Profession regent - description, where to study and salary

The work of a church choir conductor in a secular state remains rare, non-prestigious, and therefore unknown. Many graduates of music schools and conservatories view church activities as additional income and try to find out in more detail the description of the regent’s profession, salary, where to study additionally and whether it is necessary.

Origin of the term

The name "regent" comes from the Latin word regere (to rule, reign). At first, this term referred to the guardians of child sovereigns who ruled the country until they came of age. For example, in France, the queen regents Anna of Austria and Maria de Medici are known, as well as Anna Yaroslavna, a native of Kievan Rus.

In the mid-19th century, under the influence of Western Latinism, regents began to be called singers with extensive experience or conductors of a church choir in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Where did the idea about the unbelieving choir come from?

– What if, for example, the choir is professional, but there are completely unbelieving people there? – I hear this question about the eight hundredth time. And every time I am surprised by him. This is a sad legacy of Soviet times, when singers were hired without asking their attitude to religion. If only they could sing, if only they could. In 25 years, I have never had a single atheist singer, a person who would somehow mock faith. Everyone was baptized, except for one guy, who, unfortunately, had already died. He turned out to be a Muslim and simply earned money from us, but he always behaved more than decently. The only case in 25 years! But the myths about secular choirs, entirely consisting of non-believers and singing in the temple, are surprisingly tenacious. – Is it important what kind of education everyone singing in the choir has, or is the main thing – the level of the regent? – The preparation of the regent is, of course, important. Where he will end up and what singers will join him, no one knows. Often the regents are the wives of priests, who can be sent anywhere, and the secular regent can move, and in the choir there will be one person with four classes of music school, or he may end up in Moscow, where you can choose from a huge number of both visitors and local specialists with good education. Therefore, the conductor’s musical training must be at its best; he must be able to work with amateur, children’s, and professional choirs. Yes, I know brilliant self-taught regents, but there are only a few of them, because more often than not a normal regent is a musical gift plus education. The same thing, in an amicable way, applies to those who sing. Everyone should mind their own business, and the cook should not run the state. I can’t now go and start defending people in court, and suddenly a lawyer can’t go and sing in the choir because he was drawn to praise God like that. But now in churches it has become even a shame to be a musically educated person, a professional; this is perceived with suspicion, because somewhere did the idea of ​​an unbelieving choir come from... But this is obscurantism and we need to get rid of it, because without a decent musical education, without mastery of the material, without knowledge of the history of music, a huge baggage of listened works, we cannot talk not only about development, but simply about preserving the heritage. Because, it turns out, there will be no one to store it. – There is an opinion, including among some priests, that nothing should distract from worship - neither the decoration of the temple, nor painting, nor music - what should those who share it do? – It’s simple, then you need to go to the Protestants, after all, everything was already invented during the Reformation, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel! What do we have now in Protestant churches? Just a building - bare walls with a crucifix, or just offices where there is a synthesizer and people sing simple songs, everything is available to everyone. Everything has already been simplified to a minimum. For some reason, the word “tradition” becomes shameful. But here it is like this – beautifully decorated churches, beautiful church music, rich architecture. At least somewhere in our life there should be a place that we associate with God’s beauty and Heaven. Or should we only have a “white ceiling with the right to hope” everywhere? It turns out that we specifically go to museums to see this beauty, but for some reason we have to remove it from the temple? The beauty of the paintings, the beauty of the music, on the contrary, sets you up for prayer, opening a crack from our everyday life, life with the wheel “work - home” into the joyful heavenly world. – Much depends on the priest, on the rector. It turns out that the abbot must be a person who understands, among other things, music? - Must. Moreover, he should be a musical person, if possible. Know the voices, serve in the same tone with the choir. Nobody says that you need to study all this deeply, but you need to know basic things, you need to feel church music, at least know something about it, about the structure of the same choir, that singing is a huge work, and good choir singing in the temple is a guarantee that it will always be full of parishioners.

