Choir, one-time singers

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CMKrauss

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I’m the music director of a very small choir in a resort community. We get a lot of one-time visitors to our church. Very often someone who is here on vacation will come forward prior to Mass and ask to sing with us. I always say yes, but I’m wondering what others would do in this situation. We can never be sure if they can really sing or know the songs, etc. there’s no time for auditions. Would you even allow it? Would you mic them?

Just curious.
 
What kind of music is your choir singing? Unison congregation-type hymns? Propers? Polyphony?

Depending on the type of music, I might invite them to come to our whatever-night rehearsal during their next vacation, and then sing with us the following Sunday. But if your choir is doing very simple music, it’s probably reasonable to let people drop in. I wouldn’t mic them.

I might be concerned about how drop-ins affect the regular members’ perception of the importance of their rehearsal time.

It seems like an unusual request to me. Has anybody else here asked to sing with a choir while visiting a church for just one Sunday, and can you tell us why? I’m curious.
 
I’m not a choir member at my home parish. Even if I was, I wouldn’t ask to sing as part of the choir in a visiting church. I’m a guest so to speak and it seems presumptions.
 
We sing a mix of hymns and contemporary. Everyone sings in unison. Our choir is very simple, only four of us to sing and a couple of guitars.

As mentioned, we are a vacation destination. A lot of people pass through our church, especially in summer. Several times a year, someone will ask to join us.
 
CMKrauss said:
We sing a mix of hymns and contemporary. Everyone sings in unison. Our choir is very simple, only four of us to sing and a couple of guitars.
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I would say it is up to you, based on your experience and judgement. If you have had problems with such people in the past, you would be within your rights to politely decline their offer. If otherwise, you would be well within your rights to allow them to participate, unless the pastor has told you not to.
 
Interesting. Out of all the choir people in my circle, I can’t imagine any of us approaching a strange choir at a strange church and asking to sing with them! That’s pretty bold…

If you don’t want them, a polite way to turn them down is, “We need some good, strong voices out in the congregation. Does that sound like something you could help me with?”

If you’re open to them, you can ask, “What part do you sing?” And then follow it up with the most obscure song on your list for the Mass, and say, “Rehearsal was [whenever]. Are you familiar with [song]?” and let them sing a few bars and then take it from there.
 
Yeah, I have to agree with other posters. I’m the bass (the only one) in my parish’s choir, and I love singing, but I would never presume to invite myself to join another choir with whom I haven’t rehearsed. Even if I know the songs and the parts, they are in tune with each other and it’s awkward to have a new voice just randomly join. That said, when we have people from other choirs visit our parish, we will often invite them to join us. We’re also a tourist destination (historic California mission) but I haven’t known of anyone who actually requested to sing with us. At most, they’ve mentioned that they’re in a choir at such and such parish, and we will say, “come sing with us, if you’re comfortable.” We have an SATB choir (barely, like I said I’m the only bass singer) meaning we sing parts, but we don’t mind others joining us. We have one microphone, I forget what you call it but it’s the kind that’s meant to pick up the choir as a whole rather than emphasizing individual voices. Since you’re not an SATB choir, it might be easier to invite people to join, but it really depends on what your choir members feel about it, and the priest if he has any opinion on the matter.
 
The rule for our choir is that you had to have attended the practice on Wednesday nights or the one-hour practice before Mass to sing/play at that Mass. This rule applies to everyone.
 
It’s not realistic to believe you can sing stuff you haven’t rehearsed.
If the Mass setting is familiar then great. But all the psalms and hymns we do have various men/women/all settings. Harmony after verse 1 etc…
It would just be confusing to have someone sit in randomly.
 
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