Singing in a choir is the world's most popular past-time. People sing in choirs for many reasons, but it is mostly to feel a sense of community and to share music and passion with others. How can you do that through a computer? Whitacre's choir is composed of video submissions- people choose a voice part, learn the piece, and submit a video of themselves singing it. The video is then cut and edited to create a choral piece. None of the participants ever sing with one another, and they never rehearse as a group. They never experience the excitement and joy of performing with their choirs, and will never personally feel fulfilled when the auditorium rewards them with applause and excitement in sharing music. While it is exciting to be a part of something so cool, for lack of a better word, it doesn't really do anything.
How do you feel? I'm interested in the opinions of others. Would you encourage your students to be a part of this youtube sensation? If so, for what reason? Does it seem valuable, or is it simply an opportunity to be a permanent part of the internet? Do the youtube views mean more than the personal gain of performing with other musicians? Or is it debatable that sharing music with others is a huge part of music making?
In high school my choir had the opportunity to sing Lux Arumque with Eric conducting us which was amazing so when I heard about his virtual choir I thought it was the coolest thing. Part of that might be down to the fact that I love Eric Whitacre, but I also think it's a pretty awesome display of technology and the opportunities it opens up to people. As you mention the massive amount of people and countries that have been represented through the virtual choir is a remarkable achievement both musically and socially.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post!
-Peter
It seems the end product where synchronizing all the videos of everyone singing would be the main goal of this project. The video displays this sense of collaboration of people across the world and different culture incorporated into the piece. I can see how as a music educator this idea can be difficult to value since the process of working together with a diversity of people is kind of removed. Also since the end product is not really what we strive for in music. Instead the process of creating such a work of art could be done in a different way that brings a stronger sense of community. This is a really great point and good example of how technology in music is changing the way we interact with our audience.
ReplyDeleteI think this would be a useful technology to give students an example of the possibilities of technology. I also think that this kind of technology would allow students to get a small glimpse of what it would be like to collaborate with people around the world, which is really cool! Obviously, students may not be able to collaborate with different types of people, so this kind of technology would make it easy for them to actually do so, even if the experience is not totally realistic or as fulfilling. The technology also introduces a different way to think about collaboration and performance, so it is interesting in that respect as well. I would not dismiss it so quickly!
ReplyDeleteI think its wonderful to reach out to other countrie and be so culturally responsive. It is amazing what technology can do. I mean in any other way this would cost a fortune. I do understand what your saying where it can definitely feel like "it doesn't do anything". the fact of the matter is that choir is an ensemble work. musicians cant really feed of each other and truly feel like a whole or work at once as a whole. this is a tricky medium with a lot of bugs. I love the idea though and how much it reaches out.
ReplyDeleteThis man must be a very good studio engineer/mixer