– How can you change such a cold attitude towards diversity and beauty? – The Church, firstly, has a serious tool - prayer, and there is a beautiful icon of the Mother of God “Addition of Mind”. And this multifaceted problem must be solved gradually. The same teaching in Sunday schools, which in our country has now turned in most cases into weekend clubs, where children have a quick lesson in the Law of God, and then dancing, modeling from clay, cutting out cranes from paper and learning poems for Christmas. I want to talk about an ordinary Sunday school that I attended in the late eighties - a school at the Intercession Cathedral in the city of Barnaul. So, we didn’t make crafts there, didn’t dance, but studied in detail the Law of God, the stories of the Old and New Testaments, the structure of the temple, what church vessels are, what church vestments are, and so on. They learned prayers by heart and constantly participated in divine services. They participated - they sang, read as best they could. And in church singing lessons, together with our legendary psalmist Lyudmila Lvovna Oshurkova, we learned church voices - the basis of the foundations; we learned to read the Book of Hours and the Psalter in Church Slavonic. Moreover, regardless of whether we sing in the choir or not. She explained to us a lot about what worship is, what the role of the choir is in it, and talked about the role of the psalm-reader. And as soon as from the very beginning of the educational process people begin to understand how and what to teach, the situation will change. This is much more useful than ranting and trying to constantly reform something. There are a lot of secular children's organizations that train good dancers, ceramists, and so on. We should not erode our education in Sunday schools and primary spiritual education. Gradually a generation will grow up that will begin to understand and understand what’s what. From my childhood I remember powerful cathedral choirs, both the professional “right choir” and the amateur “left choir”, and I still look to them as models to follow. And that’s why now I say to the singers: “We are ashamed to sing poorly: there are children standing below.” I know that when they grow up, they, like me now, will be guided by exactly the sound that accompanied them in childhood and youth. And in many ways this is a global process that does not entirely depend on us. We are just following this path. The pendulum from the magnificent musical flowering of the late 19th - early 20th centuries has swung in the opposite direction, and we are now almost at the final point, it seems to me. Soon he will start to come back from complete denial. I really hope for it.

Religion and lifestyle

Any experienced church worker will agree that it is impossible to fulfill the duties of a clergyman for a long time and successfully without firm faith in God. The values ​​of Orthodox culture and Christian doctrine should guide every action in the field of service in the church.

The Soviet period in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church knows many cases when non-believers were appointed to the positions of regents and choristers. The rectors of large city churches were forced to make sacrifices in order to preserve the splendor of worship in conditions cramped by atheistic propaganda. Parishioners of that time noted that the outwardly beautiful singing was devoid of a prayerful spirit .

It is difficult for an unbelieving musician to understand the meaning of worship and intra-church relations. Regency in the temple becomes an unpleasant burden, leading to frequent conflicts.

Today, the requirements for the appearance and moral purity of Church ministers have increased significantly. The regent must be baptized, take communion regularly, and not combine church work with activities that discredit the name of a Christian.

The leaders of city choirs try to free up as much time as possible for work. Holiday services do not always coincide with public holidays, and in some churches you have to sing every day.

Discipline in service

Singing becomes worse if the choristers chatter during the service. They begin to enter slightly at the wrong time, and sing not quite according to the hand (they seem to see the hand, but the conversation relaxes them). Singing becomes worse if singers play on their smartphones or use VKontakte.

If you are a beginner, God forbid you chat. The regent will 100% think “he doesn’t know how to sing, and he’s already ruining the singing with his chatter.” Be quiet and humble. A cell phone (although this is not encouraged) can be taken out from the clock or six psalms, and not for playing, but to check the time or quickly read the feed.

Never contradict the regent.
Sometimes the regent makes a mistake - don't rub his nose in the mistake. A smart regent will understand everything himself. A stupid person is doubly dangerous, because he is doubly afraid for his place (and therefore suspects a thirst for leadership in every second person). Don’t be rude to other choristers (this is also a slap at the regent, because the regent is responsible for the singing and knows very well how much the choral structure and the course of the service are spoiled if the choristers swear during the service). A quarrelsome person, even if he is not “bashing” the regent, still hits the regent and the overall result, because as a result of the squabble, the singing sharply and rudely deteriorates. People from the outside begin to perceive singing as nervous, some kind of hysterical production of sounds “in the throat”, the tempo becomes jagged, the structure collapses. Sometimes it’s easier to get rid of a beautiful voice that confidently leads its part, but with a quarrelsome character, than to endure constant broken services. The voice does not save if in the spatial fabric of the service there is no tenderness and joy of serving the Lord.

If you are attacked by another choirboy, do not immediately respond in kind. It’s better to reduce the sonority of your voice (because stress causes your voice to tremble unsightly) and sing quietly and in a gentle legato (this is calming), and after the service, talk to this chanter.

Education and educational institutions

In modern church practice, there are several types of choirs:

• bishops;
• festive or “concert”;
• everyday or “kliros”;
• monastic.

The first two types of choirs have a mixed composition (male and female voices), perform works from sheet music, and participate in ceremonial services.

To manage such a choir, you must have a musical education (college or conservatory), in a conducting and choral class.

Everyday compositions are usually homogeneous (female or male voices), small in number . The repertoire contains simple voice chants, but the regent is required to have precise knowledge of the order of worship and the ability to read Church Slavonic fluently. The leader of the everyday staff requires a diploma from the regency courses (school) or extensive experience in singing in the choir.

