I identify with Bob Posenjak's comments about his fluctuating choir size and would hope that some of what we offer would fit his needs, but it is a challenge. A difficult tension exists in publishing "artistic" music that is still accessible. Submissions that meet both of those criteria are hard to come by, especially on the more accessible side. The second struggle is finding a platform. I applaud the "Select 20 Anthems" link on your site. I appreciate the fact that you seem to scour all of the publishing houses to find what you think are the best of the best. It seems to me that distributors tend to highlight the "Best of the Well-Known" publishers. While I understand the economics of that decision, it makes it very difficult for smaller houses' offerings to receive much exposure. Could distributors share part of the blame in how low the bar is in church music? Maybe that's Part II of this article--just joking. In all seriousness, I agree with your and Stephen Bock's challenge: let us know what is needed. I would love to get phone calls, emails, facebook messages, etc. from those of you on the front lines of the church choral market telling us what your needs are. Our desire is to fill that void and make your music ministry thrive.
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Ben Stapleton
198 days ago
1 likes
I want to reiterate a lesser point you make in the comment thread Vern. I feel like the majority of pieces I get in sample packets are from a total list of composers no larger than 15-20. And this is from multiple publishers. Several of these composers are great and I have done pieces by them that are top notch but, like you say, if there churning out endless numbers of anthems for multiple publishers, there's no way all of these are going to be high quality pieces. I feel like there must be so many other composers whose works are not being heard.
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This is a "chicken and egg" problem, Ben. The publishers know that certain composers have a track record, and they are willing to accept "lesser" pieces from someone who has a track record, because their historical data show that those pieces will sell better than an equivalent piece from an unknown. Now a "great" piece from an unknown will almost always find a publisher...it may not be one of the biggies, but someone will be willing to take a chance. And when that unknown composer's piece sells, that composer begins to build a track record, particularly if you, the consumer, tell your friends and colleagues and the piece rises to the surface a of publisher's viewpoint, so to speak... The hard part is when you get a "good" piece from an unknown...one that needs editing. Some new composers won't let you change a note. Some make the editorial process a pain in the neck. As a result, over the long haul, many publishers won't be willing to put in the work to turn a good piece from an unknown into a great one.
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Vern, I too agree with your assessment regarding finding the gems. For several years now I have served on the committee that selects anthems for the reading sessions at the NACM summer conference. Some years we have had to struggle to find 36 pieces to divide over the three sessions out of about 130 octavos sent by the publishers for consideration. Knowing that we serve a very diverse group of people, we strive to incorporate various styles, difficulty levels and voicings. Yet we get the full spectrum of responses. "Reading sessions were duds, I found nothing." Or the reverse, "Reading sessions were very worthwhile, I found 10 pieces for my choir." It's sometimes hard to believe that we're reading the same music. I can't tell you the number of pieces that we've read through during the selection process that none of us feel makes any musical or theological sense, yet publishers continue to publish these pieces by relatively obscure names, as well as some well known composers. Sometimes we include a fabulous, well crafted piece, only to learn that it doesn't sell. So Steve is right when he suggests that conductors must support the publisher when he responds to the call for quality music. Really, shouldn't it come down to what music and text will serve worship well? Yes, I want publishers to make a good living so that they will continue to publish good choral music, but we frequently find outselves looking at anthems that seem to be borne from the composer's desire to pay their child's dental bill rather then create some worship art that is lasting.
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Bob Posenjak
205 days ago
0 likes
I use to think it was cool when I got the "sampler packs" in the mail. I would get some choir members together and then spend time sight reading through them. Now the internet has taken over so i spend time at web sites and then I e-mail back a forth with choir members, before we can spend some time going over new pieces. Wait, I should explain my situation. I have been a organist/music director for over 30 years. The problem I have is I have a full time job 40+ hours a week, and I am a music director for two small churches’ that are just around the corner from each other. Why, you may ask. There is a lack of musicians that are willing to put in the time needed to teach, practice and find music to worship God(that is a whole another article). Not complaining, this is where God has move me to do. They problem I am finding, is music that can be used with small choirs that are mostly voluntary. The lack of steady people make my choirs change every week from SATB, to SAB, to first voice and second voice. The ages are from 14 to 74 some can read music most can only follow along. Now if I try a new anthem it can be hard to teach the new tune when it is heavy with syncopation, unfamiliar harmony and “funny” words. I just spent 3 weeks of searching for a new Christmas Program at the request of several choir members. I finally settled on one. The problem is I have this wonderful sound track with full orchestrations and voices with almost perfect pitch and rhythms. I have a piano, keyboard and electric organ, which yeah I could dub some tracks on the keyboard but with time very limited to me it makes it hard to get that involved. The choir and congregation would prefer (almost demand) live performance. So finding music that is easy enough yet challenging enough has been a nightmare for me (I hope I’m not alone with this). May be I’m not looking in the right venues but any choir music that I have been seeing sounds good on the mini samples. but when doing the actual performance the anthem just doesn’t sound the same. Spending hours searching music can be just discouraging. Many times I find a piece and have to do on the spot arranging or hand write out music arrangements which is time I’m lacking. Now I know I may be just a small market but I bet there is a lot of other church musician with limited time and resources that just have to ignore tons of music that is sent to them. Here I am spewing out and it is getting late. I gave up some practice time to write this. I will try to make up some time before choir rehearsal this week. Bottom line is if I could find “good” music that will enhance our worship to God, I would buy it. Face it that is how publishers survive it is how much can they sell.
