At 8:37 PM -0800 1/13/07, Dean M. Estabrook wrote:
I've just been offered a commission to write a choral piece. Though
I've done a lot of composing, this is the first time for me in the
world of commissions. If there is such a thing, what might be the
going rate for an SATB piece for a church choir of 20 singers,
lasting about 3 minutes? I told the person wanting the work that I
honestly didn't know what to ask, but that I'd look around ...
hence, this message. She supposed that something between $500 and a
grand might be a reasonable range ... what say ye?
I would agree, for someone who does not have a big stack of published
works but is a good composer. There is no standard fee and no union
scale or standard contract. And I'm sure others will emphasize that
the devil is in the details--the written, signed details!!
(Some personal history follows; hit <Delete> to move on.)
A couple of years ago (well, 2001 actually, now that I think of it),
I was commissioned by a church to provide 4 anthems based on 4
specified Psalms (and my wife threw 4 Introits into the deal as well,
at my suggestion). I hasten to add that the church had generous
outside funding, a nice grant from the Calvin Foundation (I think
that was the name) for Congregational Revitalization. The pieces
were conceived for a decent church choir of about 35, a brass
quintet, youth choir (on 2 of them), handbell choir (on 2 of them),
organ or piano (a good player), and whatever rhythm section we wanted
to add. Plus a reduction so they could be done with keyboard alone.
Our commission was $5,000.
Now, the scary part. The premiers were scheduled for 4 consecutive
Sundays in September, 2001. The Sunday School and Adult Forum
concentrated on the subject assigned for each week, and the sermons
were keyed to those Psalms and their meanings. The first Sunday was
a Psalm of Trust (Ps. 27, and Trust In the Lord turned into a
unifying concept as I wrote the remaining ones).
Then came 9/11. A Tuesday, if I recall.
The following Sunday was built around a Psalm of Lamentation (Ps.
13). Wow!! (They did tone down the Rap section a bit.) And it gets
even scarier. The third Sunday was a Psalm of Vengeance (Ps. 58),
and if you've never tried to get Presbyterians to sound like grunge
singers you haven't lived!!
The final Sunday was a Psalm of Praise (146), with all the stops
pulled out. And I had carefully worked in phrases of praise in
Latin, English, Hebrew, AND ARABIC! I asked the Pastors if they
wanted me to delete the Arabic and they said absolutely not, that
they would use it in their sermon, and they did, beautifully. (As an
aside, I had asked a couple of Arabic-speaking students in one of my
classes if I had the correct words and pronunciation for "God Is
Great" (I did), but when I asked for a phrase meaning "God Is Good"
they were stumped and couldn't think of one! The things you learn!!!)
Things I learned, besides that: Never write for handbells in 5/4
time unless you're prepared to accept aleatoric performance! Let the
basic sound of youth choir be unison, with occasional harmonies that
sing themselves by ear (given limited rehearsal time). When asked to
write in "contemporary" style, try to find out what they think that
means; then write what you feel is right! And working to fill the
specific needs of specific people (like Bach and Mozart always did)
can be great fun, and not at all restrictive if you have a good
imagination. The Pastors were VERY pleased, and the Music Minister
was ecstatic (please your patrons)! The congregation was drawn in
and energized (please your audience)!! And the Brass quintet
commissioned me to do some arranging for them (please your
musicians)!!!
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
