Burping in mass

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The first thing that came into my mind when reading this topic was "Tourette’s syndrome’. And that is a legitimate medical condition.
 
SacredHeartBassist said:
I’m not trolling. I wish I were.
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I’m hesitant to offer advice, but if you know this lady well, you might be able to mention this in the context of asking her if she needs help or if she’s sought it. If she’s closer to the choir director you might be able to say, “I feel really bad for mentioning this, but we’ve all noticed that Ms. Smith has a rather personal problem, and I’m afraid to mention it to her, but maybe you can help.”

I do sort of think her husband - and I’m sorry for thinking this - is “dumping” her, in a way. And it could be that he has recommended medical assistance and she’s put him off. I’ve seen a lot of people who say “yeah, I finally came in because my wife/husband/brother/sister/best friend said X is a problem”.
 
SacredHeartBassist said:
I didn’t mention telling her. I said should I tell the priest or the husband
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I don’t think you have to tell her. I’m sure she’s well aware of it. It sounds like she might have a gastro problem. Maybe you could just let her know that you’ve noticed the problem and the two of you could brainstorm a solution together. It might be embarrassing initially, but in the end if you can come to a reasonable compromise on how to mitigate the distraction, it would be best for both of you.
 
I don’t doubt that what’s causing it is beyond her control.
 
Is she breathing the right for singing? Does she have a condition? Is she nervous? Have you tired doing breathing exercises with the whole choir it may help her.
 
stpurl said:
The first thing that came into my mind when reading this topic was "Tourette’s syndrome’. And that is a legitimate medical condition.
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Could be that too - a tic. Good point. It’s hard to continuously suck in the air to make yourself burp, though - but I’m sure it gets done.

But there are meds for that, and sometimes folks need them.
 
Okay, I mean, assuming this isn’t a troll.

So you think she’s purposely belching throughout Mass? Someone in the choir? Seems unlikely to me.

I mean, when we drill it down, it’s a bodily function. Like breathing or secreting tears or sweating. It sounds like she’s doing her best to attend church despite her condition.
 
Pup7 said:
After five years of voice lessons and lessons in college? Quite a bit.
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I just love you, Pup. You have knowledge about anything that gets brought up here. I can never wait to see your responses. You go, girl.
 
That’s not the point I’m making. I know she can’t control it. I feel sorry for her because she’s obviously embarrassed by it. She talks to her self and I can hear her praying that she doesn’t burp. The thing is, we’re miked and people are staring at us thinking we’re being irreverent. It’s preventing people from joining the choir and one member has threatened to leave
 
And that’s just it. Since if it’s Tourette’s it’s probably a motor issue (and yes, burping is listed as a tic of the vocal type), and possibly singing helps her control it.

If I were you, a simple talk with the priest about inserting a series of “When someone seems to act strangely, what do we as Christians do?” where the priest talks about things like autism, Tourette’s, and other conditions which people may not have had much knowledge of but which are being seen more and more nowadays, would be helpful.
 
QwertyGirl said:
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Pup7:
After five years of voice lessons and lessons in college? Quite a bit.
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I just love you, Pup. You have knowledge about anything that gets brought up here. I can never wait to see your responses. You go, girl.
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Oh, sometimes this is the bane of my very existence. LOL.

I am often that person in the room who has been there and done that. I have the attention span of a flea, have been a voracious reader my whole life, and was both blessed and cursed with a near photographic memory. All of this helps me and also gets me into hot water.

The only reason I pursued singing was it was relatively inexpensive for my family to find singing lessons wherever we lived, and it wasn’t like sports where you had to try out for stuff or wait for a new school year to start. (To this day I can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a baseball, and I doubt I could even sling the bat accurately enough to hit it either.) When I went to college, I had really inexpensive access to some of the top voice instructors in the business for a very small extra fee, so I did it there because I knew I wouldn’t have that kind of opportunity again.

LOL. I’m really not a know it all - I’ve just done a lot of stuff and been a lot of places. I never wanted a boring life. 🙂 And I like talking about stuff.

Sorry for the hijack, folks. Back to the thread. 🙂
 
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Have you talked to the priest about this? He might have some (name removed by moderator)ut on what to do.
 
There are, but they can be expensive, have unpleasant side effects, and not work all that well (one of my friend’s has a now 36 year old and he’s had a lot of difficulty through the years trying to keep things under control.)
 
stpurl said:
There are, but they can be expensive, have unpleasant side effects, and not work all that well (one of my friend’s has a now 36 year old and he’s had a lot of difficulty through the years trying to keep things under control.)
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Oh I know that for sure, and I agree. But there are times they are necessary.

And who knows? This could be something easily fixed with OTC Beano. I’m serious.
 
Everyone has pretty much covered it already, but I think that you should just pray since the music director is obviously aware of it because everyone already is, as you say. Meanwhile, you’re doing a good job by turning the mics down; I used to be an audio tech at a small market TV station and cutting mics was SOP unless the talent was speaking.
I had a friend in college who had the same problem and tried to play each one off. I always felt really bad for him and pretended that I didn’t know he was burping because I could tell how embarrassed he was. Granted, you’re in a different boat, but your diligence in cutting the mics sounds like caritas.
 
Does the choir take s break over the summer? That might be a good time to address it, and in an ideal world it would be better when she comes back in the fall.
 
It is obviously some type of medical condition, and I think you should be more charitable. You are talking about a parish choir, and not the Sistine Chapel Choir. That is my advice, and hope that you never have a medical condition that becomes embarrassing.
 
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