Policies and procedures for the Music Program at
Activities of the Music Program
- Choir music at two Sunday services each month
- Instrumental music and leading congregational singing at all Sunday services or making provision for other music.
- Participation in UU special music events
- Presentation of at least one Music Sunday service yearly
- Coordination of music for special services as needed
- Arranging for musical concerts by outside musicians at least twice yearly
Mission of the Music Committee
The Music Committee works with the minister, choir director, staff musician, choir, musicians and church members to provide a musical experience for the worship services and special events. The Music Committee also assists in hiring the Choir Director and Staff Musician who will coordinate guest musicians as needed and coordinate special music concerts and events. The Music Committee consists of a chair and several at-large members.
Music Committee Activities
- Formulate the long-range goals of the music program at First Unitarian.
- Plan and implement concerts and special events.
- Plan and advocate an annual budget for the music program that is consistent with the mission statement and long-range goals.
- Monitor and ensure regular tuning and maintenance of piano and organ.
- Recruit volunteers to assist with concerts and other activities
- Recruit congregational members who are interested in performing music for services or other events.
- Maintain music library and inventory of music scores.
- Carry out other special projects such as periodic congregational music survey.
Music Program Staff
- Paid staff of the Music Program consists of a Choir Director and a Staff Musician
- The Choir Director is the administrative head of the music program and will work in a creative partnership with Staff Musician (pianist/organist) in selecting music and developing the music program.
- The Staff Musician provides instrumental music for Sunday services, accompanies the choir and works with the Choir Director in choosing music and coordinating the musical portions of services. The Staff Musician is responsible for arranging regular tuning and repair of instruments.
- The Choir Director and Staff Musician will work closely with the supervising Minister, the Personnel Committee and the Music Committee to modify job descriptions and goals of the Music Program as each evolve.
Duties of Music Staff and Scheduling
- The Choir Director and Staff Musician are hired to provide music for services for 10 months or approximately 42 weeks during the FUSD fiscal year.
- The agreed upon salary will be paid in equal amounts bi-monthly.
- Music for the remaining months will be provided by guest musicians or other church members.
- Scheduling the musicians for services during those two months will be coordinated by the Choir Director and Staff Musician.
- In the event that one or both of the church musicians wishes to provide music for one or more of the services during the non scheduled months, an agreement regarding additional compensation will be negotiated with the Music Committee in consultation with the minister prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year. The finalized agreement will be forwarded to the Personnel Committee and the church bookkeeper.
Membership of the Music Committee
- Members of the Music Committee serve on a voluntary basis and will be composed of those who express an interest in sitting on the committee. The preferred number of committee members is 6 – 9.
- Committee members can be members or friends
- The committee shall strive for representation from choir, musicians, and non-musicians.
- Choir director and staff musician shall automatically be ex officio members of the committee.
Procedure for choosing the Chair of the Music Committee
- Candidates from the committee and from the nominating committee will be selected in coordination with the Choir director, Staff Musician and minister.
- The chair will serve a two year term.
- A recommendation will be made to the Program Council.
- Other committee officers will be a secretary and a concert coordinator.
- The Music Committee Chair or his/her designee is a member of the Program Council.
Committee officers
- A chair who establishes meeting agenda, consults with the FUSD bookkeeper regarding spending of the allocated funds, consults with the minister as appropriate, conducts meetings, prepares monthly reports for Program Council, attends Program Council meetings or appoints another committee member to do so and coordinates with the Choir Director and Staff Musician based on committee decisions and policies.
- A Secretary who will take minutes and circulates them to members prior to the next meeting.
- A Concert coordinator who will screen musical groups wishing to present concerts
- A reporter who submits monthly articles for the Ploughshare and submits announcements to be printed in the Sunday Connection.
The Concert Series sponsored by the Music Committee has the following policies:
- Music Committee must schedule event with the Church Administrator.
- All events must use the church Gatekeeper to monitor building security.
Security rules must be observed. - The Music Committee will provide a trained volunteer Sound Engineer for every event.
- The Music Committee will provide volunteer staff to set-up and break-down for every event.
- The Music Committee will provide volunteer staff clean premises (including kitchen, office, Sanctuary, Community Room, etc. and restocking rooms of essential items) When events are scheduled on Saturdays, the church must be properly prepared for Sunday services.
- The Music Committee is responsible for any costs associated with upkeep and maintenance of instruments related to additional usage
Most concerts will be free and open to the public. A "goodwill" offering can be taken and in the absence of a specific agreement with the artist, the suggested division of receipts is: 50% to the artist, 30% to the Music Committee, 20 % to Property Management to cover facilities costs. - In certain situations based on an agreement with an artist, concert tickets will be sold at a specified cost. For those concerts an agreement will be written between the artist and the Music Committee regarding the amount guaranteed to the artist and the distribution of the remaining funds to cover facility costs and to the Music Committee discretionary fund.
- Outside groups wishing to use the building for concerts not sponsored by the Music Committee will be arranged with the church administrator using the standard rental agreement. If an outside group uses the building for a concert, they are responsible for tuning of instruments and for cleaning the premises and returning the seating arrangement in the sanctuary to the previous configuration.
- The Music Committee will be responsible for promoting concerts. The Church Administrator can be helpful by placing announcements in the Order of Service and on the e-listing. When promoting an event, the contact person must be someone on the Music Committee.
- The Music Committee must observe fire code rules and monitor sound volume.
- The Music Committee is solely responsible for managing parking for events for the concerts they sponsor.