To embarrassed to sing at mass

[Cat]

I like to sing at Mass. Even as a woman, though, I agree that too many of the songs are set TOO high! I’m an alto, sometimes I sing a little harmony if I can hear it. Sometimes I sing an octave down with the men.

But let me tell you, and I hope this helps; the most joyful noise I ever heard at Mass was an older gentleman friend of my parents who was totally and unflinchingly tone-deaf. He couldn’t hit a note with a bat. But he sang his heart out every week. God made him that way and he praised God with everything he had! I still smile when I think of him.

I LOVE it when I am sitting in front of someone with an operatic voice in Mass!

My daughter is classically-trained and enjoys opera workshop at her college. I love standing next to her in church.

I think that when people sing well, it helps all the rest of us to sing as well as we can. I’ve noticed that when the cantor is really a good singer, the congregation as a whole sounds better, but when the cantor is kind of puny, we all sound puny. When I stand next to my daughter and sing, I sing better. Maybe it’s because I can hear the pitch and zero in on it better when the singer is good.

So SING OUT, divas and whatever they call male divas!

 

[Revert07]

greetings,
Do any of you at times find it embarrassing to sing at Mass?.By embarrassed I mean, as a man, trying to hit some of the high notes?.This can be made worse if there are not many people around you, or indeed if there are not many at Mass.If there are a lot of folks around you you can stop singing and hide within their voices so to speak,but if you are isolated then you are truly alone. I can feel my face getting hot and i start to perspire, am i alone in this?, plus my two daughters say my singing is terrible anyway.Hope to hear from fellow sufferers, God Bless, Mick.

This is what I told my 5th grade CCD class (basically) - We arrive at Mass as individuals. Once the opening rites begin (including the procession AND entrance song), we are part of a community. The Mass is a communal celebration. Singing accomplishes a number of things - it helps us join with the others in Church to form that community; it helps us forget about all the little things we tend to think about and focuses our minds on the Lord and the sacrifice of the Mass; it helps us participate (internally) in the Mass and praise God. He gave us our voices, He knows what we sound like, and He wants to hear us lifting our hearts, our minds, our souls, and yes our voices up to Him.

Yes, most of the songs were written so normal people can’t sing them. I’m constantly dropping or going up an octave keys during most songs since I have a very limited range. Embarrassing? If I think about myself, yes. But I look at it as an opportunity to die to myself for a change. Too often, we are too wrapped up in ourselves. We’re all guilty of it. The world would be a better place if we forgot ourselves more often.

How loud should you sing? Whether you have a good voice or not, not so loud as to drown others out. Again, the idea is to draw the community together, not rip it apart. I do feel sorry for those with strong voices - this must be difficult for them. Those who are hard of hearing also sing a bit too loud but it’s still wonderful to hear them.

By not singing, we hold ourselves separate from the community and we’re not fully participating in the Mass. Besides, think of what a great teaching opportunity this is for your daughters and others around you - on so many levels.

 

[bcuster]

Croak along with the rest of us! Sing a joyful NOISE unto the Lord!
My voice is not great, but it’s the voice God gave me. I may be imagining it, but my voice always sounds better after receiving Holy Communion. Do you suppose I’m getting some help from our Lord?

 

[CarrieH]

No! No! A thousand times, NO! Let that voice do what it wants to do!

I don’t want to shatter the stained-glass windows!

I don’t know what it is about some songs. I have gotten “choked up” too; something I don’t think I would do if I was just listening. There really is something about singing that engages a person’s heart in a way that listening doesn’t.

This happened to me on Good Friday when we were singing “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord.” I was a bit hormonal that day to begin with, and when we got into that song, the tears welled up and my voice cracked, and I had to dig my nails into my palm or I would have just sobbed my way through the song. But if you have to get weepy, that’s a good song in which to do so…

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t want to shatter the stained-glass windows!

Give it a try. I think I can assure you that if the windows don’t shatter when a Marty Haugen song is sung at any decibel level, you can’t get it done.

 

[CarrieH]

Give it a try. I think I can assure you that if the windows don’t shatter when a Marty Haugen song is sung at any decibel level, you can’t get it done.

Anyway as one saint put it,“to sing is to pray twice.” The name of the saint that said it escapes me at the moment. Anybody know who the saint was?

