Monks/nuns and being good singers

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Do monks/nuns have to be good Singers? Are there really any persons who think they are called to becoming monks/nuns but not called to sing?
 
everyone can sing, some better then others and as we learn to sing, our voice improves.
 
There must be some surely, but being of a charitable disposition it would probably never be mentioned 😊
 
I suppose it might depend on the circumstance, but among the monks at the abbey where I’m an oblate, the idea is for voices to blend together seamlessly. You don’t want someone to stand apart from everyone else.
 
So, I guess it differs, depending on the convent/abbey you join? I wouldn’t think that having a good voice would make anyone, or ineligible.
 
The future monk or nun is likely taught how to sing as part of formation.
 
Not necessarily so… I read a book written by a former carthusian who write that he heard a lot of bad singing in the monastery. And he was adviced to learn the art of singing before entering the monastery.
 
I actually asked this because praying the Divine Office doesnt have to involve singing.
Is there any reasons why no monastery just recite the Office?
 
I read somewhere that if they don’t have a good voice, they get booted from the monastery/convent.😉

I’m sure there’s other jobs at the monastery someone who sounds like Janis Joplin could do…
 
I am pretty sure it doesnt matter. God calls who He calls to the vocation. I’d imagine if you can’t sing after the training they give you you’d just mime or sing softly if your voice was so dire that it was offensive to others. It would probably be your cross to bear. God’s grace would suffice and He’d give you a way to bear it. Not being able to sing is certainly not a reason to not become a monk or nun if you were to have a calling. God knows best.
 
Every monastery or religious order decide if they are going to sing and then which parts they are singing. I have been to several monasteries (different religious orders) where they sing the Office. Sometimes it is easy to follow along and sometimes it is very hard. For me it really depends upon how high notes are sung and also if I can manage to find the right page in the book or the binder.

Singing the 3am or 5am Office is likely not going to sound as lovely as the mid day prayer when voices have been “warmed up a bit”. 🤣 The Carthusians spend most of their day in their cells praying. They only get together for about an hour/day and then Sundays usually so they are not as used to singing together as those monks and nuns who pray together 6-7 times/day.
 
jesusmademe said:
Do monks/nuns have to be good Singers?
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Nope. I know quite a few religious who can’t carry a tune. Myself among them.

Many times, if a monk is part of a monastery which sings their Divine Office, then the monk who can’t sing just sings quietly.
 
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jesusmademe said:
I actually asked this because praying the Divine Office doesnt have to involve singing.
Is there any reasons why no monastery just recite the Office?
Click to expand...
Traditionally, singing the divine office was the ordinary way to go about it, and it was done with large books in the monasteries. This has pretty much remained unchanged.

It really wasn’t until the Mendicant Orders of the 12th and 13th centuries came about, with distinctive “outside-the-monastary” spiritualities, that a shorter, more portable breviary developed, and with this simpler and less elaborate recitation of the Hours became more utilized.
 
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Is it true that you only sing the Office in the chapel/church with other people?
If you are alone tben you only recite?
Singing the Office is only a group activity?
I have never heard of a hermit who sings it.
All the parish priests seem to only read it.
What does the church say about this? And what are the lay people to do if they are oblates?
 
Yes, it as you point out it is completely permissible for an individual, lay or otherwise, to chant it, as I do daily. The antiphonary I use, Les Heures Grégoriennes, makes it clear that while it was put together for the Communauté St-Martin in France, it is acceptable and licit for use by anyone who wants to chant the Liturgy of the Hours, lay or ordained, alone, in community, or in a group.

As for monks/nuns: some congregations put a higher emphasis on liturgy and singing than others. All pray the Divine Office. Benedictines of my congregation, Solesmes, make liturgy the centrepiece of their activities, and pay particular attention to its beauty and chanting. But all chant the Office to the best of their abilities. I have never been to a Benedictine community that does not chant the Office, either in the vernacular or in Latin, or a mix of both.

Non-cloistered communities with external apostolates may be different. Jesuits, for example, do not recite the office in choir.
 
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