Top Ten Reasons to Join the Choir

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gertabelle
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gertabelle

Guest
What are your ideas about this?

We’ve had a few people move recently and are in need of new recruits in our parish choir. I told the choir director that perhaps we should create a list of the top ten reasons to join the choir to post on the bulletin boards around the church in and in the bulletin. So what would you include?

Here’s a few we came up with:
  • Rehearsal every Wednesday night means one night without the kids.
  • Single men, we have a three to one ratio of women to men. (Of course, only two of us are single, but we don’t need to announce that, right?)
  • You always have a great, reserved seat for Christmas and Easter.
  • Children, the first three kids to get their parents to sign up get a free pet from the science classroom.
More??? Help, please.

Gertie
 
  1. Friends! You will no longer be able to complain, “Church is so impersonal–I don’t know anyone in my parish.”
  2. Psalm 100 will come to life for you as you make joyful noise unto the Lord.
  3. Intellectual stimulation–when you make music, you are using both sides of your brain simultaneously.
  4. Serving the Lord–considering all He does for us, it’s just a little giving back to Him.
  5. Serving others–the congregation really loves it when the choir leads the singing.
  6. Every once in a while, you might catch a glimpse of heaven’s choir singing along with you. I’m not kidding.
  7. You never know–your music director might decide to take the choir to Rome to sing for the Pope–that’s what happened in our parish a few years back!
  8. Choir parties–they’re fun!
  9. You will be setting a good example for all the children and teenagers.
  10. Romance possibilities–in our parish, at least one couple met through the choir, and married. They’re so cute!
This is a great thread!
 
All those tenor jokes will suddenly make sense.
" " alto " " " " "
" " soprano " " " " "

(Can’t think of any bass jokes offhand :))
 
  • He who sings prays twice (St. Augustine).
  • Guaranteed seating when the church is crowded.
  • Looks good on your resume.
  • They don’t pass the collection basket in the choir loft.
 
Since warm-ups are a half-hour before Mass, you’ll never have to worry about breaking the “one hour before Communion” fast.

Choir Christmas parties are the best! Good food, good beer, great company, and lots of carols sung in four-part harmony.

From our beloved St. Augustine: “To sing is to pray twice.”

2000 years of liturgical music tradition can’t be wrong.
 
You finally learn how to sing the songs in your range (for me, it is Bass/Baritone) and not just the Soprano range.
 
*From the choir loft, you can see who’s nodding off and give them grief after Mass.
 
VociMike said:
All those tenor jokes will suddenly make sense.
" " alto " " " " "
" " soprano " " " " "

(Can’t think of any bass jokes offhand :))
Click to expand...
I resemble that! Cat has it right. Lord, after a long day at work, Wednesday night choir rehearsal was like springtime! Hard to put into words but after a day of dunning bureaucracy, how precious it was to let my spirit soar. And, oh. Wow. When it all came together and my brothers and sisters sang as one and lost ourselves to God…Doesn’t happen all the time but when it does…Wow is all I can say.
 
The reason I don’t join the choir is that if the choir is supposed to lead the congregation in song, who will sing if all the decent voices have joined the choir?
I make my joyful noise unto the Lord from the pew. They don’t especially want to deal with my bass voice in the choir anyway.

Matthew
 
drafdog said:
The reason I don’t join the choir is that if the choir is supposed to lead the congregation in song, who will sing if all the decent voices have joined the choir?
I make my joyful noise unto the Lord from the pew. They don’t especially want to deal with my bass voice in the choir anyway.

Matthew
Click to expand...
I’ve been in a few different choirs and one thing I’ve seen is that most almost always appreciate another bass!
 
I don’t know any tenor jokes. Maybe since I’m usually sitting at the piano during choir practices, I’m missing all the good stuff.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
  • He who sings prays twice (St. Augustine).
Click to expand...
I knew an older woman who used to say, “If God gave you a good voice, raise your voice and praise Him with it. If He gave you a bad voice, raise your voice even louder and get even with Him.” I guess either way, you’d be praying twice 😃
PhilotheaZ said:
  • They don’t pass the collection basket in the choir loft.
Click to expand...
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

That’s right up there with the free “pet” from the science class.