That was St. Augustine.

 

[Guitar]

How loud should you sing? Whether you have a good voice or not, not so loud as to drown others out. Again, the idea is to draw the community together, not rip it apart. I do feel sorry for those with strong voices - this must be difficult for them. Those who are hard of hearing also sing a bit too loud but it’s still wonderful to hear them.

By not singing, we hold ourselves separate from the community and we’re not fully participating in the Mass. Besides, think of what a great teaching opportunity this is for your daughters and others around you - on so many levels.

An oldie but a goodie:

From John Wesley’s Select Hymns, 1761

I. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.

II. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

III. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.

IV. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.

V. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

VI. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing to slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

VII. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

 

[mercygate]

Just a suggestion. Please don’t laugh until you’ve given it some seriou thought.

You could take a few voice lessons.

Singing is a skill and it can be learned just like any skill. Don’t listen to the “American Idol” philosophy that gives people the impression that if they aren’t born with natural talent, they can’t sing. Pish tosh. If you don’t have natural talent, you’ll probably never be a star (although some people who can’t sing have become singing icons in the U.S.). But you can still learn to sing correctly.

Obviously you won’t be trying out for the Met, but you could hire a voice teacher to teach you how to hear pitches more accurately and match them with your voice, and how to sing in a head voice which is generally more pleasant to listen to and less painful to produce than blasting away in the chest or throat voice.

There are a lot of simple things that you can learn to do to improve the quality of your singing. Offer your voice to God and learn to use it properly.

And who knows–maybe with proper training, you’ll discover that you really are a pretty decent singer!

You will be amazed at the results that a few weeks of voice training can produce! And I promise that you’ll have a lot of fun, too! Just don’t let the voice teacher talk you into singing a solo at his/her annual recital!

I doubt that anybody will listen to you but this is EXCELLENT advice!

We have a kid in our parish who is a born showman. His mother thinks he’s the next Tony Bennett. Ever since he was about 12 he has been taking voice lessons (mostly cabaret). Lemme tell ya. Bennett, he ain’t. He actually has a rather fuzzy and not very pleasant voice (to my ear). He’s 15 now and has begun studying opera. I have listened as his voice has both matured (for the better) and been developed by practice. He’ll be a tolerable wedding singer.

Learning HOW to use his vocal equipment has made a huge different in the sound he produces.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

Printing only the melody line and expecting men to sing it is a malicious feminist conspiracy.

Setting every single song in the first tenor or first soprano range is a conspiracy! At least I get to sing the alto part, in the choir (when there is an alto part), but pity the poor congregation trying to hit those stratospheric notes – no wonder it can sound like screeching!

My next door neighbor once told me that she had a terrible voice, so she sang very loud at Mass to get back at God for it.

I attended a parish mission once, where the priest giving the mission talked about this. He thought everybody should sing during Mass – those with good voices should sing to give thanks to God, and those with not-so-good voices should sing to get even.

No! No! A thousand times, NO! Let that voice do what it wants to do! Do you not realize how many not-so-good voices are “hiding” behind yours, content to let you guide them in the tune and cover their bobbles?

I agree with this – those who don’t sing so well can hide behind the well-trained voice, and those who can sing, but are a bit timid, may be emboldened by someone singing out near them.

 

[CarrieH]

Another challenge arises when someone thinks they have a great voice when in reality, their abilities are nowhere near that level. One particular “non-talented prima donna” (as one of my organist-friends calls these types) from my former parish church comes to mind as I remember her singing excessively loudly, trying to turn the congregational hymns into her own solos. It takes a bit of musical sensitivity to discern the line between singing out enough to support one’s neighbors vs. singing out enough to appear to be showing off. I don’t want to offend anyone in that manner by belting out the hymns at full voice when my mezzo-forte is quite enough to support my neighbors. I am happy to hear my untrained neighbors joining in on the hymns with gusto, even if they are off-key or can’t hit the high notes or whatever, but it drives me bonkers to hear someone trying to put on a show, esp. someone who has enough training that they should know better. :doh2:

 

[jc-servant]

I would like to suggest an inexpensive book/cd set that I’ve seen on Amazon. I got mine at a local store many years ago and it has helped some friends learn to read music and gain some control of their voice.

