[HANASHIR:14699] Re: Pay scale -- thanks for answers.

[Batiya5723 <Batiya5723...>]

Many thanks to all the Hanashirites who responded to my request for 
information. 
Thus far I've received thirty-two responses, from nearly all major regions of 
the United States; and have pretty much wrapped up my research because it's 
rather bleak. 
In response to a request on the part of many of you that I share my findings, 
here's a summary:

Song leading or service-leading does not pay well unless you are quite famous 
and/or have cantorial investiture or other certifications (like a Master's 
degree in Jewish-anything-at-all).
I am neither famous nor cantorially invested and I do not make enough to call 
this a real job.
Neither, it seems, do many of my compatriots.

The average pay for a Tot Shabbat is right around 25 bucks.
The pay for music teaching at a synagogue religious school is wildly varied 
but averages out to around 35 bucks an hour for an average of a three-hour 
session. If you work in a preschool it's another 20 to 30 bucks per 30- to 
45-minute session. 
Average pay for a kids service on Rosh Hashanah also varies wildly, from 50 
bucks for an hour service to 250 bucks for a 90-minute service. Oddly enough, 
pay for HHD seems to depend partly on age of worshippers as well as length of 
service.
Average pay for a regular Youth Shabbat (older grades) is around 25 to 35 
bucks for a 90-minute service.
Leading services for religious school (whether teens or kids, evening or 
morning) varies from 25 to 50 bucks and depends largely on time and budget.
If you run a youth choir (I do not) that brings you another 25 to 40 bucks a 
session, but you are often limited as to the number of paid rehearsals you may 
hold and the number of performances your choir may give in a year. 
In at least three cases, songleaders and/or music teachers are trading their 
services for a tuition reduction, or total free ride, for their own kids' 
religious school education. All three of these respondents told me, in their 
own 
words, that they thought their employers were still getting the better end of 
the deal by far.
In several cases, songleaders are members of synagogue communities who 
absolutely refuse to pay members for their service to the community. How these 
communities manage to keep qualified musicians around amazes me.

The overwhleming majority of respondents do this work piecemeal, as a 
freelancer. They do not receive health benefits, or even a key to the building. 
(Of 
course, it goes without saying travel time between synagogues and prep time are 
never paid). In most cases, they receive little, if any, financial support 
for summer workshops or college courses that would help them learn more and 
improve their skills. 
They supplement this income by either tutoring Hebrew students (though the 
numbers where I live have really fallen off in this economy), or by having a 
spouse who makes quite a bit more money, or by juggling it between regular 
hours 
at a regular day job. 
I have to say that unviersity profs have an easier time of juggling their 
schedules than those of us who slave away in retail.

At Hava Nashira this year, I was astounded -- and deeply saddened -- by the 
number of musicians who referred to their "Jewish" work and their other, "real" 
work in the same breath.

Based on all of this information -- and I thank you for sharing it so 
honestly -- it's a wonder that any grownup finds a way to do this work. It is a 
miracle that anyone still considers Jewish music in any form -- teaching, 
service-leading OR performing -- to be a viable career path. And yet, it's the 
grownups 
who have had more time to hone their craft and to mature their teaching 
abilities.

I am definitely a grownup and I am getting married this summer. We want to 
have a child. I cannot make any sense out of raising that child as a member of 
one of the wealthiest minority populations in the country, yet having to do so 
in virtual poverty because I chose to pursue work in somehow serving that same 
community. 
I have a great deal to think about. 
My heartfelt thanks to all who've responded.
Shabbat Shalom .

Sincerely, Beth Hamon
www.beth-hamon.com