I’m Betsy Sullivan, and I’m the Director of Music here at St. Richard’s Catholic Church. I began by serving as our choir director/accompanist for the 9:00am mass in 2002 and I have been the Director of Music for the entire parish since 2009.
 
What does a Director of Music Do? I have the honor of overseeing and enhancing the musical prayer of our community.  I work half-time (20 hours a week), including Masses, rehearsals and some office time. My duties include:
· Serving as pianist/organist for parish liturgies (weekends, holy days, school masses,)
· Recruitment, training, support, scheduling, directing and appreciation for volunteer cantors, choir members, and instrumentalists
· Selection all music for parish liturgies, after consulting with the Worship Commission, our pastor Fr. Mark, and our Director of Liturgy Cindy Nedved. Communication of music plans to all volunteers and accompanists, and evaluation of those plans
· Planning and directing weekly Tuesday evening rehearsals for our combined choirs
· Planning music, assigning solos, recruiting instrumentalists, and piano accompaniment for our monthly Taizé prayer
· Assignment of musicians for parish funerals
· Oversight of the maintenance of all musical equipment, including the piano and organ
· Attendance at staff meetings and gatherings, and support the music needs of other parish ministries
· Researching new music options
· Arrangement and adaptation of music for our particular situation
· Maintenance, organization and updating of music files
· Consultation in larger projects, such as our renovation a few years ago
 
A little about my background: I grew up in Richfield, where I attended Assumption grade school (one of the 'parent' schools of Blessed Trinity), and Holy Angels. I went on to receive a B.A. in Liturgical Music and Piano Performance from the College of St. Benedict, and an M.A. in Liturgical Music (with an emphasis on vocal/choral music) from St. John's University.

Prior to coming to St. Richard, I served as the Director of Music at Mary, Mother of the Church (Burnsville) for 13 years and before that, as the Liturgist and Music Director at Corpus Christi parish (Roseville) for 6 years. During my time at Corpus Christi, I married one of my volunteers, guitarist Mike Barrett. We now have two grown sons, Jack and Charlie, who are also musical and who sometimes get roped into playing their brass instruments for special masses at Saint Richard.

Besides serving as the part-time music director at our parish, I also teach singing to future priests at the Saint Paul Seminary, and sing professionally with the Minnesota Chorale.