Consolidation of Chorister with Ward Music Director

Ward Music Director and Chorister are not the same calling. The recent announcement consolidating these two callings in MLS is going to create some issues. The Ward Music Director has, within my observation, been the person, always an adult, who trains / coordinates all aspects of music for the Ward: special music for sacrament meetings; hymn selection; Chorister; choir; choir director; pianists for choir, primary, YW, and RS; music for special activities (e.g. Ward Christmas party), etc. I have seen Ward Music Directors bring about a very vibrant music scene in the ward. The Chorister directs the hymns in Sacrament Meeting, and may select the hymns as directed by the Ward Music Director. In several wards / branches in our stake, the Chorister is a youth, often more than one -- that is, someone whose experience is appropriate to that activity, but not to the other Ward Music Director duties. The youthful Chorister gains confidence, becomes better known to the adults who are not otherwise involved with youth, and may, as a side issue, learn something about music. I'd hate for us to lose this opportunity.

Nevertheless, if it is official that Chorister has been eliminated as a separate calling, a bigger announcement with instruction needs to come out -- rather than a backroom change in how it is rendered in MLS.

jmccall wrote:Ward Music Director and Chorister are not the same calling. The recent announcement consolidating these two callings in MLS is going to create some issues. The Ward Music Director has, within my observation, been the person, always an adult, who trains / coordinates all aspects of music for the Ward: special music for sacrament meetings; hymn selection; Chorister; choir; choir director; pianists for choir, primary, YW, and RS; music for special activities (e.g. Ward Christmas party), etc. I have seen Ward Music Directors bring about a very vibrant music scene in the ward. The Chorister directs the hymns in Sacrament Meeting, and may select the hymns as directed by the Ward Music Director. In several wards / branches in our stake, the Chorister is a youth, often more than one -- that is, someone whose experience is appropriate to that activity, but not to the other Ward Music Director duties. The youthful Chorister gains confidence, becomes better known to the adults who are not otherwise involved with youth, and may, as a side issue, learn something about music. I'd hate for us to lose this opportunity.

Nevertheless, if it is official that Chorister has been eliminated as a separate calling, a bigger announcement with instruction needs to come out -- rather than a backroom change in how it is rendered in MLS.

Actually, what you describe as the Ward Music Director is really the Ward Music Chairman as defined in Handbook 2. Handbook 2 defines the Ward Music Director to be what you're calling the Chorister. The handbook doesn't mention the calling of Chorister. So it makes sense that MLS would consolidate Chorister and Ward Music Director to conform to the handbook.

I agree with eblood66; what you're describing is the ward music chairman and the calling "chorister" is a historical/traditional name for a position now called the ward music director.

The Church in recent years has made several changes to simplify the names of events, organizations, callings, and meetings to make things simpler – for example, "firesides" are now generally called devotionals or meetings, the "quorum/council of the twelve" is now always referred to as a quorum, "homemaking meeting" transitioned to "additional Relief Society meetings" (with a lowercase "a"), etc.

I like this direction – using clear language helps new members and investigators feel welcome more easily, and keeps the activities of the Church more transparent. For the same reason, I personally avoid using acronyms and abbreviations where I can.

Anyway, where was this announced?

sbradshaw wrote:Anyway, where was this announced?

In MLS Messages. The announcement was apparently premature, as the rolling out of these simplifications hasn't been finalised. There is another fairly recent thread on this.

sbradshaw wrote:The Church in recent years has made several changes to simplify the names of events, organizations, callings, and meetings to make things simpler – for example, "firesides" are now generally called devotionals or meetings, the "quorum/council of the twelve" is now always referred to as a quorum, "homemaking meeting" transitioned to "additional Relief Society meetings" (with a lowercase "a"), etc.

This doesn't have much to do with the topic, but I remembered one other change that bothers me when people still use the old terminology: The Handbook is no longer referred to as the "Handbook of Instructions."

I know I'm rather late, but I would like to weigh in on this topic. I was called separately as Ward Music Chairman, and Ward Chorister. On the same day, in the same Sacrament meeting, I was sustained separately for each calling, and set apart separately for each afterwards.

As far as I was told in October of 2015, these are two separate callings, and can be held either by two different people, or by one person holding both callings. I am in the latter category.