If you haven’t seen it already, I’ve just launched my newly designed site at ericwhitacre.com. A huge thank you to Damien du Toit for his brilliant work on the redesign!
Damien was able to integrate my blog into my new site, so from now on all new blog posts will appear there. In a couple of weeks www.soaringleap.com will automatically redirect to ericwhitacre.com, so please change your bookmarks and rss feeds appropriately.
THANK YOU to all for you for visiting my blog over the past year and a half – it means the world to me that you would spend a little time with me here on the interwebs.
In the 48 hours since we posted the Lux Aurumque Virtual Choir video soaringleap.com has seen an extraordinary number of new visitors. (Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest and linked here, especially mashable.com and Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish). I thought I would take this opportunity to welcome everyone, and give a brief explanation as to how the Virtual Choir came to be.
Last year a friend emailed me a link to this video, the lovely Britlin Losee singing the soprano part to Sleep, an a cappella choral work I wrote in 2000:
I kind of freaked out, because it occurred to me that if 100 people all recorded their respective parts (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass) we could line them all up and create a virtual choir. So I asked everyone to buy the same recording of Sleep from iTunes, a beautiful performance by the superb British choir Polyphony. Singers from around the world posted their individual parts, simply singing along to the recorded piece. Scott Haines volunteered to cut it together. Here’s how it came out:
I was thrilled (it actually sounded like music!), and I wanted to see if we could push the concept to the next level. So this time, I made my own conductor track, filming it in complete silence, hearing the music only in my head. Then I watched the video and played in the piano accompaniment part to my conductor track:
Then I offered the sheet music as a free download. As singers began posting their individual tracks, I called for ‘auditions’ for the soprano solo. Melody Meyers from Tennessee posted my favorite entry:
My goal with this ‘chapter’ of the Virtual Choir was to see if we could not just sing our parts separately and cut them together; I wanted to see if we could actually make music. There is a lot of rubato in my conducting (slowing down, speeding up) and some very specific dynamic gestures, and the singers responded beautifully. Here’s the final product:
When I saw the finished video for the first time I actually teared up. The intimacy of all the faces, the sound of the singing, the obvious poetic symbolism about our shared humanity and our need to connect; all of it completely overwhelmed me. And it must be said that a lot of the credit for it’s beauty should go to Scottie Haines, who spent untold hours editing and polishing the video. (BTW, Scottie and I have never met only met once in the ‘real world’, unlike 99% of the Virtual Choir, whom I’ve never ‘met’).
Lastly, I’m hoping that this is just the beginning. My ultimate goal is to write an original piece for the Virtual Choir and have it receive it’s world premiere in cyber-space, hundreds (maybe thousands) of people singing alone, together.
Congratulations to everyone – truly an extraordinary thing you’ve all created. And a huge thank you to Scottie Haines, who beautifully produced the video.
Oof – another terrific group of singers; very difficult to choose. Sopranos, you most certainly rock the free world.
Listening to all of the videos I think I understood for the first time just how difficult the soprano part to Lux Aurumque is. (Yes, I know the other parts aren’t a walk in the park, either). It requires such breath control, and it sits in a tricky part of the register, and those vowel changes are brutal. So glad I don’t have to sing it.
Please say hello to your 2010 soprano scholarship winner, Ms. Julie Pajuheshfar from Henderson, Nevada. (Nice shirt, Julie). And again, to all of the sopranos: bravissima! Beautiful, clear voices all around.
There were SO many great alto entries, and what a joy to listen to them all sing their parts over and over again. (Alto is easily my favorite voice part). I narrowed it down to my favorite 12, then my favorite 6, then my favorite two… and that’s as far as I could get.
I suppose that what I was looking for above all – and this applies to all the voice parts – was not only a nice voice but a genuine sense of that most ephemeral quality, musicality. The two alto winners have completely different vocal styles (and yes, a healthy amount of vibrato), but man alive are they both musical.
So please say hello to our TWO alto scholarship winners, and congratulations to all of the altos who applied; it truly was an exceptional group of women.
This will be the third of five movements in The City and the Sea, the E.E. Cummings cycle I’m writing for SATB choir and piano. It uses the same ‘oven-mitt’ technique that I’m using in the others, but this time the piano plays it arpeggiated, with lost of sustain pedal.