Fast Track Lead Singer Method, Book I by Hal Leonard

This book is under $8 and comes with a cd so that you can look at the lesson and here it played. It starts very basic with counting rhythms and moves on to reading music and learning breath control. Anyone can learn enough to follow the parts in a hymnal from this book unless the person is truely tone deaf. I think that is a very small number of people in the population. Most people are just untrained in singing.

 

[idrum677]

Another challenge arises when someone thinks they have a great voice when in reality, their abilities are nowhere near that level. One particular “non-talented prima donna” (as one of my organist-friends calls these types) from my former parish church comes to mind as I remember her singing excessively loudly, trying to turn the congregational hymns into her own solos. It takes a bit of musical sensitivity to discern the line between singing out enough to support one’s neighbors vs. singing out enough to appear to be showing off. I don’t want to offend anyone in that manner by belting out the hymns at full voice when my mezzo-forte is quite enough to support my neighbors. I am happy to hear my untrained neighbors joining in on the hymns with gusto, even if they are off-key or can’t hit the high notes or whatever, but it drives me bonkers to hear someone trying to put on a show, esp. someone who has enough training that they should know better. :doh2:

You must have sat in front of my mother.

By the way, with a beautiful, trained voice- why aren’t you the cantor?

 

[CarrieH]

I would like to suggest an inexpensive book/cd set that I’ve seen on Amazon. I got mine at a local store many years ago and it has helped some friends learn to read music and gain some control of their voice.

Fast Track Lead Singer Method, Book I by Hal Leonard

Great suggestion – thanks!

 

[CarrieH]

By the way, with a beautiful, trained voice- why aren’t you the cantor?

I was, before I switched to TLM and they have an all-male schola. I asked Father if I could join in, but that I fully understood if he didn’t want to spoil the ambience with a soprano. And he wanted to keep it all-male. I still do weddings and funerals, though.

 

[Spiller]

What about kids who loudly screech? It’s like running one’s fingernails across a chalkboard. VERY distracting. Shouldn’t they be taught to sing a bit quieter?

 

[CarrieH]

What about kids who loudly screech? It’s like running one’s fingernails across a chalkboard. VERY distracting. Shouldn’t they be taught to sing a bit quieter?

Awww, I think that’s kind of cute when they are just little kids. They usually only sing the songs they know, anyway, like the Christmas hymns. But once they are old enough to be in school, they are old enough to be taught to use their “indoor voices” for singing as well as for speaking.

 

[Spiller]

Awww, I think that’s kind of cute when they are just little kids. They usually only sing the songs they know, anyway, like the Christmas hymns. But once they are old enough to be in school, they are old enough to be taught to use their “indoor voices” for singing as well as for speaking.

Not in my Eastern church. We have a ton of kids which is a great blessing and they all know the chants that take place throughout the Divine Liturgy. 99% sing well or they sing quietly. One or possibly two kids really screech and it’s unnerving – it DOES detract from what’s taking place.

 

[peregrinus_WA]

I’m a basso. I just drop everything down two or three octaves. What’s your problem?

Matthew

I am a Bass/Baritone that sometime can do Tenor. I only sing if I know the Bass/Baritone score.

In many cases, that is true, but not always. Many of the older pieces do not follow the Octave format, that is more of a recent development (more like laziness).

 

[latinmasslover]

greetings,
Do any of you at times find it embarrassing to sing at Mass?.By embarrassed I mean, as a man, trying to hit some of the high notes?.This can be made worse if there are not many people around you, or indeed if there are not many at Mass.If there are a lot of folks around you you can stop singing and hide within their voices so to speak,but if you are isolated then you are truly alone. I can feel my face getting hot and i start to perspire, am i alone in this?, plus my two daughters say my singing is terrible anyway.Hope to hear from fellow sufferers, God Bless, Mick.

I never sing at Mass, I wouldn’t want to be the source of envy during worship.

On a more serious note, it would probably be a sin for me to inflict any attempt on others, especially during worship.

 

[CarrieH]

Not in my Eastern church. We have a ton of kids which is a great blessing and they all know the chants that take place throughout the Divine Liturgy. 99% sing well or they sing quietly. One or possibly two kids really screech and it’s unnerving – it DOES detract from what’s taking place.

Oh, that’s different. Ugh!