of conductors and musicians and the rest of the singing body....

Let's start with the musicians...
Most of the musicians who come into the ministry come in ready made, and then they continue to be work in progress. In other words, they play with a certain style. They have a certain level of competancy. If they are not ready, then we tell them that they are not ready. God has blessed SCC with quite a number of people that can read music. So these serve as section leaders. The more confident ones serve as musicians. Then we also have to work with personalities: Ad likes to be super prepared. Ask her to do melodic fill-ins on the spot, she can't. Ask her to work out instrumentation on the spot, she can't. Ask her to hip up a piece, she can't. So, we have to work by having her pick what she feels that she can manage, then we hear how she works it up, and then we sing along to that style of playing.
Now J is a jack of all trades but master of none. I cringe when I hear his wrong notes, his wrong chords, his wrong pedals. Actually, I don't know if he hears it himself. But hey, J is super confident. I hate it when J thinks he knows how to play a piece better when he doesn't. eg. yesterdays' 'On the day that I called'. My response is always blunt and to the point: you want to sit down and do it?
Es, newly baptised into the group and appointed to play responsorial psalm. Thing is she gets off work at 5pm. You don't need to know maths to know that choir practise starts at 4.30pm.....and.....
Anyways, she says that she cannot sing because she has been singing the whole day during teaching. (then why join a choir?). Then she is allocated to play resp. ps. and yesterday she did not show. Ok. Granted that she informed M. But M is not a musician. Tell M for what?
Anyway, to cut a long story short, Es needs to re-examine her attitude and understanding of MINISTRY.

*****
Conductors
Here we have 2: M & A
I hear M is going to Australia to study, so she might be leaving us soon. hmmmm.....

A: It is obvious to choir that A brings a great love of God, of music into the community. And his greatest archilles heel, and he knows it himself is his lack of musical knowledge.
1. Let's give A music lessons. Good idea.
2. His timing is wrong eg. in the Our Father hymn yesterday.
Obviously, there were easier pieces that falls into his ability to conduct. He knows the piece, he can conduct. He doesn't know the piece......hey! He cannot conduct! So we need a person who knows the music to conduct. Last time it was CC. But CC is not here now. Next best option would be M.

Let's prepare him in advance.
Let's ask him what he knows and what he does not know.

2 hitches:
Let's wait and see at practise Can he do it or Can't he?
It is actually quite obvious.

Now, what if he can't?

*****
With the musicians: there is D the dictator. Of course, she gives the general overide, cause she can play everything......and she believes her version is the BEST!!!! hmmm. D the dictator has a super ego. But among the musicians for eg. J has the humility to know that he cannot tackle any music with lots of sharps and flats......so he is always grateful that D takes over. Or Ad cannot handle some impromptu requests, and so again D takes over. Sometimes D takes over everything and ends up bao gao liao. Which D does not want. Cos D also likes to shake legs sometimes.
OK, so moral of the story: THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB DOES THE JOB.

****
Back to conductors:
1st option: the main conductor does it.
Back up plan: when it is not working. eg. choir loosing it. music loosing it. timing loosing it.
We need humility to decide that, OK this is a scenerio of THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB DOES THE JOB.
In this case, the fall back guy would be somebody who reads and has a good grasp of music.

But remember I said, everybody is WORK IN PROGRESS?

Hey D is a pianist. She made time and effort to learn the electone and pipe organ. Paid money and take exams even.
J is undergoing Pipe Organ lessons under Fr. C who taught D.
M wants to learn to play the electone.
So.......one suggestion is for A to take up music lessons. And in the meantime, remember it takes humility to admit: THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB DOES THE JOB.

And to cut the long story short: remember we are all 'working' for the same boss up there.
Not that God is shaking legs and enjoying the glorious singing of SCC.
I think he is looking......at the love and relationships of the SCC choir members.
It is the process not the product.
Get the process right and you will get to the product.