Monastic choirs have a homogeneous composition and usually perform simple chants. Managing them requires a lot of experience in chanting in the temple and monastic life. This work is performed by the inhabitants of the monastery and is not paid.

Today in Russia there are 3 regency schools with historical traditions and experience recognized internationally.

Duration of training from 3 to 5 years:

• Regent's School at the Moscow Academy of Sciences and Sports (Sergiev Posad).
• Regency branch of the SPDA (St. Petersburg).
• Faculty of Church Singing at St. Tikhon's Theological University (Moscow).

When entering schools in Sergiev Posad and St. Petersburg, a musical education of at least primary education is required; graduates have the qualification of “church choir director.”

This means that the graduate can only work in the church. St. Tikhon's University provides higher musical education with the right to manage both church and secular groups.

For singers with experience working in choir compositions, it is enough to complete courses for choristers or psalmists , which are opened at theological seminaries, diocesan schools and city cathedrals.

Despite the presence of special educational institutions, formal education does not play a significant role in church practice. Independent study of the basics of musical literacy and liturgical regulations is allowed. It often happens that when hiring a new regent, the rector of the temple gives preference to the experience, natural abilities and reputation of the candidate.

In short, in many cases the diploma is of secondary importance or is completely ignored.

Thirst for stability and punctuality

I don’t know about anyone, but I just adore stability.
I don't like any changes at all. The only changes that I am willing to put up with are technological progress and constantly improving technology. But everything else, from rearranging the furniture in the house to the composition of our choir “party,” I dream of as something unshakable. And when this is not the case, I begin to suffer. No wonder. The intense work of the mind (and among choir members it is intense) wants to see a simple world around them. Probably, those in whose life there is little drive and they lack it are ready for changes and for a variety of crazy actions. So, believe me... The choir gives so much drive that in everything outside of the choice of repertoire (that's a lot of drive, right?) you want to be a mega-conservative.

And how difficult it would be for me to be a regent with my dislike of change! Sooner or later, constant changes make you feel a little nauseous. It would seem that people have finally gathered, a strong team. The relationship with the rector has been more or less established, and the level of his demands has become clear and is generally fulfilled by the choir group. All the singers got used to each other. And when the cozy aroma of homemade pie and tea drinking filled the choir air - suddenly bam!

Turn!
Let's say a singer moves to another city. The singer you taught so much, who has finally learned her voices! Moreover, due to the limited sight-reading among the contingent of singers, it is now not so easy to find a replacement for someone in the choir. This is generally a disaster - the loss of a permanent singer. And this singer or choirboy is missing (the loss of a tenor or bass is generally slightly catastrophic). This promises a decline in the quality of singing. In addition, this is very painful, because the regent, like a beloved child, nurtures his choir, working on it both on the program and, ideally, on relationships. You are happy and proud of your work and to see how everything is getting worse (and not through your fault!) - oh, it’s like fine sandpaper on scorched nerves. It smelled like smoke...

But changes can be more dramatic. From which it’s not just smoke... A fire starts in the soul, which is difficult to put out even with a bucket of validol. They changed the rector (and only the Lord knows what the new one will be like). The bishop has changed. Payments to singers were abolished due to lack of funds (the budget was cut). A new headman was appointed for the parish. Oh, sometimes, as a regent, you feel like the mythical Sisyphus, doomed to forever roll a heavy stone up a mountain and drop it not far from the top...

And although the heroic epic of the ancient Greeks did not imply a deep understanding of the character of the heroes, it is not difficult to guess the DESPAIR of regents of all stripes, which sometimes overtakes them as a result of constant (and by no means positive) changes, after which “you have to start almost all over again.” Singing becomes worse as a result of changes, zeal for God requires a high level of quality, and life has thrown a negative change. It hurts to be Sisyphus!

And the rector can also give the regent a “nezhdanchik” - a new singer... maybe the regent herself has been looking for a singer for a long time, but in any case, this is a change for the collective. Let's imagine that the new singer is you! Because I need material for literary dissection.

As I wrote above, the changes in the choir are sickening, because every brick of stability in the choir is generously sprinkled with the blood of the regent and his choristers. And your task, as a singer, is to show respect for this blood, to show yourself as a worthy element of this fighting team. And we'll start with something simple.

