1996
All writings are by Greg Scheer unless otherwise noted.
I thought this letter that Amy and I wrote would make a good recap of the year.
The Scheers'
Christmas 1996
Year in Review
'cause ya gotta do these things or else you have to write a book in everyone's Christmas
card because you haven't talked to them all year and it'd be rude to not update them
if you're spending a whole stamp on them and besides, everybody does it.
TO GET THIS QUESTION OUT OF THE WAY...
"What are the Scheers doing now?"
We are sharing the position of Secretary at Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh,
where Greg is and has been Music Director. Amy works Monday through Wednesday doing
various things and the Church's bookkeeping; Greg works the remainder of the week on other various things and earning his title of "Layout Man Extraordinaire" with
his work on the bulletin and monthly newsletter. The congregation calls us "The
Sheep Scheers," (short for "The Pastor and the Sheep Scheers"), a name which won
the contest we held to pinpoint an easy way to address the both of us at once. We enjoy the people
and the atmosphere, and are amazed daily at how well our very opposite skills complement
each other.
AN OVERVIEW OF RANDOM HAPPENINGS
We had only one car death this year; and after a period of carlessness which began
with Amy's exclamations of "Life has slowed down! Isn't it wonderful?" and ended
with both of us saying something about that "@$#%!#%@$ bus," we bought another somewhat
young one (under 15 years). This month, there was much rejoicing in our household
when we found out that the blown head gasket on our current car would cost only $550
instead of the predicted $2,000.
We attended a Family Life Marriage Conference this Fall, where Greg was put in the "remedial manhood" class and learned to eliminate phrases like "Is this you or the PMS talking?" But seriously, it was a good opportunity to evaluate our first 3-1/2 years and plan for an even better future, for as Amy's grandfather says, "First hundred years are the hardest."
The Summer/Fall was ripe with conferences, as Amy attended the Chorus America Management Institute (under the auspices of the Bach Choir) in Philadelphia and the National Christians In Theatre Arts Conference in Chicago, and Greg gave a paper at the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers 2nd Annual Conference at Houghton College in upstate New York. Maybe next Summer we'll take a vacation...
...although we did spend 2 glorious days at "Yogi Bear's Jellystone Camp Resort," which was remarkably empty except for us and one hunter (so what if it was mid-November with snow on the ground? where WAS everyone?). We made fast friends with the ducks, conquered the video game room while listening to the Juke Box play "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer," and thought ourselves outdoorsy in our little cabin with heat, running water, electricity, a refrigerator, a stove, a shower,a couch, etc...
HE SAYS:
When asked to introduce myself at the first rehearsal of the Bach Choir this year
I responded, "My name is Greg Scheer and I'm a composer cleverly disguised as a church
choir director." To a certain extent this is true, since much of my mental effort
goes into composition and promotion. No matter how much I complain, I have to admit that
I see steady progress in both my music and the opportunities that come my way. As
Amy always reminds me, my most appreciative audience is at Bellefield, which uses
my music on a regular basis in worship.
The big news is that I turned 30. With the battle cry of: "I don't want to be a
fat old man," I have been riding my bike to work, trying to avoid "because it's there"
eating, and even doing a couple sit-ups.
My choir music publishing company, Greg Scheer Music (catchy, don't you think?)
has moved online in order to expand market while cutting costs. An upcoming review
in the Choral Journal
and a coalition of like-minded composer/publishers should help. Visit http://www.goshen.net/gsm,
print out a catalog, give it to your choir director, and then pester them until they
buy something.
A significant addition to the Bellefield Church Choir is the new alto, Amy, who
is single-handedly whipping director, Greg, into shape.
SHE SAYS:
In January, I left my position as manager of the Children's Festival Chorus, and
proceeded to earn money in ways that amount to little more than an increased level
of difficulty on our 1996 taxes. Selling greeting cards, cutting my grandmother's
hair ("Oh, I don't mind; it'll grow back"), and stage managing performance poetry highlights
the interesting.
Greg and I have always had our hands in many pots at once, but a new one for me,
beginning this month, is writing reviews of books for a newsletter printed by CITA
(Christians In Theatre Arts). I get to keep the books I review (A new form of "Will
Work For Food").
