Bryan Holten

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Technique/How-To

The Rich Life: Thriving on a Musician’s Income

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wheat held in the palm of a hand

What does the rich life mean to you?

Imagine one person—let’s call her Bonnie—who earns $80,000 per year (including benefits) at a job that requires 40 hours per week. Bonnie commutes in rush hour traffic for 3 out of 5 days each week, and works at home the other two days.

Imagine another person—let’s call him Charlie—who earns $40,000 per year, but in a job that averages only 20 hours per week. Charlie works a variety of jobs close to home, usually without the hustle of rush hour.

Bonnie and Charlie earn roughly the same amount per hour, but which of these two people lives the richer life?

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How to Have a Healthy Relationship with Your Pastor

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A better partnership starts with awareness. Here’s how to get there.

two colleagues shaking hands

Pastors and musicians have a history of fraught relationships, but yours doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone has their good and bad days, but no one deserves to be stuck at an impasse forever. Healthy relationships in the church are just as important as anywhere else. Here are a few of my suggestions for how to have a healthy relationship with your pastor. He or she should always be your number one partner in music ministry.

Don’t assume anything.

Too many musicians assume that the pastor is little more than a philosopher with his “head in the clouds.” Likewise, too many pastors assume that musicians are temperamental artists with little concern for the larger work of the church. Don’t make this mistake.

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How to Breathe New Life into Old Hymns

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open hymnal focused on old hymn text

In the course of many conversations with other church musicians, I’ve heard about a variety of challenges with congregational singing. Because there are so many factors at play, each situation presents its own unique combination of problems. For that reason, I will tackle each problem one at a time in a series of articles devoted to church hymnody. This article addresses how to keep familiar old hymns as fresh and vibrant as possible. I can tell you from personal experience that it is worth the effort to improve your congregational hymn singing.

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Music Quality in the Church Choir: Tips for Directors

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Don’t assume that your church choir can’t do quality music just because they learn slowly.

We’ve all been here before. Somewhere in your music files (likely tucked under “Q” for “Quatre Motets”) is the Duruflé Ubi Caritas, a much beloved setting of a timeless text. Trouble is, you only have enough tenors and basses to place one on each part, and that’s if they’re all present! So much for programming something great, right? If only your church choir could learn music more quickly.

Because there are so many faults underlying this assumption, I’m going to tackle them one at a time.

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Fair Compensation in the Church: How to Negotiate Salary

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silver and gold coins in front of a wall clock

Are you paid less than you’re worth?

It’s a question you’ve probably asked yourself at some point, regardless of whether or not you work for a church. Though I’ve specifically geared this article to church employees, learning how to negotiate salary is a skill that will help you regardless of your career track.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for a church employee to willingly accept a below-market salary, or even volunteer his or her professional services, especially when s/he is a member of the congregation s/he serves. I will not try to persuade you otherwise. Instead, I will focus on helping those of you who expect to be treated (and paid) as independently hired professionals, subject to the pay grade of the open market.

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