>            I can't help but notice that there are not very many women
>            on our list-server.  It's kind of hard to tell just by
>            looking at the address list, since some names are not
>            traditionally gender-specific.  How many women are out
>            there?  I would like to hear from you.

You won't find many women in the pipe organ world.
This is a very chauvanistic world that few women feel welcome in.
I do not condone this attitude, but I see it all the time, nontheless.

>            I have also noticed that many of the messages deal with
>            organ building, MIDI interfaces, and theater organ.  Does
>            anyone know if there are any women organ builders:  i.e.
>            sole owners, parters, major shareholders, directors,
>            managers, technical directors, etc....  If they are out
>            there, they are not very visible to me.  I would be
>            interested in knowing how a person gets started in that
>            business, and why women don't seem to be very prevalent.

Women are not made to feel welcome.

It recently became apparent that my parents dream of pipes in the house
would come to pass, (The dream dates to before my birth) Mom decided to
join the installation crew for the NORCAL ATOS installation @ Berkeley
Community Theatre.  Rudy Frey, long time brass in NORCAL told her
"Neat! Women on the crew!  You can make us all T-Shirts!"  Several other
women were made to feel uncomfortable before they even had a chance to
express interest in the field.

By the way, NORCAL is not the only place where this happens!

If either of my nieces develop an interest in organ building, I will welcome
their assistance on the "Canyon Crest Wurlitzer" but I will try to talk
them out of working on another crew to shield them from the likes of these
ubiqutous mysogenists.

>            Also, I would like to see more discussion on the sucesses,
>            failures, and ways of coping with our church jobs.  I play
>            once a month at Richland Lutheran.  This congregation is one
>            of the largest (or may be the largest) Lutheran church in
>            eastern WA and Idaho, but it's music program doesn't not
>            match up with the size of the congregation.  We have 5
>            choirs, not including 2 handbell choirs, 4 organists
>            (rotating once per week), and we spend less than $15,000 on
>            the music program.  We rely heavily on lots of church
>            members to work for free or for token compensation.  And the
>            worst part is that there is no leadership and there doesn't
>            seem to be any direction.  I believe that we should hire a
>            full-time director of music to do most of the directing and
>            leading, and perhaps organ playing, but my philosophy
>            differs greatly from most everyone else, who prefers to be
>            "inclusive" and use congregation members where possible.
>            Inclusive is great, but I don't think the quality will be
>            there as long as everyone is doing their own thing.  Another
>            problem is that we could never hire a full-time director of
>            music on a total salary, benefit, and music program budget
>            of $15,000!!!!

Well thats your #1 problem, you are underfunded!  You need to convince the rest
of the congregation that the program is underfunded.  Next you need to figure
out how to make up the funding difference (fundraisers etc)  It is even
possible that added funding could greatly enhance your program right there!
Is there not a single music teacher in the entire congregation?
If you can't afford a paid music director, perhaps you need a volunteer one.
You seem to have a good idea what is wrong, perhaps as the new music director
you could correct these problems yourself.  It sounds like generating additional
funding is your first task.  Most pastors I know, do not hav an objection to
congregation members brining extra cash into the church program.  It tends to
lighten their own workload, and as a result, they would be tickled to let you
do it!

>            It also doesn't help that some of the other musicians
>            criticize the church for not being treated like
>            professionals and then refuse to be treated like
>            professionals.  (That's another story.)


Thats obvious... Treat them like childerne then !  (I'm joking here!)





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        UNIX !
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-texx

Robert "Texx" Woodworth

Wurlitzer Opus #1024

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                        WURLITZER FOREVER !!!

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