To do is to be: [inaccurately ascribed to Lao-tse, Socrates, Camus, Bertrand Russell, Plato or Kant]
To be is to do: [Dale Carnegie, Sartre, John Stuart Mill, Aristotle, Hegel]
Do be do be do: Sinatra

Last week, we looked at that the music director has to do. Now let’s look at what the director has to be:

• be a pastor to the music ministry;
• be a person of prayer and faith;
• be a visionary, a dreamer;
• be a practitioner of art and prayer—and understand how to merge the two;
• be a teacher;
• be organized and self-disciplined;
• be realistic about expectations;
• be a diplomat;
• be a healer.

Again, why are these important?  Think of the opposite! A poor pastor doesn’t include prayer time in rehearsals because “they get lots of praying at Mass.”  Someone who views the church job as just another gig can’t nurture the faith life of music ministers. (This doesn’t mean you have to be Catholic; it does mean that you have to understand and appreciate the church’s documents and teachings.) A poor teacher leaves people to fend for themselves, instead of taking the time to explain concepts patiently and reinforce them in rehearsal, week by week. Someone whose office is a mess and is often late or poorly prepared for staff meetings and rehearsals, is wasting other people’s time and effort as well as his or her own.

Why is being a visionary important? Because looking ahead a year, two years, even five years in advance, makes it possible to grow a viable program while adapting to changes. Is the pastor being reassigned next year? Is the parish likely to be clustered with another one—or two, or three? What’s coming down the pike? Such possibilities require a minister who is alert to what the future may hold for the community, and can come up with effective coping strategies.

In any human situation, conflict is a given. Juggling personalities, keeping brushfires from becoming all-out war, healing wounded spirits—they’re the unspoken part of the job description.

Next week: Do Be Do Be Do—Ol’ Blue Eyes.