We'll start with PUNCTUALITY.
In conditions of constant nervousness from constantly changing services, the regent unusually values ​​punctuality in people. Punctuality reaching the point of absurdity. Punctuality that reeks of madness. Do you have a rehearsal at 2 o'clock in the afternoon? Come to the rehearsal at 13:40. Service at 8am? Come at 7:40. If you can’t come, let us know two weeks before the date, then remind us a week before the date, and repeat another day. Do you think this gets boring? Yes, the regents are simply in awe of such a person! But it’s so simple - ALWAYS arrive 20 minutes before the appointed time. And give notice of any absence two weeks in advance. Did force majeure occur just shortly before the service (say, two hours)? Be sure to send an SMS to the regent, then call and say that after the service you will call again and tell everything in detail. It’s not worth it before, because immediately after your SMS the regent may have a question about the repertoire, and how to get the service out in a situation where a person is absent.

NEVER miss a service without a very good reason, like a house fire or a relative dying right now! A high temperature and a lot of housework are NOT valid reasons in the eyes of the regent. For example, I went to services regardless of the severity of the illness and the height of the temperature. I only skipped them if I was vomiting (or had diarrhea).

So, be punctual to the point of schizophrenia. This is almost a 70% guarantee that the regent will carry you in his arms. True, with one “but”... If you don’t objectively spoil the sound of the choir and you are either not heard, or your singing enhances your voice. If you sing “so-so” (especially the lousy version - poorly and loudly, with conviction of your own uniqueness) - the singers and the regent themselves wish that you would not come. But this can also be fixed.

Professional Responsibilities

The director of the church choir bears responsibility for the competent and excellent performance by the choir of the singing part of the service. To do this, you need to cultivate discipline, diligence, stress resistance, and the ability to communicate with people. It is important to respect the clergy and follow the superior's instructions, even if they seem incorrect.

The regent must monitor the work schedule of the singers so that the required composition is assembled for the appointed service. He comes to work early to prepare books and sheet music. Discusses the specifics of the service with the priest. During the service, he monitors the actions of the clergy, slows down or speeds up the singing depending on the situation.

The complexity of the chants should correspond to the level of the singing staff. If necessary, the regent conducts rehearsals. The appearance and behavior of the choir director serves as an example for the singers and parishioners.

Deciding how to serve is a matter for the priesthood

– How do you feel about the reductions in services? – Firstly, I have not seen any terrible cuts that threaten the spiritual life of Christians. But if they happen, I treat them like a soldier. There is such a thing in our liturgical practice: “As the abbot wills.” My father told me to serve like this today, so we serve like this. My task is not to sing troparia with stichera in the tempo of “allegro vivace” ​​and in the style of ditties. And deciding how to serve is a matter for the priesthood. My job is to sing. I also sang in monastery services for five to six hours (although I am firmly convinced that monastic choirs should sing in monasteries). And just in churches, where it was necessary to serve quickly, for example, in hospitals, where people can barely stand. – What if there are no professionals in the monasteries? – You need to hire an excellent regent who is no stranger to pedagogy. Let the nuns teach. Mother Juliania (Denisova) taught the sisters to sing in the Elisabeth Monastery; in Diveevo, again, the nuns sing there beautifully, at a very good level. And where they cannot teach, let the professionals be paid more. Let’s say the all-night vigil in the parish church lasts two and a half hours, and in the monastery it lasts about five, and the rate is the same, or even less. I am always for the singer, because I know that he is an absolutely powerless person, absolutely useless to anyone, his life is of no interest to anyone. It’s one thing if a secular person just came to pray at a monastery, he can be at the service for six hours, but a professional comes precisely to work and he needs to be paid decently, and not endlessly illustrate the well-known Pushkin fairy tale. In general, the authority of the regent, the authority of the church chorister needs to be restored somehow. Because the situation is actually very, very dire. This has already been discussed many times at different levels, some directives have even been adopted, which, unfortunately, are not implemented locally, and singers often literally walk around with their hands outstretched, humiliated and offended by everyone. If they get sick, they will immediately forget about them, they will accept a new person, it’s all sad. Although there are churches, and you can count them on one hand, in which I would gladly sing and direct the choir there, there are rectors who sing themselves, and the choir, who love and respect, and who pay well for the regency and singing work. But there are so few of them that it’s scary to talk about it. Let us preserve, cherish and enhance the beauty of our worship, without confusing simplicity with banal primitiveness. It's time.

Payroll

Like all clergy, the choir director can receive a salary from the funds of the temple. Its size depends on the agreement with the abbot. Small rural parishes may offer symbolic payments or food allowances. Often, directors of rural choirs work for free, “for the glory of God.”

Large parishes try to attract professional choir directors and set payments depending on the level of worship and the composition of the choir . For one performance with a bishop's or concert choir, the conductor receives from 2 thousand rubles, for an everyday performance - from 500 rubles. Bonuses and vacation pay are paid at the discretion of the rector. The amount of payment depends on the region and distance from administrative centers.

