ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eric Whitacre - Composer, conductor
After creating and conducting a worldwide virtual choir on YouTube, Eric Whitacre is now touring with an astonishing live choir.

Why you should listen

Eric Whitacre began his music career singing in his college choir; by 21, he had written his first concert work, Go, Lovely Rose, and advanced to Juilliard, where he studied under John Corigliano. Today, he has published more than four dozen choral works, conducted in some of the most esteemed halls in the world, and featured on dozens of recordings. His album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works earned him a Grammy nomination in 2007, as did his Decca debut Light & Gold, while his new album, Water Night, debuted at #1 in US iTunes classical charts.

You may know him, too, as the creator and conductor of the virtual choir, a network of YouTube-connected singers whose voices blend together online to become true magic. And he's now touring with the Eric Whitacre Signers, a 28-voice choir (yes, they're all in the same room).

More profile about the speaker
Eric Whitacre | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong

Filmed:
4,549,867 views

In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, "Sleep," with a video choir of 2,052. The full piece premiered a few weeks later (yes, on YouTube!).
- Composer, conductor
After creating and conducting a worldwide virtual choir on YouTube, Eric Whitacre is now touring with an astonishing live choir. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I wanted to be a rock star.
0
0
2000
00:17
I dreamed of it, and that's all I dreamed of.
1
2000
3000
00:20
To be more accurate, I wanted to be a pop star.
2
5000
2000
00:22
This was in the late '80s.
3
7000
2000
00:24
And mostly I wanted to be the fifth member
4
9000
2000
00:26
of Depeche Mode or Duran Duran.
5
11000
2000
00:28
They wouldn't have me.
6
13000
2000
00:30
I didn't read music, but I played synthesizers and drum machines.
7
15000
3000
00:33
And I grew up in this little farming town in northern Nevada.
8
18000
3000
00:36
And I was certain that's what my life would be.
9
21000
2000
00:38
And when I went to college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
10
23000
2000
00:40
when I was 18,
11
25000
2000
00:42
I was stunned to find
12
27000
2000
00:44
that there was not a Pop Star 101,
13
29000
3000
00:47
or even a degree program for that interest.
14
32000
3000
00:50
And the choir conductor there
15
35000
2000
00:52
knew that I sang
16
37000
2000
00:54
and invited me to come and join the choir.
17
39000
2000
00:56
And I said, "Yes, I would love to do that. It sounds great."
18
41000
3000
00:59
And I left the room and said, "No way."
19
44000
3000
01:03
The choir people in my high school were pretty geeky,
20
48000
3000
01:06
and there was no way I was going to have anything to do with those people.
21
51000
3000
01:09
And about a week later, a friend of mine came to me and said,
22
54000
2000
01:11
"Listen, you've got to join choir.
23
56000
2000
01:13
At the end of the semester, we're taking a trip to Mexico,
24
58000
2000
01:15
all expenses paid.
25
60000
2000
01:17
And the soprano section is just full of hot girls."
26
62000
3000
01:21
And so I figured for Mexico and babes,
27
66000
2000
01:23
I could do just about anything.
28
68000
3000
01:26
And I went to my first day in choir,
29
71000
2000
01:28
and I sat down with the basses
30
73000
2000
01:30
and sort of looked over my shoulder
31
75000
2000
01:32
to see what they were doing.
32
77000
2000
01:34
They opened their scores, the conductor gave the downbeat,
33
79000
2000
01:36
and boom, they launched into the Kyrie
34
81000
3000
01:39
from the "Requiem" by Mozart.
35
84000
2000
01:41
In my entire life I had seen in black and white,
36
86000
3000
01:44
and suddenly everything was in shocking Technicolor.
37
89000
4000
01:48
The most transformative experience I've ever had --
38
93000
3000
01:51
in that single moment, hearing dissonance and harmony
39
96000
3000
01:54
and people singing, people together,
40
99000
3000
01:57
the shared vision.
41
102000
2000
01:59
And I felt for the first time in my life
42
104000
2000
02:01
that I was part of something bigger than myself.
43
106000
2000
02:03
And there were a lot of cute girls in the soprano section, as it turns out.
44
108000
4000
02:07
I decided to write a piece for choir
45
112000
3000
02:10
a couple of years later
46
115000
2000
02:12
as a gift to this conductor
47
117000
2000
02:14
who had changed my life.
48
119000
2000
02:16
I had learned to read music by then, or slowly learning to read music.
49
121000
3000
02:19
And that piece was published,
50
124000
2000
02:21
and then I wrote another piece, and that got published.
51
126000
2000
02:23
And then I started conducting,
52
128000
2000
02:25
