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Do you work as a substitute organist or hire them? This episode is for you! Crawford, Catie Moyer, and I have many (many!) strategies for subbing and hiring subs.
Because we have so much to share, we decided to make this post a how-to. If you scroll down, you’ll find detailed strategies, questions to ask about the nitty-gritties of each church’s habits, and a checklist of things to ask when subbing at an unfamiliar church.
About Catie Moyer
Catie and I have known each other since elementary school, and we actually took organ lessons from the same teachers in high school and college! (What are the odds that two kids from a little Baptist church in middle Georgia would end up professional organists?)
Catie Moyer has her bachelor’s degree in church music, and she works regularly as a substitute organist in Greenville, SC and the surrounding Upstate. She’s also active in many other musical areas: her day job is as a music education specialist at a music store, she’s part of the organ/harp duo Voix Celeste, and she sings alto with the South Carolina Bach Choir.
She writes that she “is passionate about making the organ and its music accessible to the average, untrained, or even skeptical listener.” And she gives seasonal recitals (like a Thanksgiving recital) that help her achieve that goal.
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Resources:
In this episode, I mention a survey for church musicians and people who’ve hired them. If you haven’t taken it already, please take 5-10 minutes to share your insight with other people applying to church jobs: take the survey. I’ll be posting the results later this spring.
How to Have a Positively Great Time Being a Swell Substitute
If you are subbing, or hiring someone to sub for you, there are lots of little details that you need to think about. Here’s a guide to figuring out the idiosyncrasies of each service.
Before the service:
Get the order of worship. Then ask:
Hymns:
- Are the hymns announced?
- How many stanzas? Are all the stanzas sung, always?
Other music:
- What is the exact introduction that the congregation is used to?
- Are there any places for improvisation? (e.g. after a Gospel reading)
- What rhythms for the Doxology and is there an Amen? (Yes, I’ve played at a church that didn’t sing an amen!)
- Anything else musical that hasn’t been specifically mentioned? (e.g. is there a children’s sermon and an expectation of music to accompany the children’s journey out of the sanctuary?)
Instrument:
- What memory level(s) or pistons can be used?
- What pistons have the typical hymn-accompaniment registrations?
- Anything tricky about the instrument? (e.g. sticking keys, ciphers, unusual method to set the pistons, how to turn it on)
Communion
This is the trickiest part of a service. Check exactly when to start/stop playing, and don’t assume that churches in the same denomination do things identically. I always ask “what will I *see* when I need to stop?” If you don’t intend to take communion and this church takes the elements to congregants (rather than having them come to the altar), you may wish to tell the deacons (not just the pastor) that you don’t intend to partake—well-meaning deacons may bring the elements to you otherwise.
Some churches want soft music while ministers are talking, and in other churches, if someone is talking, the music needs to stop right now. Find out which kind of church this is!
Building:
- Can the organist see the altar, pastor, choir director etc. from the instrument?
- What times is the building available for practice?
- How to get into the building before the service?
- Is there any information needed for parking?
- When will the church be open on the day of the service?
- What phone # should be called if the church isn’t open?
Other:
- Are there prayers or other elements that aren’t in the order of service?
- Any information needed for payment, like an address?
- Does the minister ever go “off plan”?
- Anything else weird? (e.g. it’s Lent so no preludes/postludes)
Planning prelude/postlude:
While playing your latest and greatest pieces is a lot of fun, you might need to choose music based on ease and the number of general pistons you have available.
- If ease is your goal, choose only pieces that require minimal or no piston changes.
- If there aren’t many general pistons available, don’t set a piston for your prelude (and, of course, use the same registration throughout). It also helps if your postlude includes a piston or two that also suit congregational singing.
On the day of:
- Run through ranks to check tuning. It takes just a couple minutes and can save you from pulling on an hautbois that did *not* care for last night’s cold snap.
- Register prelude, postlude, anthem.
- Check the “regular” hymn accompaniment pistons and re-do if needed.
- Look through order of worship and verify it’s the same as what you have planned.
- Introduce yourself to minister(s), choir director etc.
Other Strategies and Tips
- Carry an “office to-go” in your music bag. Catie’s mini office includes: a hole punch, paper clips, scissors, sticky notes, highlighters, and pencils.
- Just be nice to the people/be nice to the sub.
- Catie says, “Beware of silence, but don’t be terrified of silence.” In other words, just because the church is silent, doesn’t mean that you’re missing something and should be playing. But, do double check and make sure you aren’t in fact missing something!
- Because subbing means playing on a variety of organs, the manuals you use might change (and change often). Catie uses color-coded sticky notes to easily signal which manual she intends to use: green for great, yellow for swell, blue for choir, and pink for pedal.
- If you’re playing the same music on several different instruments with different manuals and pistons, put your sticky notes on different plastic sleeves for each instruments. Then swap your sheet music in and out of the sleeves for the different services.
- In an unfamiliar church where there is no choir director who could answer last minute questions (or mid-service questions for that matter), get a “designated nodder” in the choir or around the altar. You want someone to look at in those silences just in case you’re missing something.
- If you sub often for funerals, keep a binder ready with your go-to hymns and other music. All your music will be ready at a moment’s notice.
After the Service
- Keep a document with a running list of things about a given church, so you don’t have to rehash them with the organist every time you sub for them (e.g., how to get in the building).
- You may also find it useful to keep the orders of worship from each church, and review them when subbing again at the same church.
A Positively Swell Subbing Checklist
