I was listening to various choral arrangements and stumbled
upon a virtual choir. This is an endeavor that is put together by a composer,
Eric Whitacre, with the use to YouTube videos and a cappella recordings of a
piece of music. This has been done multiple times by this composer and by the
end the choir spans over 73 countries with over 3,700 participants. This is a
great way for people who cannot participate in choirs a chance to sing and be active
in the music community. The only thing the participant needs besides a interest
in singing is a computer with a webcam and a microphone.
However, while this is a good tool to get people to sing it
gives the composer/conductor too much control over the sound. By having a
virtual choir, it takes away from the individual voice. Since everything is
done by video recordings you can turn down and even mute the voices that one
would deem ‘inadequate’ and would distort the sound of a choir.
So, while there are obvious artistic downfalls to this
virtual choir, this is an excellent use to technology to create music. Eric
Whitacre is actually working on another virtual choir soon and it would be a
good idea to utilize this in a classroom. Students in general music classes
where choir is not available could still sing in this choir with the help of
their teacher.
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