The man himself – Alan Dai, my brother! I asked Alan if he’d be down to share some of his musical performances and thoughts on my blog before he heads off to Columbia University as a music major. His guest post includes his most recent project and an introduction to Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir series.
Hey everybody, Alan here. It’s an honor to be posting on my dear brother’s blog. First, my qualifications: I’ve studied clarinet and piano for over 8 years, and am an amateur singer/audio engineer.
Here is a multitrack mix of all 8 of my submissions for Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 4: Bliss. The only post-production effects I used were background noise removal and [copious amounts of] reverb (no autotune!). This video marks my YouTube debut.
Top: Alto 2, Alto 1, Soprano 2, Soprano 1
Bottom: Bass, Baritone, Tenor 2, Tenor 1
Go easy on me, I am an amateur and these weren’t my best takes, although any constructive criticism that will help me improve is appreciated! If you like what you see/hear, subscribe to my channel because I’ll be posting many more videos like this in the future!
This is an exciting recording because Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 4 is out!!! If you’ve never heard of it, he explains it here in an inspiring TED talk.
Basically, Mr. Whitacre posts a video of himself conducting one of his pieces, singers from around the world record themselves singing along to the conducting track and upload those videos to YouTube, and his team assembles the videos and creates a “virtual choir.” There’s been 3 thus far, and it truly is magnificent, groundbreaking, and even emotional when you see all the faces of the choristers from around the world, many of whom have never even met each other, making music.
Here’s VC1: http://youtu.be/D7o7BrlbaDs (185 singers)
VC2: http://youtu.be/6WhWDCw3Mng (2051 singers from 58 countries)
VC3: http://youtu.be/V3rRaL-Czxw (3746 singers from 73 countries)
Anyway, this year, he’s continuing the project with VC4. The final numbers are in, and this year, there were 5902 singers from 101 countries! Unfortunately, submissions are closed now, but soprano/alto solo auditions are still going on! If you’re a female soprano/alto, you can still try your hand at the solo.
While you’re here, check out my blog! It has my personal musings and even earlier recordings! http://thisisborin9.tumblr.com/
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Paradise at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.
