The First Virtual Choir - a brief overview

[This is a copy of a post I made on FB a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to share it here. ]

Since virtual choirs are all the rage right now, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Eric Whitacre did NOT do the first virtual choir! It WAS his idea, though, so credit and massive thanks to him for that!

In 2009, when fewer composers had functioning websites and technology was 11 years older than it is today, a young fan sent Eric a video of herself singing the Soprano 1 part of “Sleep.” Eric posted on his blog something like, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if 100 people all sang one part to the song and then put it together in a virtual choir?” Several of us took the bait and ran with it. Scott Haines was gracious enough and was tech savvy enough to collect our videos (116!) and compile them.

We were experimenting. There was no preconceived idea about what it would even look like! We weren’t using phones to record back then. We made it work with the laptops, webcams, and mics that we had available. About half-way through the process, we realized that having a conductor would be helpful for entrances, cutoffs, etc. Several were submitted, but mine was selected. Trivia, I’m the only one to conduct an Eric Whitacre Virtual Choir besides Eric Whitacre.

Anyway, the result was what you see in the video below. It might not be quite as polished as some of the virtual choirs you see today, but for being the very first, we were all quite proud.

Eric loved how it turned out and then put his arm behind it to make Lux, Water Night, Sleep 2.0, etc…

Now, were here. He’s pulling together his six massive project - bigger than ever before! - and continuing to inspire. Who would have foreseen in 2009 when this idea was hatched that 11 years later this would be our only outlet for singing together. Heck, I even helped produce one recently with my symphony and choir, which you can see here.

So, if you have made it to the end of this post, I guess I want to say thanks, Eric Whitacre for starting us down this journey!

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I didn’t realize you were involved with this! Last year, Scott produced a virtual choir project for my college group’s 105th anniversary! Here it is:

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That’s awesome! A long way since that first one in 2009!

@steve6of8 @drew.osterhout @KatieOConnor
Moderator question: I love this post, but I’m not sure whether I’d call it a “How-to” post. It seems like more of a history/discussion/storytelling. Is there a better category for it? Is there a new category we need?

Good question. I wasn’t exactly sure where it would go. Showcase? It seemed outside of that scope, but not really in this one either.

Oh NEAT! That’s a very nice piece of virtual choir history you’re a part of, @steve6of8!

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