Allow me to share a story a trio of three sisters who made a band called “Haim”. These Los Angeles sisters have been producing music since the early 2010’s, and their indie-pop-rock music continues to grow in popularity and lyrical wisdom in the experiences they face as musicians. For example, their most recent album, released this summer, is titled “Women in Music, part III”. The title originates from a phrase they hear in almost every interview: “So what it’s like to be a woman in music?”
The album shares plenty of their signature style, but alludes several times to the bias they’ve experienced as a female musical trio in their Los Angeles life.
Now, why do I mention a group that clearly has nothing to do with liturgy and pastoral music? Haim is one of my favorite bands. I’ve been thinking about the question, “what’s it like to be a woman in music?” as it applies to pastoral musicians today. I’ve been a pastoral musician since I was, essentially, 10 years old, and I’ve had plenty of times when people approached me and alluded to the same concept. “What’s it like to be a woman in music?” “What’s it like to be a woman working for the Church?” “What’s it like to be a wife and full-time pastoral musician?” The questions challenge me, both in good and bad ways. But it opens the door for conversation, and in fact, my two conversations today.
Today I have the privilege to speak to two pastoral musicians who also compose music for the Church. They both share stories of the Spirit guiding their compositions and their time in ministry, especially through the lens of motherhood and women working for the Church. But the message ahead is clear: we, as women, use our unique experiences to support the Church and allow the guide the Spirit to flow through us. But I hope that we can honor the uniqueness we offer without putting our service in a category of “female musician”. Or “women in music.”
First I speak to Nancy Douglass, a pastoral musician working in the Camden Diocese, more specifically, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Nancy has been a working pastoral musician for over 25 years, along with supporting her local NPM chapter as a board member and more. Nancy shares the circuitous route where God and His music found her.
Next on the podcast I speak to Janèt Sullivan Whitaker. Janèt is a composer based in the Diocese of Oakland, California and has served in active ministry throughout the East Bay Diocese of Oakland since childhood. Janèt, who is published by OCP and GIA/WLP, shares the power that the Spirit has created within her, as a composer and minister for her whole life.
SHOW NOTES
For more on the topic today, listen to Ministry Monday episode #009 - Representing the Feminine Voice (featuring Sarah Hart, Kate Williams and Dolly Sokol) (released April 15, 2018) .
BIO- Nancy Douglass
Nancy Douglass has been a liturgical musician for more than 25 years in the capacity of cantor, choir member, psalmist, pianist, liturgist, and composer. She is currently a parishioner at Christ Our Light Parish in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Nancy is a board member for her local NPM chapter in the Diocese of Camden, and a presenter for diocesan liturgical ministry training sessions. You can find her music at musicbynancydouglass.com.
BIO- Janèt Sullivan Whitaker
Janèt Sullivan Whitaker, a native of Berkeley, California has continuously served in active ministry throughout the East Bay Diocese of Oakland since childhood. She is a talented cantor, keyboardist, percussionist, composer and clinician. She has presented workshops on cantor dynamics, lector formation, parish repertoire, song of the assembly and keyboard improvisation. Her music is published by OCP Publications in Portland OR, and GIA/World Library Publications in Chicago, IL. Her best-known OCP songs include Here at This Table, In Every Age, Day of Peace and As Christ is For Us. For 15 years she served as musician and catechist for the One Bread, One Cup Summer Youth Liturgical Leadership Conferences at the Saint Meinrad Benedictine Archabbey and School of Theology in Southern Indiana. In more recent years, she has been a featured speaker for days of renewal for women, catechists, and liturgical ministers. As a recording artist, she has composed, recorded and produced a number of CDs. Her most recent recording are Plenty: Songs of Hope For Our Time, which was released in December 2017, and Yulesong, music for Christmas, released in 2018.
In January, 2020, Janèt retired from her position as Director of Music Ministry for St Joan of Arc Parish in San Ramon, California. She has also served as Director of Music for All Saints Parish in Hayward, and Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont. Janèt holds a BA in Music from CSU East Bay, and an M.T.S in Liturgical Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. She was a 35-year veteran of active music ministry in the Diocese of Oakland, California.
Janèt resides in Hayward with Brian Whitaker, her husband of 36 years.
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