Organist or Pianist Charges for service playing in Churches

[inkiepoo]

I am wondering what an organist or pianist might receive in renumeration for playing for church service music during the regular church service. I am speaking only of playing for the service. Would your charges include accompanying a soloist and also the choir? Do you charge more for extra services such as playing for prayer meeting or other meetings during the week?

I am trying to get a feel of what to charge for being a head pianist/organist for a church and if charges should be more for extra services also.

Thanks for any ideas.
Debbie

[Rach3]

A **** lot! A single Episcopal service (without choir) for a congregation of 150-200 can pay $150-200 dollars. I got $80 to do a service for a small monastery (about 25 people). It's obscene! Of course actually being a full-time organist/choirmaster is a heck of a lot more work than substituting (probably gets way more money).

By the way, this is for versatile organists... pianists aren't nearly as much in demand. Nevertheless, keep in mind churches usually have way more money then they need, and tend to be extremely liberal about what they spend it on.

[Rach3]

Sorry, didn't get all of your questions there...

would your charges include accompanying a soloist and also the choir?

Within a service, you wouldn't get paid extra for extra work.

Do you charge more for extra services such as playing for prayer meeting or other meetings during the week?

Yes.

head pianist/organist

A big difference between church organist and church pianist... organists who can play hymns with bass line, improvisations, etc. are really in shortage and get paid much more. But they also have a lot more work than pianists, who only need two hands (easy!). If you're also directing a choir or doing administrative things, there's a lot more money there (haven't done those myself).

-Rach3

[BoliverAllmon]

I don't know about per service, but I know that a good organist can get 60,000 a year.

boliver

[mound]

My teacher is the "director of music ministry" at his church - professional organist really, but it's a full time job for him, managing all things musical for the organization. I'm sure he's doing quite well.

[IanT]

I charge $150 CDN.  This normally includes:

4-5 hymns with some on organ and some on piano depending on what the arrangement looks like

A prelude, offertory and postlude i.e. three pieces - two slow and contemplative and one barnburner

Accompaning the choir or soloist in 1-2 anthems.

I don't do this very often and find it fairly stressful.  Essentially you have to learn up to 10 pieces for a one-hour service.  The extra money's nice but the main reasoin I do it is to get the chance to play other instruments.

Ian

[lostinidlewonder]

I've played at church services a number of times, but most of the times I would be playing without charge. I find it strange to accept money from a Church for some reason. I would say a standard way to charge a fee is to charge by the time you have to commit (peforming and rehersals if you are playing with choir for instance). The fee is extremely various, a small church will struggle to pay you anything to play for them, a much larger church has more disposable income. So to judge how much a church can afford is very hard. So to is it hard to judge how much a chartiy organisation should pay you for playing at a charity event.

I played at a Cancer fund and charged 100AUS per piece (I played 3 which lasted around 20 minutes all up), but that was only because there was at least 1000 ticket buyers in the audience  sold at 20$ each which meant around 20K was up in the air, about 5K for costs and 15K into charity pocket, so around 300$ wasnt asking much at all.

A church doesn't really make money, so to charge them for your service will cause cash to come out of their own pockets, so unless it is a chartiy event at the church I wouldn't really think about charging. If you are continually supporting them like 7 days a week every day then perhaps you can organise some type of wage, but if you are doing only every Saturday/Sunday service and maybe one other day out of the week, charging them to me seems wrong.

[IanT]

Initially I offered to play for free at my local church but they insisted on paying me.  It seems that they like to keep their accounts and budgets straight and getting free help screws them up somehow.

They did suggest that I could give the money back as a donation though.

Ian

[whynot]

I think paid versus volunteer has a lot to do with denomination or type of church.  I used to do church playing for free (piano).  Now I have a paid church job (organ) but do not accept payment for charity fundraisers.  (I should mention that musicians have been paid for providing worship music since the Old Testament.)  Organ is a real specialty-- Ian summed up very well the weekly service responsibilities, plus almost everything happens on short notice.  And as he said, it's much more stressful.  If you make mistakes on the piano-- which are less likely because it's easier for most people-- you can sort of finesse the sound and make people forget it quickly.  But if you make a mistake on organ, it's non-negotiable-- you can't take it back.  If you play organ, you know exactly what I mean.  At my church (Episcopal) there are last-minute transpositions and interludes--no time to write them out, and I also do the extra arrangements when we have other instrumentalists.  There's just always a lot going on.  The job is five to twenty hours a week, depending on whether I practice (!) and if I'm writing parts for anyone.  So I don't feel uncomfortable accepting my salary anymore.  It's low, by the way, but it's a small parish.  The ministers get paid, as do the secretary, the accountant... we're all skilled professionals doing a good job.  When I use a sub, I try to get them $125-150, which includes a short rehearsal w/ choir or soloist just prior to the service but doesn't include the longer mid-week rehearsal.  Subs are hard to get at my church, because that organ is hard to play (little baroque-style tracker, fabulous but not flattering).  For weddings, I get paid separately, if I take them at all (ugh).  For funerals, the minister "feels out" whether the family can pay me, and if she thinks it would be a hardship, she pays me out of the church budget.  That's one arrangement I always try to decline, because I'm more than willing to volunteer for a funeral, but she doesn't want me to play for free.  Hope any of that is helpful.   

[alraydo]

I am wondering what an organist or pianist might receive in renumeration for playing for church service music during the regular church service. I am speaking only of playing for the service. Would your charges include accompanying a soloist and also the choir?

     --For just the Sunday service, I receive $100 (u.s.)    That's a flat rate for everything.  90% of the time it's just Prelude/Offertory/Postlude and three hymns.  But sometimes the choir will sing one of the hyms instead of the congregation.  And it's just piano. 

     --For the two hours of choir rehearsal time during the week, my minister suggested I assess a value to it and make an "in kind" donation.  I pretty much figure that my time is as valuable as when I give piano lessons, so 2 hours @ $25.00 per half hour = $100.00



Hope it helps.....