Cantor
Director of church music.
What it means
Kantor designates the director of church music at a congregation or church. The field of tasks is broad: leading choirs, playing the organ in worship, accompanying congregational singing, studying and performing larger works, often teaching and administration in addition. Historically the Kantor was at the same time a teacher at the associated school and responsible for the musical training of the pupils who made up the choir. In the liturgy, Kantor also means the cantor who intones chants and delivers verses to which the congregation responds.
Musical use
The connection of direction, composition, and teaching shaped the production of music for centuries: a large part of the transmitted church music arose for the concrete need of a Kantorat, with the available forces and for particular Sundays of the church year. Much about the scoring and extent of such works is explained by this. As liturgical cantor, the Kantor has a different, older function: he gives pitch and tempo and carries the verses while the congregation answers with an unchanging call — the responsorial practice.
The Kantor directed church music at Protestant churches and often taught at the Latin school. Bach was Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Telemann Kantor in Hamburg. Today Kantor is the official title for full-time church musicians.
Performance practice
Plan the music of a service from the liturgical course and coordinate it with the leader of the service. When intoning, give a clear, well-audible note and an unambiguous tempo; the congregation follows what it hears first. Choose keys that lie comfortably for untrained voices. Hold choir rehearsals so that less practised singers keep up as well, and plan repertoire that sounds with the forces actually available instead of the desired ones. Keep an overview of what has been sung, to distribute repetitions sensibly over the church year.
Bear in mind that work in church service demands long-term planning: choir programmes, organ literature, and congregational hymns are distributed over the church year, and studying needs lead time. Keep an annual overview. Coordinate the music with the leader of the service and record agreements in writing.