PlayJazzGuitar.com Forum

[organtriolover]

So i recently got this job playing gospel music at a baptist church for 125 a week with a drummer and organist, and now after a few weeks I get a call saying that says we now got a bass player so you will be playing the 3rd and fourth week. and the bass player the 1st and second of the month and you wil get 50 dollars because we feel you need more time to progress in our services and I feel that that was a line of bullshit to save money because I know I am playing good enough for the job. should I just look for another job?

[Bjorn]

Hehe,
Thats a bitter one.....
do you only play one day per week...?

If that the case 50 bucks for a couple of hours
is ok.......

Take care...

Bjorn.

[hanni]

Hi, i know to be a churchmusican is hard.....
i live in a music desert and to be in church is the only way to learn something about music in this area, better like nothing, now i´m just singing there gospel and jazz, if i be better in playing guitar than i want to ask to do this there (they want that i sing sacral and church songs too, however i do it) church prerequisite much and after work i sit at home and reade music theory in books and internet, do guitar, singing and englisch/african lessons (i´m german), now i stuck full of work and there is no time to go out in a pub, that´s my serious music side, i´m a trainee and don´t get money

[ntgr8]

[Jake Hanlon]

In situations like this it's best to leave the gig. Once you make the compromise they will walk all over you.

In fact, in an instance like this I would inform as many fellow musicians as you can about how they treated you, thus when they are looking for their next guitarist, word has gotten around that they screwed someone out of 75 bucks a gig without a good reason.

That will teach them.
_________________
Guitarist, Composer, Professor of Music St Francis Xavier University

www.jakehanlon.com


Debut Album Follow @ Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow/id406062013

[cadence]

Be very straightforward with them about why you are leaving too. Some people think "oh you are getting payed for music, that's not a job like me sitting at a desk Monday through Friday, it's a hobby" and it's not until a working musician makes it clear to them that they understand the fact that music pays our bills.

[Jake Hanlon]

indeed they don't see it as a job.

Here in Texas, church gigs are a major source of income for musicians, especially in the Dallas area. The vast majority of churches have bands for their worship on Sundays and sometimes twice a week. They often hire an individual to lead the worship musically and then a band to back him or her up. In some instances they have a huge pay difference between the leader and the band, sometimes its the same.

And there is no scale either, some guys I know get paid $100 for their sunday church gig to play, other's I know get paid $300 for two services plus they are fed Saturday and Sunday mornings. The discrepency is horrible.

The issue is that in the richer churches most of the band is made up of members of the congregation who are very ameture in their ability to play music, but they hire professional musicians as well as students who are professionals and tend to treat them like crap because they are not members of the church. I have a friend who lost his weekly $200 a week church gig because the Minister found out that he was Catholic and not Baptist, fired him 2 months before his own wedding... when he really needed the bread. Something seems fairly backward about that, I suggested he sue for wrongful dismissal, considering he was under contract and on the church's pay roll, it was not like he was handed 2 bills every Sunday after service and told to not spend it all in one place... but he was spending it all in one place... rent.
_________________
Guitarist, Composer, Professor of Music St Francis Xavier University

www.jakehanlon.com


Debut Album Follow @ Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/follow/id406062013

[stratocasturbator]

church musicians getting PAID? wow. I've never heard of such a thing. I grew up playing acoustic guitar in a "folk mass" and none of us ever got paid, nor would any of us have asked to be. but then again, sounds like this is a different sort of church, with a house band sort of thing...and if that's the case, then the church is just like any other employer--a business that needs professional musical services.

so if you're getting screwed, then quit. and you don't need to tell them why, but you ought to tell every local musician you know what's going on there.