The employment of a regent can be documented according to a work book or a contract.

According to the terms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the parish pays taxes and fees to the Pension Fund for the employee. Rectors of small churches prefer oral agreements; the regent's salary in this case is a voluntary donation and does not carry social guarantees.

Show your effort...

The thought flashed that I decided to “captain” a little?
It seems obvious that everyone loves diligent people. HOW EXACTLY should you show effort? )) There are ways to show effort that will make the regent 100% think that a) you are baiting him, b) aiming for his place. Do you want this effect? Are you sure that you can figure out the inexplicable deterioration in relations with the regent for no apparent reason? The effort must be smart...

It must be the effort of a cog in a clock. You must literally show that you really want to be a cog, but a good, excellent cog, who is heard only when you need to sing, and who is silent in all other situations. An example of good diligence is to take the notes home and study them (with the consent of the regent and at your own expense, making photocopies of the frequently performed repertoire). An example of good diligence is to take singing lessons (to improve your skills in general) at your own expense (and inform the regent about this). It's simple - the regents want to see your desperate desire to be an excellent choirboy.

I underline it in red. Be a great SINGER!

Not. Regent.

So that the regent thinks that you want to sit him down (and are aiming for his place or just want to be an informal leader) - make comments to other singers (you sang the wrong note), offer a repertoire in the choir (let's sing this), express your remark about this or that work (“somehow it doesn’t sound good to us”).

Never touch with your hands (avoid any physical contact) a liturgical index, a tuning fork (like “let me hear what sound it makes”), or a pile of notes that has not yet been laid out on lecterns. Physical touches are only appropriate for sheet music that has been given to you personally, or copies of sheet music that you have printed for yourself and to learn.

Never tell a regent that you dream or want to become a regent. Never tell him your desire to go study to become a regent. Because of your inexperience, you think that in the Orthodox Church there are hundreds of parishes in cities and “there will be a place for you.”

And the regent, from his EXPERIENCE, knows that all the positions of regents in the cities are occupied and are free only in places where there is no one to sing at all and the working conditions are truly terrible.
Therefore, your enthusiastic desire to be “also a regent” will not only not be appreciated, but will also be accepted as a claim to leadership in the team. You have just created an enemy for yourself and now you will have to try to correct the omission. It’s rare that a regent likes it when a choir suddenly for some reason begins to become intensely interested in the regulations and the course of the service. Oh, the regent, of course, will be delighted if you pretend to be such a servant and say, “I don’t want to know the course of the service (and I can’t do it, stupid), but I want to know when it’s “for you, Lord,” and when it’s “for your spirit.” Then the regent, realizing that your interest comes down purely to singing exclamations, calms down.

But what if you did bother the regent with a careless question?

The easiest way to fix everything is to start admiring the work of the regent and emphasizing your stupidity, like “how naive I was at first... no... I will never master the regency... being a regent is being a superman.” If you manage to say this often enough and with the proper degree of conviction and they even believe you, the negative impact of your mistake will be leveled out.

By the way, it is worth mentioning why the regents are generally so afraid of being replaced.
After all, often they don’t even pay for the regency! So what are these people fighting for? First, many regents don't want to be regents at first. But when they get involved, they begin to appreciate their work, perceiving the choir as their child. In the choir, like in a child, strength is invested (in upbringing), years of life are invested. Sooner or later, you develop your own working style and even a certain confidence “no one in the choir will take care of him better than me.”

And with faith in one’s own business, a sense of self-importance also grows. By the way, there is nothing wrong with this. The Lord is not against exploits. The Lord loves those who strive for the glory of His most holy Name. And zeal for Christ is a sign of a good spiritual path. Understanding that you are leading the praise of God in a particular parish fills your heart with sweetness and spiritual joy.

And it is very dangerous to hint to the regent that you want to take this joy away from him.
Moreover, due to experience, the regent knows how difficult it is to be a regent and is sure that anyone else can do it worse than him. Usually the regents are not monsters at all and sometimes they even hand over the tuning fork to someone who is two heads taller professionally. Just because they see it - it’s better for the choir. But this is not a reason to tempt the regent by performing the actions I described above. Summary - the regents extremely value those who with their whole being say “I am just a cog... I am a follower and I rejoice in this... I am a servant to everyone and this suits me.” And if another person, with manic persistence, comes 20 minutes before the appointed time, never misses and works to improve his own qualifications and informs the regent about this, never announces his desire to be a regent or enroll in regent courses - such a person begins to rush around the regents simply to hands.

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