Virtual choir

A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and send their digital recordings, sometimes including video, to be collated into a choral performance. There may be a series of rehearsals which singers can watch online, and their performance recordings may be made while watching a video of the conductor and in some cases listening to a backing track, to ensure unanimity of timing. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inspired a large growth in the number of virtual choirs, although the idea was not new.

For Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir founded in 2009, see Virtual Choir.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre has led six iterations of his Virtual Choir, starting in 2009. He was inspired by a young singer Britlin Losee who contacted him after posting a YouTube recording of herself singing the soprano part of his work 'Sleep. In his first version, 185 singers from 12 countries sang his Lux Aurumque, watching a video of him conducting.[1][2] By 2020, over 20,000 singers from 124 countries had participated in the choir, and Whitacre launched his Virtual Choir 6 to sing a new work "Sing Gently".[3] 17,572 people in 129 countries had contributed their recordings by the closing date in May 2020.[4]

Virtual choirs during COVID-19 "lockdown"

Many virtual choirs were set up during the "lockdown" caused by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when people could not meet to sing together.[5]

In Australia Couch Choir evolved from the pre-existing face-to-face Pub Choir with an "ongoing mission to bring strangers together for a sing-song", according to the Canberra Times.[6] Since inception in March 2020, Couch Choir has chalked up millions of views with over 10,000 singers lending their voices to songs by Stevie Wonder, The Carpenters and David Bowie. Their July 2020 video of The Killers "All These Things That I've Done" included 1,534 contributions from people in 40 countries.,[6] and was shared by The Killers across social media. Couch Choir's videos have been featured on BBC News, Australian Story and the Today Show Australia.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's virtual choir recorded "Waltzing Matilda" for the annual ANZAC Day commemoration at which the MSO Chorus would normally have performed.[7][8]

In the UK, Gareth Malone launched The Great British Home Chorus on Monday 23 March 2020 and conducted 50 half-hour rehearsals (Monday-Friday with a "half term" break) up to Friday 12 June, moving thereafter to weekly rehearsals. He worked from his garden studio, with technical assistance from Decca Record.[9] The choir produced a CD including the voices of 11,000 singers, featuring the songs "You Are My Sunshine", Duran Duran's "Ordinary World", Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" and Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", accompanied by members of the London Symphony Orchestra.[10]

The Self-Isolation Choir was launched by Mark Strachan with conductor Ben England and initially worked towards a performance of Handel's Messiah, with rehearsals streamed live on YouTube and available for later watching, and rehearsal recordings of individual voice parts. The production included 3,600 voices, four soloists, and a nine-member baroque orchestra, all recorded in isolation, and was broadcast on Sunday 31 May 2020. The choir then held three weeks of "Summer School" sessions, with plans for further major works in the Autumn and Winter.[11][12]

The Stay at Home Choir was founded by conductor Tori Longdon and baritone Jamie Wright and has run 9+ projects recording pieces with professional musicians including The Swingle Singers, The King's Singers and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Their largest project to date was Karl Jenkins's 'Armed Man' which premiered on YouTube in August 2020. The choir holds interactive rehearsals and technical webinars using Zoom which are recorded and archived to its private website for members. As of November 2020, it has amassed 20,000 members, averaging 4,000 singers per project. Finished project recordings are published on YouTube.[13]

ChoirCast was set up by Bristol-based singing teacher Eliza Fyfe, kick-starting with their debut "Bohemian Rhapsody" which was released on April 2, 2020 and featured Gareth Malone. ChoirCast have been producing monthly videos ever since, edited by Martin Elsbury, editor of Netflix documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet. They usually feature a band, with the sound mixed by music producers Daniel Edney, Kristian Bressington and Charles Grimsdale and popular song arrangements written by Eliza. This particular choir focuses on smaller numbers to enable singers to stand out more, even including soloists, yet still featuring people from all around the world.[14]

Virtual choral activities by existing choirs during the pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic some existing choirs developed innovative ways to rehearse or perform together remotely.

The Rexburg Children's Choir in Rexburg, Idaho, United States, featured on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt with their virtual performance of For Unto Us a Child is Born. Each of the 100 singers, aged 10 to 17, came individually to a central location to sing, conducted by director Ben Watson, in front of a green screen, and these films were combined to show the whole choir apparently singing together. Inside Edition highlighted the virtual choral performance as part of their national broadcast the following day.[15][16][17][18]

Software was developed aimed specifically at school choirs, so that pupils isolated at home could sing together.[19][20]

Mental health effects

Researchers from University College London investigated the effect of virtual choirs on mental health and it is reported that "participants not only felt happier and experienced a noticeable boost in their self-esteem, but also reduced feelings of social isolation".[21][22]

References
  1. Lunden, Jeff (6 April 2011). "They've Never Met, But 2,051 Singers Perform Together". NPR.org. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  2. Niccum, Jon (9 April 2010). "Net Worth: Viral choral video traces roots to Lawrence encounter". Lawrence Journal World. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  3. "Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 6: Sing Gently". Eric Whitacre. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  4. Beale, Rachael (25 June 2020). "Singing Together, Apart". London Review of Books: LRB Blog. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. Strick, Kate (31 March 2020). "The virtual choirs keeping the music alive". Evening Standard. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  6. Wallace, Jess (15 July 2020). "Forty countries, 1500 people: Watch this killer Couch Choir in action". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  7. "ANZAC Day Virtual Choir". Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. "The MSO to perform special three-day event to commemorate Anzac Day". Beat Magazine. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. "Gareth Malone brings together self-isolating singers with 'at home' choir project". Classic FM. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  10. "Gareth Malone's Great British Home Chorus - Signed CD". Decca Records. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  11. "Messiah at Home". Self-Isolation Choir. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  12. "The Self-Isolation Choir". www.theselfisolationchoir.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  13. "Stay at Home Choir". new.stayathomechoir.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  14. "ChoirCast". Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  15. Eaton, Nate; EastIdahoNews.com (2020-12-14). "Rexburg Children's Choir featured on national news broadcast". East Idaho News. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  16. "The show must go on during a holiday season like no other". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  17. [email protected], By Lisa Smith. "NBC's 'There's Good News' features East Idaho children's choir". Idaho State Journal. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  18. "In the News". RexburgChildrenChoir. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  19. "Virtual Choir". www.seascaleschool.co.uk. Seascale Primary School. Retrieved 25 July 2020. An example of a school choir
  20. "Sing Up at Home". www.singup.org. Sing Up. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  21. Asprou, Helena (29 May 2019). "Could singing in a virtual choir be the answer for boosting your mental health?". Classic FM. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  22. Fancourt, Daisy; Steptoe, Andrew (10 April 2019). "Present in Body or Just in Mind: Differences in Social Presence and Emotion Regulation in Live vs. Virtual Singing Experiences". Frontiers in Psychology. 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00778.
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