Gertie
 
Cat said:
I don’t know any tenor jokes. Maybe since I’m usually sitting at the piano during choir practices, I’m missing all the good stuff.
Click to expand...
Tenor jokes are just like jokes about the other sections. When I was in college one of the voice teachers had a cartoon on his door showing what the different singers were thinking about as they sang. For the soprano it was herself in the spotlight; for the tenor it was money; for the baritone, the science of singing technique; and for the bass, romance. I don’t remember the mezzo or the contralto, which is probably significant since I’m a mezzo with contralto tendencies.

By the way, I also play the piano and feel like I miss out on most of the jokes. Our piano is just so far removed from the choir the way our church is set up.

Gertie
 
Cynic here: You’ll get to sing all that GREAT music by David Haas, Michael Joncas and Marty Haugen! Do your bit to get Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven out of the Church!

(Um. That’s why I have NOT joined the choir, despite having been begged many times to do so. But I’m an alto. Plenty of those around; hey don’t need me anyway.
 
mercygate said:
Cynic here: You’ll get to sing all that GREAT music by David Haas, Michael Joncas and Marty Haugen! Do your bit to get Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven out of the Church!

(Um. That’s why I have NOT joined the choir, despite having been begged many times to do so. But I’m an alto. Plenty of those around; hey don’t need me anyway.
Click to expand...
Just the opposite at my parish. We just did parts of Beethoven’s Mass in C Minor.
 
And don’t forget St. Augustine’s “Cantare amantis est” (“Singing is a lover’s thing” or “Singing is loving”)
 
  • It’s healthy for you physically, spiritually, mentally.
  • I have my first choir Christmas party on CD Rom and I’m so glad.
  • When we’re there in our robes singing, you can feel the love throughout the parish.
  • Strenuous at Christmas and Easter, but oh, so rewarding!!!
  • Very rewarding when you don’t want to go but you go anyway.
  • You learn so much about pitch and listening and appreciate music more in general.
  • You get a tiny inkling of heaven now and then when the music is heavenly.
  • You love the earth more when the music isn’t so heavenly.
  • Choir practice and singing at Mass is a completely effective antidote to the poison of a secular job.
  • I think I’ve made some lifelong friends in choir.
  • I believe singing in the choir has brought me closer to my Lord – even though I still have a very very long way to go.
  • I feel closer to St. Cecilia (our parish is St. Cecilia’s parish). Once I looked at her statue and it intensified in appearance.
  • If I could choose the way I leave the earth, I would choose to go out singing in the choir, with the Christmas or Easter orchestral accompaniment.
    :harp: ❤️ :heaven: :angel1:
 
  1. After choir practice outings at the diner.
  2. A nice thing to do together with your boy/girl friend or spouse. (My husband and I joined a choir when we were dating and it was a great way to be together and sing together. Then we’d go out with a group of people to a 24 hour diner.)
  3. In addition, when you are out with your significant other or friends from the choir, it’s always fun harmonizing songs or doing things in organum. (That is so fun to do with the Sanctus chant in a place with a lot of echo!!!)
  4. You get to sing Palestrina, Byrd, Tallis, Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Bruckner, Victoria, etc. and learn so much new repertoire. Then when you go buy the cds you can sing your part along with it.
  5. If you are singing the lower voice parts, it really forces you to become stronger in your sight-singing skills. If you don’t read music, you do learn a little more about it.
  6. It also helps you to listen to your partners and really hear the pitches internally.
  7. You get to have a good laugh when your director says, "Sopranos… hold your ‘p’. " (the “piano” marking in the score)
  8. You are singing for God.
  9. You are in a choir loft so that no one will see you - that means you don’t have to be too nervous with everyone watching you.
  10. You sing a lot more interesting and beautiful music than the cantor. (I cantor now and it really isn’t as interesting as choir singing - although singing alto especially for non-rennaissance music can be pretty boring. I think Mozart liked altos to stay on G. But my, did it sound glorious with all the other parts!!!)
  11. On the other hand, if you are an alto, sometimes, you can just stay on one note with little deviation.
  12. When the low bass sings his lowest Russian note next to you, it sends shivers up and down your body. Really, really nice!!!
  13. You finally get the joke. “I’m a fermata. Hold me!”
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top