I started my third year with the Junior High kids at church, with whom I hold Sunday
School classes and monthly activities. Creating activities is a scary challenge,
but I had a few hits, including the "Backstage Bug Tour" and the "Day Trip to Beaver
Falls" (who couldn't
have fun there?!?!?). And finding the key to waking up their brains each Sunday is
also a challenge, as it seems the locks change weekly. But these challenges both
frighten and thrill me simultaneously, and I'm learning a lot about the kids, myself,
teaching, and the Bible in the process.
Some of the aforementioned kids have had the luck of being along for one of my regular
"Amy's Dog Pound" trips, part of my desperate attempt to have one for my very own
(I've been seen in dangerous sections of town, parked illegally and attempting to
lure a dirty stray with Fiddle Faddle). Other attempts to be near canines include attending
two Dog Shows this year with my friend Paula; we've threatened to wear pepperoni
perfume (or invent it) and see how many will follow us to the parking lot. Hopefully next
year's letter will announce a special arrival - because I'm not getting any younger,
you know...
TO WRAP IT ALL UP
1996 was a slow and steady year; sometimes it seemed we were taking three steps forward
and two back, yet managed to learn lots about each other and life in general. And
we like both, a lot. Hope you do too. Merry Christmas!
December 8, 1996:"Hail to the Lord's Anointed" December's Hymn of the Month
For an author who wrote over 400 hymns and is thought to rival Watts and Wesley in skill, James Montgomery (1771-1854) led a very colorful life. His parents became missionaries to the West Indies when he was six years old, leaving him to be educated by the Brethren of Fulneck. When he flunked out of this Moravian school at the age of fourteen he left for London. After a short stint as a clerk in a book shop he went to Sheffield to work at the Sheffield Register. When the editor of the paper had to flee England because of his political views, Montgomery stepped in as editor, and held that position for 31 years. Like his predecessor, Montgomery's social and political activities got him into trouble, though his time spent in jail was put to good use writing poetry and hymns.
After some years of "church-hopping" (on any given Sunday he could be found at the Baptist, Methodist, or even the banned Catholic church) he finally returned to the Brethren. In fact, "Hail to the Lord's Anointed" was first sung on Christmas day, 1821 back at the Fulneck Settlement. It gained notoriety when Dr. Adam Clarke heard Montgomery quote it at a missionary conference and liked it so much that he included it in his "Commentary on the Bible."
The hymn is a loose paraphrase of Psalm 72, a so-called "Messianic" psalm because it describes a king of such noble character that it can only point to the Messiah. The Psalm bears the heading "Of Solomon" which has been translated to mean written by, written about, or dedicated to Solomon. The King James translation which was used by Montgomery assumes not only that it was written about Solomon, but that his father David wrote it. This davidic lineage is the focus of the hymn, reminding us that though the reign of David would be surpassed by his son Solomon, a greater Son of David would one day eclipse them both.
Note: It is interesting to compare Montgomery's treatment of Psalm 72 to that of Isaac Watt's "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun."
November 26, 1996: To Clap or Not Clap... (This appeared in the "Belle," Bellefield Church's monthly newsletter.)
One of my jobs as the music director is to educate the congregation about worship. Because of that, I've been thinking a lot about the thorny issue of applause during worship.
Now, don't get me wrong; the congregation applauding the offertory is what I call a good problem, much the same way having too many men in the choir would be a good problem... The musicians are truly flattered that you appreciate their hard work, but it creates two problems. The main problem is that it changes the focus from God to man -- we'd never think to clap after a good prayer because it is being offered to God on our behalf; in the same way a choir anthem is a musical offering. A much more practical problem is that it puts performance stress on the choir and me. I find myself choosing anthems for the effect they'll have on the congregation rather than the way they'll add to worship, and the choir feels like they haven't done a good job if there wasn't applause.
All this is not to stifle your freedom in worship or appreciation of the choir! Instead I would suggest a number of ways that these good inclinations can be redirected. For instance, you may want to respond to the offertory music with a resounding "Alleluia!" to add your voice to an offering of praise, an "amen" when a song speaks to your heart, or even respond by being silent for a time to let the Spirit continue speaking. And when the service is done, find a choir member or another musician who has added to your worship and tell them how much you appreciate them!