Here is the poem:
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and
milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
And here are the first three pages of the sheet music (sorry for the typos – this is a first draft from the publisher):
And here is a rough recording from the concert last month at Denver University, the Lamont Chorale singing; JoAnn Gudvangen-Brown, pianist. It was the first time I conducted the piece:
Beautiful sounds from the tenor section with singers representing nearly every continent. (Give it up for Sweden! Argentina! Indonesia!). I think it was because of the distance to NYC, then, that over half of the tenors didn’t apply for the scholarship. No problem, of course – we’re grateful for your voices, and they’ll all be part of the final Virtual Choir video.
The recipient of the 2010 Virtual Choir tenor scholarship is Robbie Bennet from Tulsa, Oklahoma. (And it’s not because of his youtube name). Congratulations Robbie, and to all of the other applicants!
My great friend Steven Bryant is documenting his composition process while writing his latest piece, a new ‘Concerto for Wind Ensemble.’ It really is a must-see for aspiring composers and conductors – I can’t ever remember seeing a concert composer go this deep in an effort to explain his/her creative process.
Here is Steve’s welcome video, introducing the entire series:
And here is the first full installment, a beautifully detailed and honest look at his process as he composes:
The singing throughout the bass section was extraordinary; congratulations to everyone that everyone that posted! Please know that I listened to all of you several times and more than once I was moved to tears by the sheer beauty and the humanity of the performances. There is something so brave and intimate about what all of you are doing, and I am deeply honored to be a part of it.
So here it is: the winning Bass scholarship video. If this is you, please contact Iris Derke at DCINY as soon as possible to set up arrangements for the June 15 concert. (iris@dciny.org). I’ll announce the other voice parts (soprano, alto, tenor) in the next few days.
A few years ago Hila recorded a bunch of solo vocals for the film The Da Vinci Code. We spent a week or so in London while she recorded, and I got the chance to talk quite a bit with Hans Zimmer. He’s incredibly nice, and funny, and very, very generous with his time.
One of the things we talked about was his approach to writing orchestral scores for films, like Gladiator. I told him how jealous I was that he was able to get such a massive sound out of his orchestras, and he just laughed. He explained that his ‘orchestras’ are always a mix of acoustic instruments and samples, seamlessly blended, and that blend combined with extensive multi-tracking makes for a sound that really can’t exist in the real world. Those horns from Gladiator? All samples, layered and layered, and all close-mic recorded. It would probably take a horn section of 24-30 players to replicate that on a concert stage.
I haven’t seen the new Sherlock Holmes yet, but I just found this, and was reminded again of the power of his approach. Real instruments, mixed with samples, and even in it’s ‘chamber ensemble’ moments it just sounds massive.
Here’s the cool ‘music video’ of the Sherlock Holmes theme:
Got a letter from the American Academy of Arts and Letters today, letting me know that my application for an award has been rejected. THEY INVITED ME TO APPLY and I still lost.
Back in the year 2000 (I think) I was commissioned by a consortium of thirty high school bands to write a ‘grade 3′ piece. Band pieces are graded from 1-6, ‘grade 1′ being for beginning bands (think kids just learning their instruments), ‘grade 6′ being serious, virtuosic playing.
I wanted to write a piece that was beautiful and lush, something I wasn’t hearing a lot of in the world of concert bands. And I wanted it to sound a little bit like Vaughan Williams, and Elgar, and Thomas Newman. I honestly didn’t think it would get played very much after the first consortium performances, but then BOOM – the piece sort of took off and just kept going. It’s still my most popular work for winds.
A few years ago, Hal Leonard approached me and asked if I would be willing to let Paul Lavendar do an arrangement for string orchestra. I was hesitant, but there were a ton of requests from string groups and I just didn’t have the time to do it myself. Paul did a beautiful job with it, although I’d like to one day arrange it for strings myself – and full orchestra as well.
(I’ve even thought of transcribing it for a cappella chorus, if poet Charles Anthony Silvestri and I can come up with the right text…)
I’d actually never really heard the string orchestra arrangement until I stumbled on this YouTube video last night. The performance is way, way to fast, but the basic idea is there. I love the way it sounds, and can’t wait to conduct it.
And here is the original work for winds. (This is me conducting the Tokyo Youth Symphony, live):
Hila and I just listened (again) to all of the entries for the soprano solo. SUCH gorgeous voices, and such profound courage. More than once I teared up, completely moved by the spirit and passion of the singing. Bravo to all of you!
