Cover of Eric Whitacre’s album ‘Light & Gold’. Picture source: youtube.
It hardly seems a month since we were last here with a We Are The World #WATWB Blogfest post. Our co-hosts this month are…..
Sylvia McGrath,
Damyanti Biswas,
Shilpa Garg, Dan Antion,
and Belinda Witzenhausen.
They would love for you to hop on over to their pages. Actually we would all love you to hope over to their pages and other pages on the #WATWB as well! Especially because this is our Third Anniversary!
We live in dark times. Hiding in our bunkers, we are trying to slow the spread of the dreaded corona virus, aka COVID-19, while specialists work hard on a vaccine. It requires a team effort of being together while apart. What a paradox! Debates flow as chatter disputes whether it is social distance or physical distance that we are really calling for. At #WATWB we live from physical distance but are highly connected socially. Some of us have been swapping posts for years!
What I share this time is not really new. It isn’t really a news story – in the news agency or network sense – but it, I think, a great story. It is a story about creativity, about linking people from all over the world while they remain where they are. It is about bringing many voices together into a harmony of one voice.
I’m talking about Eric Whitacre and his Virtual Choir. Whitacre was born in Reno, Nevada (USA) in 1970. His journey with music began with the piano.
But, to hear more about the Virtual Choir, I’ll let Eric’s website fill us in.
Singers record and upload their videos from locations all over the world. Each one of the videos is then synchronised and combined into one single performance to create the Virtual Choir.
It began in 2009 as a simple experiment in social media when one young woman – a fan of Eric’s music – recorded a video of herself singing “Sleep” and shared it on YouTube. Moved by the video, Eric responded by sending a call out to his online fans to purchase Polyphony’s recording, record themselves singing along to it, and upload the result. Eric was so impressed by the result that he decided to push the concept to the next level by recording himself conducting ‘Lux Aurumque’, asking Virtual Choir members to sing along to that and the first Virtual Choir was created. The VC has grown from 185 singers in VC1 to more than 8,000 singers, aged 4-87, from 120 countries in VC5.
You can read more about it here. What a great way to bring voices together even for people who are physically far from each other.
STOP PRESS: Susan Cain has found the Colorado Symphony Orchestra doing something very similar. Oh joy! Pun intended.
And also the Couch Choir Cheers!
Instead of a poem this time I’ll leave you with a Bill Staines song “Place in the Choir”. This version is from Celtic Thunder.
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Simon's still stanza 
Happy third anniversary, #WATWB! I am fairly new to the party but I’m enjoying the social interaction while in lockdown… and the virtual choir sounds brilliant! 🙂
https://spookymrsgreen.com/2020/03/27/keeping-busy-at-home-during-a-pandemic-watwb/
Thanks. Virtual choir is great and I’ve since seen more like them. Welcome to #WATWB. Do stay.
Hi Simon – it’s wonderful so many of us #WATWBers are still around! I can’t sing for toffee, but do love listening to it … and what a wonderful idea for a virtual choir … excellent of Eric Whiteacre to set it up. Thanks for the links … we need these – take care and all the best – Hilary
https://positiveletters.blogspot.com/2020/03/we-are-world-blogfest-35-for-all-caring.html
I’m rather off the note too, Hilary. But the Virtual Choir struck a chord with me and I’m glad it did so for you as well. Stay safe and well.
We all have a place in the choir of life is my first thought Simon. I loved their song! Lovely #WATWB – take care, keep safe.
It is good, Susan. Yes, we all have a voice. It is an especial privilege when we find ourselves witnessing others find their voice.
Music can me soul saving, especially in dark times.
Me too, Damyanti! We’d be lost without music. It’s like a guiding voice for our path in that darkness.
Simon, I did not know about this virtual choir, so thank you for sharing. It is a new news story for me and one that is truly beautiful. What a wonderful idea to bring singers from around the world and incorporate them into one video choir.
Happy #WATWB third anniversary and I hope you are well and having a wonderful day.
It’s great to be part of the #WATWB Anniversary with people like you, Mary. Glad you like the Virtual Choir. It seems to be catching on to others too. A kind of welcome viral spread of sorts.
It’s a wonderful viral spread, Simon!
What a fabulous idea _ I had no idea there was something like this. Virtual choir! Just love it. Thank you for cohosting and for sharing this. Stay safe.
I hope you and your loved ones stay safe too, Kalpana. Isn’t the virtual choir good? I’m sure there would be people in your country who could do such a thing.
This is amazing! My husband is a musician and we’ve been trying to set up a similar virtual band so during isolation they can continue to do what they love and play music. The scale of this alone is phenomenal and I get a funny feeling we’ll be seeing more virtual performing in the near future. Thanks so much for sharing and for being a part of #WATWB. Stay safe and be well! 🙂
Why am I not surprised that the Witzenhausen dynamic duo would like a Virtual Choir?! There is more of this sort of thing happening. In fact, I updated my post to add in one Susan Cain found. I also heard of another here in Australia called ‘Couch Choir’. Encore say I!
Hey where there’s a will, there’s a way…the show must go on!😊🎶🎵🎸
These are wonderful links, Simon! Thanks for sharing them
What a splendid idea during these dark times! It’s heartening to see the dedication of the WATWB folks all through these years. I haven’t been participating in it for long but I guess I should do it again now.