November 17, 1996: November's Hymn of the Month "Praise the Lord: Ye Heavens, Adore Him"
London's Foundling Hospital was an orphanage that became famous for singing. It was founded in 1739 by a merchant named Thomas Coram who was also involved in promoting the Wesley's evangelistic efforts in Georgia. By the early 1800s it was quite in vogue for Londoners to visit Sunday services at the orphanage where the children were led in singing by trained musicians and could be observed at dinner in their quaint costumes. Handel was so fond of the institution that he donated a chapel organ and gave a number of benefit performances of "Messiah" to raise funds for it. The Foundling Hospital is remembered today chiefly through a hymnbook called "Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems of the Foundling Hospital, London," which was published by Coram in 1796.
Pasted into the jacket of that hymnbook were the words to "Praise the Lord: Ye Heavens, Adore Him." Though there is much conjecture about the authorship of the text, each theory has been refuted and it remains anonymous. However, the various tunes that are commonly associated with the text are more easily studied. For instance, the first tune that was used with the text was Franz Joseph Haydn's "Austrian Hymn." The tune gained its notoriety as "Deutschland, Deutschland, Ueber Alles," but began its life as "Gott erhalte Franz, den Kaiser" ("God Save Franz the Emperor") and it was first performed on Franz's birthday in 1797. Since the tune "Austrian Hymn" has come to be associated with Hitler, the text to "Praise the Lord: Ye Heavens, Adore Him" is usually coupled with the hymn tune "Hyfrodol" in modern hymnbooks, though ours [Hymnbook 1940, Presbyterian] uses the little known "Faben."
The first verse of the hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 148 which shows all of creation praising the Lord, from the angels and heavenly hosts above to the creatures of the sea and land below. Implicit in this praise is the fact that God has created all of these beings and provides for their needs. His most loving provision is the redemption He's offered to us from sin and death, which is the subject of the second verse. The third verse, which was added in 1836 by Edward Osler in his journal "Church and King" and first appeared in Hall's "Mitre Hymn Book" is a doxology of praise for both the creation of the first verse and the redemption of the second. It is truly a fitting response to God's goodness:
Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee:
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
October 13, 1996: October's Hymn of the Month: "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say"
Despite his intimidating name and physical appearance, Horatius Bonar (1808-89) was a great lover of children and was concerned about how little the children understood of the metrical Psalms that were sung in the Scottish church of his day. "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" was one of the over 600 hymns he wrote to address the needs of the churches he served. Interestingly, John B. Dykes (composer of "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee") uses the somber key of G minor to present Jesus' invitation to our weary, thirsty and dark souls in the first half of each verse; in the second half of each verse when the invitation has been accepted and the soul satisfied, Dykes uses the happier key of G major. Take some time this month to read Jesus' invitations to you as recorded in the Gospels and reflect on your response to Him.
Matthew 11:28; John 4:10, 13-14; John 8:12
September 30, 1996: The Fine Line Between Art and Worship
This is the title page of a talk I gave to the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers at our 1996 Fall Conference. Eventually I'll post the text of the talk here.
September 24, 1996: Choir Corner (This appeared in the "Belle," Bellefield Church's monthly newsletter.)
"Your job is not to make perfect music, but to worship God."
Those words snapped me out of my annual Fall choir worries. Harry Plantinga had emailed me asking how the choir looked this Fall, and in typical fashion I rattled off a list of woes -- would there be enough men? had I chosen pieces that would work for the group? would I be confronted with a roomful of empty chairs and melting ice cream at our first rehearsal? His answer, as usual, was simple and succinct: the question was not one of artistic achievement, but of worship.
Does this mean the choir shouldn't practice?
By no means! The Bible stresses again and again that we are to offer our first-fruits to God, not our leftovers. To one local musician that meant perfecting a set of piano pieces that he vowed never to perform in public, but only for God. This "audience of One" idea is the key to true worship. The motivation for our rehearsals is often "will the congregation like it" or "will it make a visitor want to come back." While these are pleasant by-products of hard work, they shouldn't be the primary goals. Our real goal is to worship God.
Of course, this puts more responsibility on the congregation, as well. Instead of the Choir, Praise Team and Joyful Noise Orchestra being the performers and those in the pews being the audience, the congregation and music leaders need to join together to perform for our "audience of One" -- God!