After watching a few times, and writing down our favorites (without showing each other) Hila and I both came up with the same entry: the sparkling, effervescent track recorded by Melody Myers of Tennessee:
Melody is invited to join us in New York to be a part of the Paradise Lost insanity. (Melody, please contact my assistant Juliette at juliette@ericwhitacre.com to set everything up). I’ll be posting the winners of the four other parts (SATB) VERY soon.
(BTW, Hila has been doing this same thing for years, every time we take a road trip somewhere. Sometimes she improvises Hebrew lyrics about where we are going, or whether or not she needs to pee. It never gets old).
In 1999 (I think it was 1999) I attended the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop. It was an incredible experience, three weeks of seminars with film music agents, music contractors, and composers. (James Newton Howard gave a two hour Q&A, and I was sitting right next to him, freaking out the entire time).
At the end of the three week session a hat was passed around the room, and each of the ten student composers pulled a piece of paper from it. On each piece of paper was the name of a different movie, all movies that were in theaters at that time. (I remember someone getting Will Smith’s Wild Wild West). I got the Glenn Close live-action version of 101 Dalmatians.
Then, we were each given a 3-4 minute scene from the film we had pulled from the hat, and were told that we had three days to score it for a 40 piece orchestra. On top of that, we would conduct our score ‘to picture’ and would record with an A-list ensemble on the legendary Sony sound stage.
I took my video home and watched it again and again, and the sound that I kept coming back to was Prokofiev meets John Williams meets the overture to Candide. I killed myself trying to finish it, slept only a few hours a night, and no sleep the last night. (Seriously, I have no idea how film composers do it).
When I got to the sound stage, I was worried that maybe the music I had written was too difficult – what if the orchestra wouldn’t be able to play it? Heh. Here’s the recording of the cue the very first time they looked at it, a cold sight-read:
And here is the cue as it appeared in the actual film, with original score by Michael Kamen. My cue begins around the 1:00 mark, but it doesn’t line up at all. I think I must have scored an earlier cut of the scene, or youtube is playing it fast. Anyway, the orchestra is supposed to be constantly commenting on the scene: Pongo the dog falls in love; Bill Pullman’s buffoonish theme as he climbs onto his bike; the skater that runs into the lamp post; the glory of London’s Trafalgar square; the cars about to hit him; the stairs rattling his body as he rides his bicycle down them; and the final stinger at the end of the cue is supposed to sound at the same time he hits the water.
After the workshop, I transcribed the cue for wind ensemble (almost note for note) and called it Noisy Wheels of Joy, which is a line from the E.E. Cummings poem “i walked the boulevard.” For the record, I nearly called it There’s Magic Everywhere, a tribute to the last line that Calvin says to Hobbes in their last comic strip; but my friend and fellow BCM International founder Jonathan Newman convinced me to go with the Cummings.
Here is the wind ensemble version. The performance is a little rough around the edges, but it’s definitely Noisy Wheels of Joy:
I’m trying to (quickly) put together a small but dedicated consortium of bands to premiere my new transcription of “The Seal Lullaby.” It’s scored for wind symphony and solo piano, grade 2+/3. If you or your ensemble is interested, or would like more information, please email my assistant Juliette at juliette@ericwhitacre.com. Woo hoo!
Here is a re-post of the original version, which I wrote for SATB choir and piano:
Sleep My Child is the trio from Act II of Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, the big music theater piece that we will perform at Carnegie this June. Chanticleer commissioned an SATB arrangement of it for their tour last year, and while I received a bunch of emails from people saying they loved it, I’d never actually heard it. (I was unable to attend any of their rehearsals, and I never could catch them on tour).
I just discovered a link to a live performance and it kind of blew my mind. Remember, Chanticleer is made up entirely of men, and only 12 of them.
Here are the first four pages of little man in a hurry. This will be the fifth piece in a new choral cycle called The City and the Sea. The other pieces in the set will be: i walked the boulevard; the moon is hiding in her hair; maggie and millie and molly and may; and as is the sea marvelous.
All five pieces (maybe more if I get crazy) are settings of poems by E.E. Cummings; and all five pieces use some variation of my ‘oven-mitt’ technique.
Here is the complete poem:
little man
(in a hurry
full of an
important worry)
halt stop forget relax
wait
(little child
who have tried
who have failed
who have cried)
lie bravely down
Apparently, there are thirty-seven different choirs signed on as part of the commissioning consortium. (!) Are you in one of them? I’d love to hear your experience with the piece once you begin rehearsals…