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Stephen Bock
205 days ago
-1 likes
Where to start on this... Too much quantity from publishers? Totally agree. Honestly, I don't know how anyone can keep up with all that the publishing side is producing. It's preposterous. Editorial bar is set too low? Somewhat agree with this. I think there is a lack of originality out there, and we as publishers need to do better. However, we also have to run a business that requires some level of profitability, and those pieces are being chosen because we know that they sell in quantity. I see the numbers (and not just our own), and the generic, formulaic anthem sells many times over what the inspired, well-crafted choral will sell. Publishers make editorial choices to "fill the pipeline?" Mostly disagree with this. While there are some instances where a lesser piece will be let through because "it's the only one we have," that is by far the exception and not the rule. Publishers are making editorial decisions based on what they think is good, marketable music. Just because you don't like a piece doesn't mean you have to go to the extreme of saying that the only reason that piece saw the light of day is because the publisher had 4 empty slots this time around and this was the least offensive. One person's trash is another person's treasure? Absolutely agree!!! This can't be said enough. Just because you love a piece doesn't mean that it will work/be appreciated/admired/etc... by anyone else. And vice versa. Pieces that you don't gravitate to find homes in other settings where choirs and congregations alike are uplifted and moved closer to God. The US church is a big, diverse market with lots of varying tastes and opinions. (And once you add international churches to the discussion, the diversity rises exponentially.) As publishers, we have to keep all those things in mind when we make our selections. I'm sure there's a limit to the number of words I can write in this comment box, so I'll finish off with this for all those who find Vern's challenge accurate: If you want "better" music, then you need to demand it from the publishers. Call. Email. Strike up a conversation at a conference. Let your voice be heard directly. And, be specific about what you want - text, scripture reference, service pieces, whatever. If you have a hole in your ministry, then we want to try to fill it if we can. But here's the rub: if a publisher responds and starts offering the music that you want to see published, then you have to support that publisher and those choices he/she is making. After you purchase the music, you need to be an evangelist for that company's publications. Tell your friends and colleagues. Suggest those titles as repertoire for festivals and conferences. Tweet and Facebook your "discoveries." Remember this: Nothing speaks louder to a publisher than sales. If I go out on a limb for you and the sales don't add up, then I can't go out there very often (or at all). And, I promise you this - if you do what I suggest, the other publishers will take note and start adding those kinds of publications into their release slates, too.
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Thanks for the publisher input, Steve. I appreciate your willingness to articulate things from a "now" perspective, since things have certainly changed since I gave up publishing music almost a decade ago. And to those who are reading this, I cannot emphasize more than Steve has: You MUST tell the publishers what you want...not just in words, but by buying the "quality" that speaks to you. Ultimately, publishing is a profit making business (or not), just as publishing a magazine is. If customers buy one thing as opposed to another, the market speaks loud and clear. So, to recap: tell publishers what you want, and when you find it, tell your friends and colleagues. That's what we do at Creator with the Select 20, but you can do it too. In the process, you help define what church music is for an entire generation.
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Duane Toole
205 days ago
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This has been a problem for years. I just stopped getting all those music packets, and cancelled all the "preview" plans. Working a full-time job and having a part-time church, I just don't have the time to waste; it just is not efficient to go through 300 anthems to find ONE that I can use. Luckily, I have a music library with about 1200 titles. I really only need two or three new anthems each season of the church year. So, I let other people choose. Usually, those who choose are clinicians. Now I try to attend a clinic or conference with a clinician I trust. (The annual Montreat Conference on Worship and Music has several reading sessions during the week; other conferences do, too.) Often there are reading clinics in my own city; if there's a clinician I know, or a trusted publisher. In the final analysis, I'm depending on the classics more than ever before. That might even be a good thing.
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Agreed. And in my situation, I work with a choir that is very traditional, and in most cases, what we have in our library is hard to beat with anything new. I just don't have the time to go through the stacks of new music that is becoming more and more second rate stuff.
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Wallace Horton
205 days ago
1 likes
Vern - Thank you for your thoughts. I could not agree more. Regardless of our denomination or church setting, we all have a responsibility to offer anthems in worship that have musical AND theological integrity. Unfortunately, too often many of the samples that are sent out offer neither. In my own setting, I've gotten to the point where I know that I can "trust about 5 or 6 different publishers on a consistent basis where I know that I'll find somethng that is appropriate to our setting. I keep coming back to many of the "chestnuts" not because I'm not willing to explore and be stretched but simply because there are fewer and fewer new anthems being published by some publishers that are useful in my congegational setting.
