Voice lessons for priests?

[siouxbhoney]

My husband and I are due to start RCIA soon, and we’ve been going to Mass for 5-6 months now. We explored a few Catholic Churches in our area before we chose one, but I always noticed what great singing voices all of the priests seem to have. Is this a part of the training they receive to become a priest, or just a fluke for my area?

 

[cecilia97]

My husband and I are due to start RCIA soon, and we’ve been going to Mass for 5-6 months now. We explored a few Catholic Churches in our area before we chose one, but I always noticed what great singing voices all of the priests seem to have. Is this a part of the training they receive to become a priest, or just a fluke for my area?

IIRC they do recieve some voice/chanting lessons in seminary, but you’ll find some who can’t sing to save their lives. Our pastor is an AWESOME priest but his chanting is a little…lacking. He doesn’t let it bother him which is one of the things we love about him.

 

[siouxbhoney]

I was starting to think a good voice came with getting called Thanks for the answer!

 

[puzzleannie]

former pastor had a great tenor voice and sang the Mass most of the time. He was also a barber shop singer in a quartet with 3 men of the parish. They were called “3 dads and a Father”

 

[SMHW]

I’ve heard some priests with beautiful singing voices and some who sounding like finger nails on a chalk board. (Do young people remember chalk boards?)

Chanting (well) is not so easy as some here might suggest. And even a priest with a nice voice may find that chanting solo is a lot more difficult than singing with a group.

I wish seminaries spent a little more time than they do training priests to sing. There are probably some that do that now but I suspect most don’t offer the seminarians individual voice lessons.

 

[LilyM]

I’ve heard some priests with beautiful singing voices and some who sounding like finger nails on a chalk board. (Do young people remember chalk boards?)

Chanting (well) is not so easy as some here might suggest. And even a priest with a nice voice may find that chanting solo is a lot more difficult than singing with a group.

I wish seminaries spent a little more time than they do training priests to sing. There are probably some that do that now but I suspect most don’t offer the seminarians individual voice lessons.

Well, it isn’t often (if ever) required for a priest to sing if they don’t want to, at least not in the Latin rite, so you’ll find priests who can’t sing usually discover this pretty quickly and wisely refrain from doing so.

 

[Ray7088]

former pastor had a great tenor voice and sang the Mass most of the time. He was also a barber shop singer in a quartet with 3 men of the parish. They were called “3 dads and a Father”

LOL. I would love to hear that barbershop quartet.

 

[MusicMan]

At the church I worked at in college, we used the same setting of the Mass at all Masses. When we changed the settings, the liturgist made the priests learn the new settings and their introductory chants from her. Somehow, she was able to require them to take “lessons” from her the weeks before the new settings were to be introduced.

The pastor of that parish remains a dear friend of mine, and is an excellent musician. I’m afraid that as he’s gotten older, his hearing has suffered some, and when I am occassionally able to get back for Mass, I notice that he is no longer able to match pitch with the organ/keyboard. I feel bad for him because good liturgy and music are something he is exceptionally passionate about. I’m not even sure he’s aware that there’s a problem.

The pastor of my current parish has an excellent ear, but his tone is “raw talent.” I know music is important to him (he took piano and organ lessons as a kid), but I don’t think anyone ever really did any serious voice work with him. I don’t know if he was a band student or if he was in choir, but his ear is solid, his tone is just rough.

I’ve tried to help him prepare to chant the Intercessions on Good Friday so that we know where to come in on the Amen. Not having enough time to meet with me, he’s compromised by chanting them on one pitch. It’s not the optimal situation, but it’s better than nothing.

 

[SMHW]

Well, it isn’t often (if ever) required for a priest to sing if they don’t want to, at least not in the Latin rite, so you’ll find priests who can’t sing usually discover this pretty quickly and wisely refrain from doing so.

Very true.

But even priests who won’t sing at a typical Sunday or weekday Masses sometimes do so on feasts and solemnities. Usually it’s just Mass parts like, “The Lord be With You,” “Through Him, With Him, and In Him,” or perhaps a Preface. More often than not, the priest’s voice is okay but he seems like he’s not absolutely sure which syllables get one tone and which get more. Or the priest can’t quite remember if he’s supposed to sing a tone higher or a tone or two lower.

In such cases, a little bit of individual voice coaching (or just practicing with a recording) would make a lot of difference. But it would help if the priest learned this in seminary first.

 

[Cran]

In our diocesis, the seminary provides education in singing, at least half a year single lessons for seminarists and lay theologians-to-be alike, and more if desired. But if talent is SERIOUSLY lacking (and/or interest) you’re going nowhere with that… some of our young priests sing very well, and some don’t, but in general much better than the older ones (perhaps they didn’t have any education in this particular area way back).

 

[siouxbhoney]

This is pretty interesting to read about what is going on in all of these other churches. We went to a church with an african priest and he sang almost the entire service. He had a wonderful voice and his accent made it even more beautiful. It was a great service.

