Singing - religious order

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What order are you interested in? Is singing a major part of their charism?
 
You would need to be able to (learn to) chant but you wouldn’t need an operatic type of voice. With a bit of training you would probably be fine. @oralabora could probably say much more on the topic.
 
Josephairplane said:
what do u mean by 10 characters ?
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And to answer you question, you’d need to speak with the superiors of the communities in which you have interest.

I was in a Benedictine monastery for just over two years (some three decades ago!). I have a bachelor of music degree in voice. So yeah, I can sing. But everyone just sang the best they could.

I had to learn to sing without vibrato (which was considerably easier when I was younger). Others had to learn to match pitch, or read music, or sing quieter, or sing louder, or blend in with the others. We all had something to learn.

But we weren’t there to sell tickets to performances. We were there to give glory to God through the singing of our prayers – it was about prayer. Everything was about prayer.

So if you’re interested in religious life, talk to the superiors in some communities and ask about their expectations. :+1:t4:
 
Priests are taught to sing at least one of each of the Mass parts in both the vernacular language and Latin. And any other language that they vill celebrate Mass in. You will notice that those priests who read music or play instruments have a wider selection.

There are very few who can’t sing after they have been taught to sing. Those who don’t read music learn by heart like children. I look at the hymn numbers on the board and think “Father J’s Sanctus, cantor C’s Holy” etc to help me remember the tunes. The notes tell me that there is a higher or lower note but I don’t know what they sound like if I haven’t heard the tune about 5 times and remember it.

You are not going to be asked to sing solo before you are ready for it! It is a lot easier to learn to sing if there are those who know how to sing standing around you.
 
For Benedictines, it would depend on individual monasteries. At the one I’m associated with, of the Solesmes Congregation, liturgy is hugely important. Most can at least psalmody. The best are in the Schola and are cantors, but a few don’t sing.

An operatic voice would in fact be an impediment. Chant is supposed to be one voice with none dominating. I have had the experience of an oblate who is an opera tenor try to chant the psalms with the monks. They had to ask him to stop. He broke the natural cadence of the monks and drowned them out.

Best is to speak with the vocations director. As always in these things, a vocation should be to the charism of the order, not to the music or lack of.

I love chant but if the abbey were to say tomorrow that « we’re to old and tired and from now on we no longer sing the liturgy », I’d still stay an oblate of the community.
 
Of course you can. My old school principal, Sister Elizabeth, used to tell all of us that if we feel we can’t sing well then sing louder so that God hears the voice he gave to us as much as possible. 😂
 
In our abbey they’d probably be asked to lip sync instead 😉

Beautiful Gregorian chant liturgy abhors a voice that dominates or is consistently off-key. But then liturgy is a huge part of their charism.

I’ve been to some Benedictine houses where, umm, not so much… but not for lack of effort.
 
OraLabora said:
An operatic voice would in fact be an impediment. Chant is supposed to be one voice with none dominating. I have had the experience of an oblate who is an opera tenor try to chant the psalms with the monks. They had to ask him to stop. He broke the natural cadence of the monks and drowned them out.
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When I was in the monastery, I was able to blend with the nuns just fine, even though I could also sing opera, or musical theater, or whatever.

I remember one woman who entered for a very short time (maybe a month) who had such an operatic voice – one that could not be tamed – that Mother had to ask her to sing sotto voce or not at all.

The music of the liturgy was of the highest priority.
 
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