Evangelicals Now
<< November 2009 >>

The Music Exchange

The music rota?

Rotas. Like them? Loathe them? I’m not a fan, but there are obviously some good reasons for having them.

Rotas are good because they look tidy. I love the satisfaction of seeing neat little boxes filled with dates and names, all left-justified, and each in bold showing that the person has confirmed.

Rotas are good because they make you feel as if you’re in control. Once those boxes are filled you feel as if everything is well in the world and all your worries melt away — you can crack open that bottle of elderflower Shloer that’s been gathering dust in the cupboard as you’ve waited for the last confirmation to be received.

They’re also a way of showing publicly that everyone’s doing their fair share. None of that, ‘I seem to be playing every week’, or more commonly, ‘I never seem to get to sing’.

I use rotas — every summer, when Christian camps happen and everyone goes on holiday, I open up my ‘summer minstrels’ file and start to fill the empty July and August boxes. I only do a rota for July and August because I have to. That’s because everyone’s timetables are up in the air, and I’m not around all the time, so it’s good to know that at least one or two of the people who said they can play will turn up. However, it’s the experience of doing this that reminds me why I don’t do rotas the rest of the year:

Impersonal

Rotas are impersonal. ‘Tick the box and turn up. If you can’t make it, swap with someone else on the list. Thanks and toodle-oo, it’s Shloer o’clock.’ I’ve always found that ringing up musicians to ask them to play is one of the things I dread most in my week. Partly it’s the fear of rejection — as if I think they’re serving me, not Jesus! The biggest reason though is that, being a shy kind of chap, I need to keep working hard at verbal communication. In short, as BT used to say ad nauseam, it’s good to talk.

Ringing people up and asking them to play gets me out of my comfort zone of neat boxes and ticks and gives me a great opportunity to practice the age-old skill of conversation. I need a lot of practice. Even leaving a message on an answer-phone seems to cheer people up as well as just asking them to play, though that’s because I burble on about nothing instead of getting straight to the point. (Some musicians have actually saved the messages I’ve sent so that they can play them to their friends for a laugh.)

Providing excuses

Rotas give a great excuse to miss church. If you’re not rota’d to play or sing, then it’s very tempting to take a ‘day off’. I ring musicians up on either the Thursday or the Friday before the Sunday meeting. This is because I like to instil in them the expectation that they will be coming to church anyway. I’m quite happy if someone squirms on the phone when they have to tell me that for the third week in a row they’re going to be away. I don’t want to induce guilt, but even if there are good reasons for being away for so long, I want them to know how important it is to be committed week-in, week-out to their church family. They are needed whether they are playing, singing or just sitting in the congregation. I also know that the most faithful musicians are those who come to church because they love Jesus and want to serve him, and not because they love music and want to serve themselves.

Benefits, but....

I’ll try and tie things up. Rotas have their benefits, but I’d suggest only in a few circumstances. Mums especially appreciate knowing a few weeks in advance when they may be expected to play or sing. At least it gives them half a chance to find someone to look after their children during rehearsals, etc. Also, it’s a good idea if you use bands to pair drummers up with bassists regularly so that they learn to work together as a mainstay rhythm section. However, I’d avoid rota-ing whole bands for different weeks as this can lead to unhealthy competition and pride. I spoke to a friend only last week who is on a band rota. He said that many people choose which service to come to depending on which band is playing!

Rotas are OK then, but it’s worth remembering that they guarantee absolutely nothing. Nearly every week on my holidays I was rung up with an apology on the Friday or Saturday before each Sunday meeting. It seems that even if you’re committed to producing a rota, you still have to ring everyone up the week before to make sure everyone’s remembered what they signed up to months before! I’ve never found rotas to be time or labour saving. Put the Shloer back in the cupboard (the best place for it anyway!) and keep talking.

Richard Simpkin