 

[MusicMan]

A couple of years ago, my humble church choir was asked to sing for Confirmation. The Bishop Emeritus was the presiding celebrant. I asked our public high school’s choir director to sing with my group for this Mass. Afterwards he asked how old the Bishop Emeritus was. He commented that his age was showing in his voice, but he must have been an absolutely smokin’ tenor in his day. I suspect he was.

 

[baltobetsy]

A young man from our parish was ordained last year. While he was a seminarian, he asked me the name of my voice teacher. He studied with her for awhile, and made a CD of showtunes to benefit the vocations office. When he celebrated his first Mass, he sang the entire Eucharistic prayer. Very nicely, I might add. Good job, Fr. Mark!

Betsy

 

[bpbasilphx]

<<I was starting to think a good voice came with getting called Thanks for the answer!>>

There is a joke among Eastern Christians (Orthodox and Catholic) about finding a man with a good voice and making him a deacon.

When he loses his voice, he’s made a priest.

When he loses his mind, he’s made a bishop.

 

[hilde_the_dog]

We have one priest that loves to sing or chant the Our Father and has the congregation sing along. It drives my wife nuts that we sing this. Could it be he picked this up studing in Rome?

 

[Cran]

If he has done so, it is at leat no roman custom, but european. We do it 50% in our parish (germany), work-day masses excluded.

But I do think chanting is the older form of celebrating liturgy - what would your wife say to a sung eucharistic prayer? .

 

[BlestOne]

oh my… the pastor of the parish I belonged to as a teenager was so bad it was literally painful to the ears… that is when I learned the phrase “Offer it up” Thankfully, I survived and most of the pastors I have had since have been much better singers!

 

[RobNY]

<<I was starting to think a good voice came with getting called Thanks for the answer!>>

There is a joke among Eastern Christians (Orthodox and Catholic) about finding a man with a good voice and making him a deacon.

When he loses his voice, he’s made a priest.

When he loses his mind, he’s made a bishop.

Haha. That’s priceless.

In my experience, none of my parish priests can sing, but the religious order priests I know can.

My working theory was that men who like to sing join an order for the priesthood, so as to have an opportunity to sing/chant in community, and that those who don’t like this aspect join the secular clergy.

Perhaps it’s a bad theory.

-Rob

 

[SMHW]

In my experience, none of my parish priests can sing, but the religious order priests I know can.

My working theory was that men who like to sing join an order for the priesthood, so as to have an opportunity to sing/chant in community, and that those who don’t like this aspect join the secular clergy.

I think the ‘community’ aspect is part of it, but for a slightly different reason.

Before our church was built, my parish attended Mass at the nearby seminary (which was gracious enough to host us). We were also allowed to use one of the rooms for choir practice on Wednesday evenings. On a some rare occasions I would pass by the chapel while the seminarians were chanting Night Prayer. (I don’t know if they always did that or not.) Unlike most local church buildings, the acoustics in that chapel were just right for that kind of singing. It sounded incredible from the outside. (I presume it sounded even better from the inside.) Based on what I heard, those seminarians who were ordained should have been priests with fantastic singing voices.

But it is one thing to sing with a group of people where you have have other voices (and probably a conductor) to help you get the pitch and it is another thing altogether to pull the pitch out of thin air and have to maintain it. People’s voices often crack when they have to speak in front of a group. It’s much worse when singing.

The average choir member I know gets nervous and sings off key when he/she has to sing by him/herself. I even hear that from cantors sometimes. I suspect that even if a priest practices singing/chanting in private, he experiences a bit of stage fright when he’s singing the Mass.

It’s been my personal experience that when I somehow find myself singing off key, I will eventually reach a place where I have memorized the note and realize I am wrong. But I can’t always find my way back to where I should be (at least not before it is time to sing the next note) and then the panic sets in. I seriously doubt I am the only person to whom this happens.

I think most priests, even those with singing experience, need an occasional tone from the instrumentalist to keep them on key. But that requires the priest and the instrumentalist to plan ahead.

 

[Sarabande]

I don’t know if the seminarians in our diocese receive voice lessons, but those who can hold a tune will sing in their choir. When they chant the Gospels for Christmas, Holy Week and Easter Sunday, they usually get seminarians or deacons who have lovely voices and can’t chant decently, although, sometimes you get one for the Passion who can’t stay in the same key even with the organ playing the chord underneath. That’s a little frightening.

Most of the priests who can’t sing in the parishes I have regularily attended will make a point not to sing or chant during the mass. The priests who can sing will chant the parts. But sometimes we get priests who don’t really know the chants well and you sit there wondering what key he will actually end on and try to figure out what chant he’s doing so that the responses by the congregation will be the same. That is also a little frightening. I remember being in choir and this one priest who was completely tone deaf (God bless him) really insisted on chanting everything. We’d watch our director as he’d close his eyes to try to pick out some sort of pitch from what the priest did to lead us in the responses.