October 2006
Paid Singers in Parish Churches	Show Menu

David McConnell suggests that parish churches choirs should engage professional singers for certain occasions

Choirs in many parish churches are struggling to remain viable. For a variety of reasons, it has become difficult to obtain the necessary commitment from singers to rehearse and attend regularly. One reason, of course, is the secularisation of our society and increased mobility generally, compared with times past. But we also must recognize that most church choirs do not carry the musical status that they did forty to fifty years ago.

Up to the mid-1960s a considerable amount of small-scale choral activity was based in local churches. This no longer is the case. While there was greater commitment to singing in church choirs in the past than currently, some organists may be surprised to learn that several churches also felt it worth while to employ a core of paid singers.

A little research reveals that during the first half of the 20th century almost a dozen churches in Dublin, at least, had up to four paid singers. These included Christ Church Dún Laoghaire; Christ Church Leeson Park; Monkstown Parish Church; St Mary's, Donnybrook; St Patrick's, Dalkey; SS Philip & James, Booterstown; Holy Trinity, Rathmines; St Philip's, Milltown; Zion, Rathgar; Unitarian Church, St Stephen's Green.

It is interesting to speculate why the practice ceased during the 1960s, despite the massive subsequent increase in the standard of living and resources available.

What were these singers paid? In the 1950s it seems that the standard fee for this work was approximately £20 a year. Up to the late 1960s, Christ Church Leeson Park employed two paid singers who each received £52 a year for two Sunday services and a weekday rehearsal, a figure which even at the time was accepted as being derisory. A realistic current fee for a singer attending, say, forty services a year might be €2000 to €2500.

Should we place these facts before select vestries and seek a small budget to engage extra singers for certain occasions, such as Christmas, Easter and Harvest? While the cost would be tiny, the added value would be significant and there are plenty of singing students who would be glad of the experience.

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