September 15, 1996: "Come Christians, Join to Sing"
The Hymn of the Month for September is "Come, Christians, Join to Sing." Though it is a fairly well-known hymn there is surprisingly little written about it. Our hymnbook lists the tune (Madrid) as being from an unknown source, but it seems that it actually comes from an English industrialist-turned-choirmaster named W. Matthews. Matthews' choral anthems were very popular in his time, but he is now remembered only for his hymn tunes Madrid and Tranquility.
September 10, 1996: Saving Yourself
At the end of Job, after all the misery that has been heaped on Job's head and all the advice his friends give him, God Himself comes down to speak to Job. You'd think that He'd say "Good job, Job, you've passed the test I gave you -- you're a swell guy." Instead He says, (38:3) "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me." What follows is a relentless exposition of God's power as seen in creation, with the goal of showing Job that he has no right to question what God has done.
The verse that struck me most was 40:14 where God says, (If you can display power like mine) "Then I myself will admit to you that you own right hand can save you."
It struck me that we humans see ourselves as the center of the universe, and we scoff at the idea of a God who created and controls the world; yet in the end we can't save ourselves. If we could battle death itself, and avoid disease, war, and natural disaster, we might have a reason to believe that we were capable of saving ourselves. But the fact of the matter is that we are going to die in the end, no matter what we believe.
I guess what I'm trying to say is "if we didn't make the rules, and we can't change the rules, all we can do is play by the rules of the One who did.
August 7, 1996: You Can't Take It With You
I think it was Steve Martin that said, "They say you can't take it with you -- so
I ate it." I thought of this as I was reading Ecclesiastes where Solomon talks about
the futility of amassing wealth you'll never enjoy. Wouldn't it be funny if people
took Solomon's (and Steve Martin's) advice to heart and decided to eat, drink, and be merry before they die? If we, as a society, recognized the consumption of wealth as a higher goal than the collection of wealth Money magazine would have pictures of 500 pound people on its cover entitled "The World's Richest Man!," Business Week would consider Bill Gates a "light-weight," and the size of your coffin would determine how much respect you got at your funeral!
I was also thinking about what would happen if leaving an inheritance was not allowed by law. Granted, the government takes a large chunk of it now, but what if the law stated that you had to donate all of your wealth to your favorite charity or else they would take it away? Of course, people with enough money to worry about it would create charities which their children would run for huge salaries; and if they weren't able to do that they would probably burn their wealth out of spite. But it would certainly change society -- the first difference would be that everybody would start at zero. The rich would still have access to better schools and would move in a selective section of society, but if they didn't take advantage of it they would fall to the lower class within one generation. I think it would also change the way people approached their work. Realistically, it would be difficult to spend more than a couple million dollars in a lifetime, (I'd be glad to test this theory if you want to make a donation...) so you'd see more people reaching a financial goal and then retiring to enjoy it. In fact, the age of retirement would become a more important sign of wealth than your net worth.
Of course, Solomon was right -- things never change and people will always chase after wealth that they can't use without realizing that it's as futile as trying to capture the wind. But if we keep in mind that we are made of dust and will return to dust without a penny to accompany us into the next life, we might start living differently. We might start investing our energies into things that will last when we're dead -- the love that we put into our relationships, the time we spend nurturing our children, and the contributions that we make through our life's work. After all, that's the most important inheritance we can leave behind.
July 20, 1996: Inclusive Language
(The following post was part of a discussion about inclusive language that took place on a GSMailist, a discussion group for church music diretors)
God is God, and what we believe has no bearing at all on the Truth of who God is. Choosing pronouns for God in order to not offend people or because you think it sounds goofy to change an old hymn is putting the cart before the horse. We have to figure out who God is first and then create an appropriate language.
The difficulty is that God is Spirit, and we can't see spirits, nor do spirits have sex. (BTW, gender refers to parts of speech, and sex refers to male/female.) Luckily, God has chosen to transcend the Spirit world and visit us here on earth in a variety of manifestations. The most incredible earthly manifestation of God on earth was Jesus, but God also is revealed to us in the Bible. Now, I realize that the Bible is made up of writings that have been filtered through imperfect cultures, but that doesn't change the fact that God chose this medium to speak to us.
The Bible has a number of names for God, the most telling of which is "I AM." This is the closest we can get to identifying God within the confines of our language. A being that can only be expressed by a verb -- a definition by which all other beings are defined -- that's the true God. Other names for God give us human imagery that helps us grasp the concept on our own terms: Comforter, Judge, Abba Father and Mother Hen.