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Vicki Carr
205 days ago
2 likes
Oh, one more thing - in case the publishers are really reading: 3. PLEASE don't use recordings of beautiful choral pieces done by a few pop-sounding singers with poor diction. Our untrained singers in choir will follow that example every time, instead of making the effort to form tall vowels and crisp consonants. Use different singing styles for different composition styles.
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Randall Reeves
205 days ago
0 likes
I whole-heartedly agree--except the 80/20 might be more 85/15 or less. The only question I have is this: Is my 80/20 your 80/20? Other than desiring well-written SATB, I don't think I can describe to a publisher what I want. I just know it when I hear it. One additional note, which may or may not bear on the topic: Prior to about 5 years ago, I purchased a lot of music from a particular large, well-known publisher, and much less from a "not-so-large," but still well-known publisher. During the past few years a new head of publishing was hired at the large publisher, and most of the personnel under him was "let go." some of them are now at the "not-so-large" company, and as I look at my purchases over the past couple of years, I see that I am purchasing more and more from the smaller company. The large company is jsut not meeting our needs anymore. Which I guess is to say that as the "style" of the leadership goes, so goes the company. As I have discussed this with friends in music leadership, they have also seen the trend. Just saying...
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Vicki Carr
205 days ago
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1. There are works that can be done only rarely, such as Mark Hayes' "Te Deum", that are such a blessing to sing and hear that they are worth an occasional splurge. 2. I have found that the collections we use most consistently are from Prism. And even though there are some solos with choir backup contained, therein, they suit our worship style. Our congregation responds on their feet when they are moved by the Spirit, and often join the choir in singing the main theme. I like the corporate worship part of that vs. a performance style, not that performance style never occurs - it's just not the norm.
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Wow! Thanks, Vern. I am looking at my latest release from a vendor where I get a semi-annual packet of material. Out of the fifteen or so pieces in the packet, one third are solo based material. At least one third(not including the solo-based stuff) is praise team oriented with basses doubling the melody, so there are only two true harmony parts. The other third would pass as choral, but the rhythms in all of it are highly syncopated, rhtyhm section driven flavors. It's not worthy of the time it would require for me to teach this to my choir of county seat townfolk who cut their teeth on hymn settings and much more traditionally flavored music. Looks like I'm going to cancel my subscripitons and find a good distributor reading session so that I can go and hear the best of what that distributor is selling to folks like me.
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(this was written second...) I also want to respond to the vendor packet issue. The reality is that the vendors have a clear idea (for the most part) of what will sell in quantity, and what won't. So when you see that packet filled with things that you can't use, it means that somebody else is. You can CHANGE that: let your vendor know what you want, even if it is only by buying the quality pieces you find and telling them why during the ordering process. When I call up my vendor (my rep is reading this, I'm sure) I often get the response of "Oh I remember that piece...that's a great anthem," and, at my end of the phone, I get the sense that such a conversation doesn't happen very often...
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Mark- I know why, but I, too, lament the devaluation of basses (or at least the absence of a true bass part). It becomes something of a chicken-and-egg thing, in that if there are no bass parts, there will be sooner or later, no basses (or at least none that can read/hold and independent musical line). Some of this is taste, but I know that every time I bring out a piece of Russian choral music, the choir members and the congregation responds in an amazing fashion.
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Linda Keener
205 days ago
1 likes
Amen! I also throw away 9 out of 10 of the samples of music I receive. It appears to me that many (most?) publishers these days are pandering to the "lowest common denominator" in choral music, namely feel-good sounds that have little musical or, perhaps more importantly, theological integrity. I want substance!
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Doug Lawrence
205 days ago
0 likes
Vern, I couldn't agree more! There is more wasted energy in creating poorly conceived anthems and having them pored over by bored choir directors than needs be. Let's fix this before it drives the sacred music publishing companies out of business all together!
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Jim Lowery
205 days ago
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AMEN!!! I have AT LEAST 3 dozen boxes at home, and at least 4 dozen at church (some duplicates) waiting for me to go through them. Knowing what they contain doesn't provide the motivation I need to invest the time to go through them. Then there is the matter of violated biblical standards of music in The Church, let alone the "bottom line" of many publishers- which does not seem to be "ministry." I am reminded of something The Western Church seems to have forgotten: "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!' " (attributed to Abraham Kuyper). Bringing every thought captive to Christ- Jim Lowery Richmond, VA
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Bob Burroughs
206 days ago
0 likes
Wow! What a great MME! You have the right to speak to this subject because of your history as a church musician, publisher, composer, and educator! Well said. I also get weary of receiving a large stack of music from publishers and find only a very few things worthy of consideration. I hope publishers read this MME and that it will strike home to them for choosing quantity over quality. Well said, Sir.
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