OMG, OMG, Cool Idea: Part II
May 15, 2009I KNEW this would work!
There were a lot of great comments, and now we can address some of the logistical stuff:
1) For the sheet music, can someone with Finale or Sibelius skills (or bow-staff skills) make four separate PDFs of the vocal parts of sleep? One for soprano, one for alto, one for tenor, one for bass. Make sure they are completely separate files, send them to me, and then I can post them here legally. If someone wants to make midi files, just for part learning, totally cool.
2) When you make your video, wear headphones. This was a great idea proposed by both Johnathan and Will.
3) As for tempo, sing along to the Polyphony recording of Sleep, available either on iTunes or streaming from my MySpace site. Use only that recording, or it won’t match up.
4) When you load your video to YouTube, use the words Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir in the title, and in the tags, and include your voice part in the title as well. Also, in the tags, put the exact phrase “soaringleap.com.” We’ll be able to find all of them easily enough.
5) For this experiment, just sing with a healthy, clear sound, and long, beautiful vowels. I know the cutoffs and entrances are going to be all over the place, but this is just the experiment, or as they say in the business world, “proof of concept.” For the next one (the original, premiere piece that I’ll compose) we’ll do it a little bit more like the YouTube Orchestra, and I’ll even make a video of me conducting. If this Sleep experiment goes well, we might be able to get YouTube involved. (Woo Hoo).
All y’all rock.
EDIT: Let’s create a tentative deadline for submission of videos – June 30. That should give everyone time to learn their parts and post their performances.
What a fantastic idea! I’m excited to give it a try. Keep us posted about that Finale copy of Sleep–I would make one, but I had to turn my music back in at school.
If all else fails, I could probably borrow a copy from my choral director. This is gonna be cool!!
I would love to try this! I am an alto. Is there a completion date you would like to have this by or will it be a work in progress?
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY TO REACH OTHER PEOPLE WITH MY VIDEO, AND ESPECIALLY YOU!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
Eric,
I’d be happy to make the separate parts. Should I email them to you, or post a link here?
I’ve only got words left to do on the soprano part
I can’t say how impressed I am by this. I really appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to get us, your biggest fans, involved is something like this. We will be able to say , “Yeah, I collaborated with famous conductor and composer Eric Whitacre last month.” How awesome is that! haha
This is gonna be so cool!! Is there a deadline for posting the videos?
I don’t have a video camera but I can still record my voice, should I go ahead and record anyway?
I love the enthusiasm with which you interact with your fans!
I’ll start learning the music as soon as I shake this laryngitis. I have a fairly wide range, so would it be okay if I learned and recorded both the tenor and bass parts?
This sounds like it would be awesome. I’ve been trying to get our local university choir to sing your stuff for ages (the won’t listen to me – the non music major
)
If you end up doing the youtube orchestra type thing, I have a cello with your name on it!
Look forward to the sheet music!
You may also want to link to the lyrics, to avoid any confusion:
http://schuur451.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/sleep-by-charles-anthony-silvestri/
Ooh! I also have a cello and am willing to play!
This is soooooo cool! I was jealous of the orchestra people when they had their chance to do it, but now Eric freaking Whitacre is going to make a piece for this! SCHWEET!
This is an incredibly exciting idea! I can hardly wait for the vocal parts – but in the meantime, I’ll round up some fans.
This is indeed, the coolest idea ever. I’m gonna see if I can do this… once I gets me a video camera… Bass 2 FTW!
I am SO excited.
I’m an alto 2 so hooray! I have sang a few of your other songs, but not Sleep. I love it though. I keep listening to it to pick out parts, but I’ll be excited for when I have actual music to look at. 
@ Lizzy Buscher, WOO. ALTO 2s!
We be rockin them B-flats mhmmmm.
Oh, and for your “premiere” piece, I could play violin if there happens to be a violin part. Just sayin…
Yes! This is gonna be awesome. I’m a soprano (mostly mezzo – but glad that “Sleep” doesn’t have really high notes!) so will definitely join. I’ll ask my amazing tenor choir director to join. He’s really amazing!
I can’t wait to get the sheet music and start on this.
I had an idea:
For the super duper new youtube chorus piece you should write a super epic piece. Include your concert band fans and your chorus fans. You could be able to balance everything on your computer for the final product. There are so few pieces for concert band and concert choir that it would new and ground breaking on many levels. And you seem to have a thing for ground breaking. Just an idea.
that is such an awesome idea. i can’t wait to see how that turns out :]
Re: Devon Morin
Super idea! How many pieces let me be a bass and a timpanist at the same time?!
I sang this piece a couple years ago and by god has it been one of my all time favorites. You are an amazing man and this is a fantastic idea. I hope I can partake.
One thing though, you said you would like to have people make four separate files. Yet when I sang this, I recall there were around eight parts. Are you going to have them make eight? Or keeping it to four for simplicity?
This sounds like a lot of fun! I was disappointed that I didn’t audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, but then this fantastic opportunity just happens to come along, and for this, I thank you. I sang “Sleep” over a year ago with my school choir and am delighted at the prospect of singing it again. Count me in!