My point is that God has chosen to use the imperfect vehicle of language and within those confines has chosen to use the masculine when referring to Himself. You could write this off as semantics, but Jesus also used "Our Father" in prayer and told us to do likewise. We refer to God as "Creator" or "Mother" because we are not comfortable with a God who has chosen to reveal Himself to and through sexist societies. But are we so pompous to think that we understand the true nature of God better than the prophets and apostles who wrote the Bible?
Having said that, I do feel that our corporate worship language should seek to include people rather than exclude. If our society says that "man" is exclusionary than we should accomodate them and say "humankind" no matter how awkward it is to rhyme. I also think that there is plenty of feminine imagery in the Bible that we haven't fully explored because men have dominated both culture and worship in the past. The healthy way of becoming inclusive is to earnestly seek a complete picture of God -- both feminine, masculine and pure Spirit.
July 6, 1996: Royalties
It occured to me that rap and praise music have a lot in common. They are both musics
that start at a grass roots level and only become commercialized as they move up
the food chain, whereas most pop music comes from the top down. The problem is that
the creators of rap music and the users of praise music aren't thinking about the legalities of the music until a much later point. For instance, rap artists sample a groove they like from some soul record and then put a rap over it. By the time they are ready to record an album they have to clear every sample for copyright and royalties. Praise music is similar in that the songs are used in worship services or youth group meetings without thought of copyright infringement. In both instances, the parties are technically breaking the law.
While some people like funk legend George Clinton have made it clear that he wants his music to be sampled as long as he gets his fair share in the end, there are hundreds of legal nightmares that have resulted from ignorance of the law.
As more sophisticated means of tracking performances and publication appear everyday, I think it's time to shift to an after-the-fact royalty license. This is a very similar idea to what BMI, ASCAP and CCLI are already doing, but I would like to see even broader permission granted for use of copyrighted material. That is, a church or rap group shouldn't have to live in fear that they will be sued because they didn't hire a lawyer to interpret the law for them, instead they should assume that anything is fair game as long as they report it to the appropriate licensing agency after-the-fact.
It may seem like this would take power out the hands of the copyright owner, but it's actually taking power from the lawyers and giving it to the creators. For instance, if I write a praise song and make it available on the Net (as I've done at http://www.goshen.net/gsm/freestuff/index.html) I can only benefit from people distributing it as long as they report it to CCLI when they use it in their church services.
I know there's a hundred "what-ifs" involved in any discussion of copyright and royalties, but as I see it a broader freedom to use copyrighted materials will result in a more active art culture that places emphasis on creation rather than litigation.
June 21, 1996: Hymn of the Month: "Peace, Perfect Peace"
I first heard this text set to a tune by Wiley Beveridge of the Fisher Folk, and didn't know it was a traditional hymn until I stumbled upon it in our hymnbook. Although the tune "Pax Tecum" (Peace Be With You) won't go down in history as the finest melody ever written, its use of only two notes in the first phrase does convey a sense of stability and tranquility that reflects the words.
The words were written by the editor of "The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer," Bishop Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906). Bickersteth was vacationing in Harrogate, England where he heard a sermon on Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." The preacher discussed the fact that Hebrew text used the word peace twice to indicate absolute perfection.
This idea was still on Bishop Bickersteth's mind when he went to visit a dying relative that afternoon. To soothe the man's emotional turmoil Bickerstehth opened his Bible to read about peace from Isaiah 26:3. He then jotted down the hymn "Peace, Perfect Peace" just as they appear in our hymnal today and read them to the man -- perhaps the last thing he heard before Jesus called him "to heaven's perfect peace."
May 10, 1996: The Modern Life
It seems that I never get away from this computer. It's weird how I never really used a computer until half-way through my undergraduate degree and then in my master's work only when I had to write a paper or resume. Now I use it for everything -- partly because I've gained some skills that are marketable (the newsletter I write and these web pages) and partly because you can never go back once you've started.
I've been thinking a lot about this because our car died last week. We're borrowing one from a friend for a few days, but last week we were riding the bus every day. Amy was trying to convince me that we should wait to buy a new car until Fall because taking the bus is good for us. (She connotated that it was getting back to nature, but I can't figure out exactly how...)
