There are times that things just slap you in the face and astound you and this would be one of them. This happens often to me with music. Can you recall a place where you heard a song or had something musical happen that just made you speechless? I have written about something similar before. Speechless, in awe, floored... it all applies.
Let me first give a little background. I was introduced sometime last year to one of my favorite choral composers Eric Whitacre's pet projects, the Virtual Choir. This concept is the first of its kind. He composes a piece of music, puts training materials online and has thousands of people submit videos singing to the same piece of music. Together, all these people from all over the world create a collective vocal choir that is pieced together to create finished projects like this:
This would be Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3 singing his composition 'Water Night', one gorgeous piece. So you can imagine my joy when I heard he was coming out with #4. Unfortunately, due to a busy schedule, I was unable to sing but I learned about the process. Here is a taste of how it started. You download the sheet music online as well as all sorts of tools to help you learn like videos of Eric conducting or audio of your parts or all parts to help you learn. That combined with the forums and other tools on the website are a fabulous way to get comfortable with the process. After practicing, you then record yourself and upload your video to the website to be a part of the choir!
So this is the audio that we started out with. It seems pretty straight forward with a typical "choral" sound. Well, this is the finished product:
Fly to Paradise - Virtual Choir 4 by Eric Whitacre
I AM SO AMAZED. It's a different take for sure. Luckily I like electronic music so I'm not as offended as some are. Regardless, I love it. It's a great song with ethereal haunting melodies and a great message. I'm just so amazed with this production and had to share.
On another sad note, a friend of mine passed away on July 2nd. This is Greg Carroll.
I met Greg in the music department at Western Washington University. We studied music and sang together in choir for a few years. He was one of the sweetest guys I know with the biggest heart. Since that humble beginning, he has gone on to be a successful tenor in the opera scene with such an amazing voice. He was only 35. This is such a tragedy and it's heartbreaking.
So Greg, this song goes out to you as you fly away to paradise. Your heart, beauty and spirit will forever be missed.
