How to become a choir director?

Regent in Latin means "ruling". This is the name of the leaders (conductors) of church choirs in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Currently, the demand for musicians capable of organizing or leading an already established church choir (choir) is very high. This is explained by the constant increase in the number of active churches, parishes and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. This article contains complete information on how to become a regent.

Church obedience

You can get into the church choir only with the blessing of the parish priest, or who heads the diocese (metropolis) of the lord.

Wages are paid to the regent, permanent chorister and the installer. Beginning choir players do not receive payment. Since the regent is responsible for the choir, it is he who decides all organizational issues.

Regent's duties:

preparation for worship,
Choice of repertoire
conducting rehearsals (1-3 times a week),
compiling music archive,
determination of the number and composition of the choir on weekdays and Sundays,
batch allocation
conducting during worship
preparation for concert performances, etc.

If possible, a registant is appointed to assist the regent. He is directly responsible for preparing the choir for the daily church services, in the absence of the regent, he leads the choir.

How to become a regent?

Nowadays there are always professional musicians in the staff of any major church choir:

graduates of the choir or conductor department of the university,
students and teachers of a music college or music school,
soloists, musicians, actors of the philharmonic, theaters, etc.

However, due to the specifics of singing at the choir, a secular musician cannot lead a church choir. For this, we need appropriate training and experience of staying on the kliros for at least 2-5 years.

The specialty "Regent of the church choir" can be obtained while studying in the regent (singing) schools (departments, courses). Below is a list of the most famous educational institutions where future regents are trained.

Requirements for admission

Having a musical education, the ability to read notes and sing from the sheet is not a necessary, but highly desirable condition for enrollment. In some educational institutions this is a mandatory criterion (see table). In any case, you need to prepare for the audition, which will determine the musical ability of the candidate.
The recommendation of the priest is required. Sometimes you can get a blessing from a priest on the spot.
Practically in all religious educational institutions upon admission it is necessary to have an interview, during which the knowledge of the main Orthodox prayers, the Holy Scripture (Old and New Testament) is confirmed.
The ability to read in Church Slavonic, in which the overwhelming majority of liturgical books are compiled.
Priority for admission have singers, psalm players, installers with Klirosnyk obedience from 1 year.
The certificate (diploma) about education (not below full secondary).
The ability to competently write a presentation.
Upon admission to some educational institutions, the applicant must pass an examination in conducting.

Training

The study time of the psalm-readers (readers) and choristers is usually 1 year or more. Training regents takes at least 2 years.

During study, future regents receive simultaneously musical and spiritual education. For 2-4 years it is necessary to master the knowledge of church canons, liturgics, church life, liturgical regulations, church Slavonic language.

The program of regency training includes both general music subjects and church disciplines (singing and general):