WASHINGTON: July 27, 2009 – Catholic News Service. A pair of Benedictine sisters in Minnesota, both in their 70s, aren’t afraid of trying new things: They learned how to record a CD — and are using a blog to promote it.
The CD is “Sisters in Sync,” performed by Sister Ellen Cotone, who played both the piano and the accordion on the recording, and Sister Margaret Mandernach, who played the electric bass and the harmonica.
Both live in retirement at the Benedictines’ St. Scholastica retirement home in St. Cloud, Minn., six miles away from their monastery in St. Joseph., Minn. Sister Ellen and Sister Margaret played at social gatherings organized at either the monastery or retirement home, and people started asking, “Where can we get a tape of your music?”
“When we decided to make a tape, it was, of course, a CD,” Sister Margaret said. “Tapes are obsolete.” Sister Margaret went to a recording studio that had recorded the Benedictine monastery’s schola, or choir, some time earlier.
The studio owner said he would do the recording project at no charge. Sister Ellen and Sister Margaret, neither of whom had stepped into a recording studio before, recorded the CD’s 30 songs in just two days, with each session lasting about two hours. They used a third day to do overdubs with Sister Ellen on the accordion and Sister Margaret on the harmonica, “just for variety’s sake,” Sister Margaret said.
“We had never done recording before, so the overdubs were very interesting,” she said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service. After the CD was recorded, “our monastery blog wrote about it,” she added.
The CD, which features tunes in a variety of styles — including polka, calypso, sacred songs and popular standards (“by popular we mean the 1930s and ’40s,” Sister Margaret said) — zips by fairly quickly, as the 30 selections take but 52 minutes or so to play.
“We chose songs that were spirited and uplifting and kind of peppy — easy to listen to,” according to Sister Margaret. “We wanted to bring joy and peace to people by doing this, as well as taking care of our own passion for music.”
The CD, while available at the monastery’s gift shop, was never meant to be a fundraiser for the Benedictines. The sisters accept only donations for the CD, since so much effort on the CD was donated to them.
Even so, the sisters have had to order a second batch of “Sisters in Sync” to keep up with demand, especially after the nuns were profiled in the St. Cloud Daily Times newspaper.
Sister Margaret and Sister Ellen have been making music together for seven years, after they both joined the retirement community. “We clicked,” Sister Margaret said.
They play outside the monastery or retirement home infrequently, but they do take part in a monthly jam session in St. Cloud. “We just say the name of the tune, and what key we’re going to play it in, and everybody joins along,” Sister Margaret added.
They also have performed occasionally with an outfit known as the Central Minnesota Musicians Unorganized Organization. “We get together once in a while, just for fun, when there’s an occasion to play at,” Sister Margaret told CNS.
She said she once asked Sister Ellen, “Wouldn’t it be great to play more with the Central Minnesota Musicians Unorganized?”
“Well, that’s the way it goes,” was Sister Ellen’s reply. “We’re in a convent. We have other responsibilities.”
Editor’s note: Information about ordering the “Sisters in Sync” CD is available by contacting Benedictine Sister Thomasette Scheeler at Monastic Enterprises by calling (320) 363-7073 or sending an email to tscheeler@csbsju.edu