Oh. My. God.
This is going to be so awesome. I can’t stop grinning at the thought of how fantastically this could turn out. Whitacre fans, unite!
ok
I have some parts done, but I don’t know how to save Finale Files as PDF Files… I can save them as JPEGS though. And since its only about two pages per part, it really wouldn’t be that bad. If Eric can help me out with the first then sweet, if not, then I’ll post all of them when finished with links to an image hosting website.
If anyone knows how to do what I’m struggling with, let me know and this can get done even faster.
Andrew
p.s. – All the time signatures are a killer when you have to change them back and forth in Finale, but it’s oh so worth it.
Re: Mike Anderson,
I know! It allows alot more people to get involved and play and sing! And if anyone can create a super powerful epic piece that would interest alot of people, it would be Eric.
Ah, Sleep is one of the few pieces of yours that I don’t have the sheet music for. I will be eagerly awaiting someone to upload the bass part so I can get my Bass 2 on. Sleep was the song that introduced me to Eric, way back in my highschool days.
Oh my goodness! Eric Whitacre mentioned me by first name in his blog! I’m beaming.
Omigod. Sorry, I’m just so excited about the thought of this! I’ll definitely put up a video if I can get my hands on the alto part of Sleep! I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
@ Will: Me too
I think I’ve got those PDFs on a disc somewhere, I did those for my undergrad choir. Is someone actually doing these, or should I look for ‘em?
this is a such great opportunity! i cant wait, im definitly gettin in on this! ill be anxiously lookin for sheet music!
Here are the parts, all…
http://samuelhunter.net/Whitacre
I’ve done my best to keep it as perfect to the published score as possible; if anyone notices a mistake, please let me know and I’ll get right on it.
Eric, if you want a PDF or Sibelius file of the full score, let me know.
Sorry, after re-reading the post, I’ve taken down the files until Eric can post them legally.
LOL I was going to make the seperate parts, but I guess it was too late.
Oh well! This is so awesome! By the way, I’ve gotten my University choir involved too. YAY! 
This is going to be so amazing.
Sorry…I am WAY excited…but by no means “too” excited.
Wonderful idea!! Is there a possibility that you will want bands to play the accompaniment? I am a high school band director and my students love your music.
It would be great to get all the instrumentalists in on this as well.
I am so doing this! I haven’t sung Sleep since I was a junior in high school, but I remember it as if I performed it yesterday. I was just thinking of the first time I ever heard Sleep. It was a recording of Conspirare, and our whole choir was listening to it in the rehearsal room. There was not a dry eye when it ended. It was the most magical musical moment of my life.
No way I can pass up an oppertunity like this. You rock, EW!
Oh, and if you need a flute player for your piece, I’d be glad yo play!
*to play* rather. lol
Hey I’m planning on posting a video, but i sing tenor and bass. Would it be fine if I posted one video for each part? cuz i’m not sure which one will sound better.
This is an awesome plan! My choir sang Sleep last year, so I’ll get some people on the bandwagon
@ Carah A. Naseem
This is going to be SWEEEEEEEEET!
I’m totally in! But when will the sheet music be posted here?
OMG, this is especially awesome because I just got done singing Sleep in an octet for state contest (got a I, btw
).
Some members of this year’s St. Olaf Choir were thinking about doing an ad hoc recording in a stairwell sometime next week, and we’d discussed recording Sleep (as learned in March). I’m going to try and see if I can rally some support to be part of this project. We so enjoyed working with you – I’m hoping that there will be a lot of enthusiasm!
I’m assuming that a choral recording will work as well, but does this mean simply posting “all voice parts” in the YouTube title?
Thank you so much for yet another incredible idea!
[...] OMG, OMG, Cool Idea: Part II [...]
You should totally think about eventually doing a YouTube choir, like the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. I don’t know all the logistics, but if the instrumental world can come up with something, why can’t choristers/vocalists do the same? (No offense intended for any instrumentalists at all!)
Haha… just totally read the whole rest of the post… I think it’s a great idea… *blushes* that’s why I should read before I speak!!
Ah! The joy of experiementing
Hope to see the links of the voice parts up soon
I’d love to participate.
genial idea, me parece increible, hacer algo asi, ademas en este caso, las distancias no seran impedimento para que podamos unirnos!
abrazos
This is officially the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. Now to just get my hands on a video camera…
I’ll do it!
Sweet idea.
This is going to work. I really hope so. ^_^
This sounds like a fantastic and innovative idea. It would be SO moving to see people from all over coming together to make music with each other with no attention paid to distance. Music brings people together! This is wonderful!
I love it! I just posted my Tenor I. Hope this works out!
This idea is an awesome one, with one slight snag for all us instrumentalists. I do recall that you had also arranged it for band too, would you like us to play that as well? If so, you’ve got your self something low brass at your disposal.
Tim from Lawrence, KS
GAH!
I missed the deadline….=(
I was so looking forward to sinhing this peice for you! I worked really hard on my part too…oh well…I hope it all works out!
oh dear, I missed the deadline too! I’ll be watching to see if there are more, I’m Soprano 1 and also play trumpet. I love the music so much!