Anyway, I've been thinking how difficult it is to get back to nature once you've made forays into the modern world. I'm not even talking about basic stuff like plumbing; I'm talking the computer and the modem and the car. Theoretically I could give up any one of those things, but when I think through the significance changes it would bring about, I shudder. It's one thing to take a bus or ride your bike into work, but it's quite another to carry your groceries for a mile every week. Or take a bus to another bus or a plane that will take you on a trip. Whew! I'm nervous just thinking about it.
May 9, 1996: O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee (This appeared in Bellefield's bulletin.)
Rev. Washington Gladden (1838-1918) took a lot of criticism in his day.
As a proponent of the post-Civil War "social gospel," he tried to address the needs of a society ravaged by the industrial revolution and fight for change in a government, justice system and church that were in severe moral decay. [The political cartoon on the left shows a blind-folded "justice" trying to find Boss Tweed. Tweed was prosecuted and sent to jail in part due to Gladden's editorials.] This led him to give Sunday night lectures on labor-management problems, negotiate with strikers, condemn his own Congregational denomination for accepting "tainted money" from Rockefeller, and even lose the chance at two university positions because of his radical beliefs. But from his early days in Potts Grove, Pennsylvania to his 32 year service at the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio he remained faithful to his calling and by the end of his life was a much respected preacher.
His hymn "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee" started its life as a meditation that appeared in a publication called "Sunday Afternoon" which Gladden edited. Two stanzas of the original poem were left out when it became a hymn. Although those stanzas are not suitable for public woship, they give a good idea of what Gladden was going through when he wrote the poem.
O Master let me walk with thee
Before the taunting Pharisee;
Help me to bear the sting of spite,
The hate of men who hide thy light,
The sore distrust of souls sincere
Who cannot read thy judgments clear,
The dullness of the multitude
Who dimly guess that thou art good.
May 7, 1996: The Tower of Babel
We all know the story of the Tower of Babel and we usually think of it in terms of language; but lately I've been thinking about the tower.
Man has always been reaching for the eternal. In this story they built a tower they hoped would reach heaven, and today man is still building edifices to reach God. The problem with the Tower of Babel was not that it was too short, but that the builders were unaware that the physical "heavens" were not the same as the spiritual heaven. In the same way, we try to construct our own way to God without fully understanding who He is. We lay a foundation, then one block at a time we build a tower based on our own feelings, upbringing and society. But in the end our efforts are in vain because we build without understanding our destination.
The Tower of Babel teaches us that God must condescend to us rather than us trying to elevate ourselves to Him. We're not comfortable with this because we want to control the circumstances of our salvation, but it's obvious that any Sovereign Diety that could save us would be wholly other rather than a bigger, stronger version of ourselves.
In the end we have to forsake our futile attempts to build a Tower of Babel and accept the Bridge of Faith He has offered us.
April 15, 1996: Taxes
It seems appropriate to discuss taxes on a day when people across the country are scrambling to get there tax forms in the mail. Now, I'm not going to try to convince you that I've got all the answers, and I'm definately not going to be running for office, but there's some nagging questions that run through my mind every year when I sit down to do my taxes:
April 12, 1996: Letter to Choralist
I've been reading the discussion of photocopying, editorial standards and the state of choral publishing with enthusiasm, and I was especially happy that one of you mentioned my publishing company, Greg Scheer Music, as a possible solution.
As many people have said in defense of publishers, we are part of a free market and the choral publishers will sell anything that increases the bottom line. However, the free market cuts both ways -- if publishers can't deliver music to the consumer in a timely fashion, if prices are too high, or if the quality and selection are too low the consumer will either take his or her business elsewhere or choose not to buy music at all. (This could take the form of illegal photocopying, repeating pieces already in their choir's library or writing/arranging their own music.)
I believe that choir publishers are driving themselves to extinction by not adapting as society and the choral market have changed. Photocopiers, new ways of distributing information, desktop publishing, and even the decline of musical literacy and interest in art music have changed the basic way a choral publisher can do business. Yet they continue to print, distribute and market music as they always have -- as if we should adapt to them!
Some companies are trying out new ways of doing business. St. James' Sewanee Composers' Project, Laurendale Associates, and Greg Scheer Music are all using the photocopier to their advantage rather than viewing