How to Be a Church Choir Director

A churhc choir director must have patience, creativity and musicality.

Church choir directors are responsible for a significant portion of the music in their church’s worship service, and often have the fringe benefits of limited work weeks, relative freedom with their musical choices and doing a job they truly love. This job requires you to have a strong musical background and a close relationship with the church.

Instructions

1. Get a degree in music. As the director of a choir and as the chooser of music for this group, obviously a strong background in music is important. If you attend a conservancy or major in music, it will strengthen considerably your qualifications for this job.

2. Know how to play the piano. A church choir is most often accompanied by a piano, and it helps a director to be able to sit down and play along during practices. In addition, a church choir director wears many hats, and may be called in to emergency piano or organ service during church.

3. Have experience as a member of a choir. Having sung in a choir and understanding the different parts, challenges and dynamics of choir music is important for this job. If you’ve sung in a choir, church or otherwise, it will give you good insight.

4. Understand staying within budget. A choir director also sometimes has a small budget to use, for purchasing wardrobes, music and equipment. Staying within budget and getting good value for money spent are important attributes.

5. Know the repertoire and hymns. Different denominations have a different set of hymns and songs they sing regularly. Having familiarity with your particular church’s music set will help you land the job and be successful.

6. Be a member of the church. It is often not a necessity, but being a formal, official member of the church will help you get this position. It often goes without saying that this will be the case, as the choir director is present for every service.

7. Be prepared to work for free or very little. At some churches, the position of choir director is a volunteer job and at smaller churches the pay can be under $10,000 annually, especially given that the job only requires work for a few hours a week.

References

• Careersinmusic.com: Choir Director
• Unity.org: Job Description
• Insidejobs.com: Choir Director