The structure of Chorale le Bon Berger Kigali
"He who sings well prays twice" - St. Augustine. Augustine demonstrated that a prayer is made more effective when it is combined with a song. The Chorale le Bon Berger Kigali (CBB-Kigali) has adopted this culture to help people pray. I am sharing with you what CBB-Kigali is, how it started and how it is structured.
Firstly, CBB-Kigali is a Catholic choir that helps Christians to praise the Lord through song. It is based in the city of Kigali, more precisely in Saint Michael parish, Archdiocese of Kigali. It is an outgrowth of its mother choir (Chorale le Bon Berger), which is based at the University of Rwanda, Huye campus, in the city of Huye. CBB-Kigali is mostly composed of young people, but this does not bother others who feel interested in joining. In addition, many of the members are from UR-CST, Akilah students, alumni from the two campuses mentioned above and others from different parts of Kigali.
Secondly, the Chorale le bon Berger Kigali (CBB-Kigali) serves in different Masses, in different languages as well as different parishes. In order to be able to fulfill its function of helping Catholic Christians to pray through singing, it rehearses twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, at St. Michael's parish, in the Archdiocese of Kigali. CBB Kigali sings in different ceremonies such as wedding and funeral ceremonies, concerts and Sunday mass. Moreover, joining our choir does not require much except being Catholic, possessing a love of singing, being ready to respect the rules of the choir and having a positive attitude towards others.
In short, returning to its structure, the Chorale le Bon Berger Kigali is a choir of Saint Michael Parish, Archdiocese of Kigali. It is composed of an executive and a directorate committee that lead the coordination and management of the choir. After these committees, there are 3 commissions that are in charge of the different activities of the choir. Besides the Commissions, CBB-Kigali is also composed of 4 vocal groups that support the choir by singing with different types of voices. Here, the directorate committee is made up of the leaders of the commissions, the vocal groups and the executive committee. At the basis, there are the members of the choir who are always there to support the choir in every activity, whether physically, with ideas, financially or with prayers.
Executive committee in CBB-Kigali, is made up with President, Vice President, Administrative secretary and Treasure. President of the choir makes sure that choir directory is updated, serves as the choir's spokesperson to the rest of the church, and supervises all committees while the vice President assist the president in all activities. Secretary Keeps track of membership lists, alumni and announcement lists. Takes notes at meetings, and prepares agendas and minutes for said meetings. Choir Treasure is in charge controlling and keeping all choir Finance and related activities.
The Commissions in CBB-Kigali are Marketing and Design, Music Technical and Spiritual, and Social Commissions. However, Marketing and design commission promote and advertise choir activities through social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) and Website. They almost think for the choir by planning different activities, which can help the choir to be developed. Music Technical commission helps the choir by finding good and appropriate songs. Moreover, this commission give organization of choir members depending on their voices. Whereas Spiritual and Social Commission helps the choir members and the choir to grow spiritually through prayers. They even organize good activities like (Cacahueterie) which increase the good relationship between choir members.
The voice groups in CBB-Kigali are Soprano, Alto, Basse and Tenor. A soprano is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. Alto is the lowest female voice; Tenor is the highest natural adult male singing voice and Bass the lowest adult male singing voice.
CBB-Kigali has about 100 active members who offer their efforts every day to support the activities of the choir. Regarding the members of CBB Kigali, 1/6 of them are Alto, 1/6 Bass, 1/6 Tenor and 1/2 Soprano. Newcomers to CBB-Kigali receive help and explanations from the executive committee to choose the voice that suits them. In addition, when it is time to rehearse, each voice type does so on its own and later on all the voices combine to sing as a choir.
