Friday Choral Inspiration
Music, maths and media unite to substantiate the globality of social media engagement and demonstrate the potential we have to embrace dissonance and empower resolution..
Eric Whitacre is a superstar of modern day choral music. He has harnessed the power of global social interaction in a rich juxtaposition of harmonious voices singing in unison. A powerful example to all health professionals of the potential for altruistic collaboration in global medical education and the importance of the online community
April 2nd 2012 saw the release of Virtual Choir ‘3’ with 3746 videos from 73 countries around the world conducted by Eric Whitacre, singing the text from Water Night by Octavio Paz:
If you open your eyes, night opens doors of musk, the secret kingdom of the water opens flowing from the centre of the night. And if you close your eyes, a river, a silent and beautiful current, fills you from within, flows forward, forward, darkens you: night brings its wetness to beaches in your soul.
The Virtual Choir began in May 2009 when Britlin Losee recorded a video of herself singing “Sleep” and shared it on YouTube and Eric encouraged fans to record themselves singing along to it, and upload the result.
Eric was so impressed by the hat he decided to push the concept to the next level by recording himself conducting “Lux Aurumque“, and asked Virtual Choir members to sing along
The second Virtual Choir video was produced featuring 2052 performances of “Sleep“ by 1752 singers in 58 countries, individually recorded and uploaded to YouTube between September 2010 and January 2011.
References
- Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong
- The history of the Virtual Choir
- Virtual Choir 1 – “Lux Aurumque”
- Virtual Choir 2 – “Sleep”
- Virtual Choir 3 – “Water Night”