and I ended up doing my master's degree at the Juilliard School.
53
130000
2000
02:27
And I find myself now in the unlikely position
54
132000
2000
02:29
of standing in front of all of you
55
134000
2000
02:31
as a professional classical composer and conductor.
56
136000
4000
02:35
Well a couple of years ago,
57
140000
2000
02:37
a friend of mine emailed me
58
142000
2000
02:39
a link, a YouTube link,
59
144000
2000
02:41
and said, "You have got to see this."
60
146000
2000
02:43
And it was this young woman who had posted a fan video to me,
61
148000
3000
02:46
singing the soprano line
62
151000
2000
02:48
to a piece of mine called "Sleep."
63
153000
2000
02:50
(Video) Britlin Losee: Hi Mr. Eric Whitacre.
64
155000
3000
02:53
My name is Britlin Losee,
65
158000
2000
02:55
and this is a video
66
160000
2000
02:57
that I'd like to make for you.
67
162000
2000
02:59
Here's me singing "Sleep."
68
164000
3000
03:05
I'm a little nervous, just to let you know.
69
170000
2000
03:10
♫ If there are noises ♫
70
175000
9000
03:19
♫ in the night ♫
71
184000
6000
03:25
Eric Whitacre: I was thunderstruck.
72
190000
2000
03:27
Britlin was so innocent and so sweet,
73
192000
3000
03:30
and her voice was so pure.
74
195000
2000
03:32
And I even loved seeing behind her;
75
197000
2000
03:34
I could see the little teddy bear sitting on the piano behind her in her room.
76
199000
3000
03:37
Such an intimate video.
77
202000
2000
03:39
And I had this idea: if I could get 50 people
78
204000
2000
03:41
to all do this same thing,
79
206000
2000
03:43
sing their parts -- soprano, alto, tenor and bass --
80
208000
2000
03:45
wherever they were in the world, post their videos to YouTube,
81
210000
3000
03:48
we could cut it all together and create a virtual choir.
82
213000
3000
03:51
So I wrote on my blog, "OMG OMG."
83
216000
3000
03:54
I actually wrote, "OMG,"
84
219000
2000
03:56
hopefully for the last time in public ever.
85
221000
3000
03:59
(Laughter)
86
224000
2000
04:01
And I sent out this call to singers.
87
226000
2000
04:03
And I made free the download of the music
88
228000
3000
04:06
to a piece that I had written in the year 2000
89
231000
2000
04:08
called "Lux Aurumque," which means "light and gold."
90
233000
3000
04:11
And lo and behold, people started uploading their videos.
91
236000
3000
04:14
Now I should say, before that,
92
239000
2000
04:16
what I did is I posted a conductor track
93
241000
2000
04:18
of myself conducting.
94
243000
2000
04:20
And it's in complete silence when I filmed it,
95
245000
3000
04:23
because I was only hearing the music in my head,
96
248000
2000
04:25
imagining the choir that would one day come to be.
97
250000
3000
04:28
Afterwards, I played a piano track underneath
98
253000
2000
04:30
so that the singers would have something to listen to.
99
255000
3000
04:33
And then as the videos started to come in ...
100
258000
3000
04:38
(Singing)
101
263000
4000
04:42
This is Cheryl Ang from Singapore.
102
267000
3000
04:46
(Singing)
103
271000
5000
04:51
This is Evangelina Etienne
104
276000
2000
04:53
(Singing)
105
278000
7000
05:00
from Massachusetts.
106
285000
3000
05:03
(Singing)
107
288000
2000
05:05
Stephen Hanson from Sweden.
108
290000
2000
05:07
(Singing)
109
292000
2000
05:09
This is Jamal Walker from Dallas, Texas.
110
294000
3000
05:12
(Singing)
111
297000
8000
05:20
There was even a little soprano solo in the piece,
112
305000
2000
05:22
and so I had auditions.
113
307000
2000
05:24
And a number of sopranos uploaded their parts.
114
309000
2000
05:26
I was told later,
115
311000
2000
05:28
and also by lots of singers who were involved in this,
116
313000
2000
05:30
that they sometimes recorded 50 or 60 different takes
117
315000
3000
05:33
until they got just the right take -- they uploaded it.
118
318000
3000
05:36
Here's our winner of the soprano solo.
119
321000
2000
05:38
This is Melody Myers from Tennessee.
120
323000
3000
05:43
(Singing)
121
328000
15000
05:58
I love the little smile she does right over the top of the note --
122
343000
3000
06:01
like, "No problem, everything's fine."
123
346000
2000
06:03
(Laughter)
124
348000
2000
06:05
And from the crowd
125
350000
2000
06:07
emerged this young man, Scott Haines.
126
352000
2000
06:09
And he said, "Listen, this is the project
127
354000
2000
06:11
I've been looking for my whole life.
128
356000
2000
06:13
I'd like to be the person to edit this all together."
129
358000
2000
06:15
I said, "Thank you, Scott. I'm so glad that you found me."
130
360000
3000
06:18
And Scott aggregated all of the videos.
131
363000
2000
06:20
He scrubbed the audio.
132
365000
2000
06:22
He made sure that everything lined up.
133
367000
2000
06:24
And then we posted this video to YouTube about a year and a half ago.
134
369000
3000
06:27
This is "Lux Aurumque" sung by the Virtual Choir.
135
372000
2000
06:29
(Singing)
136
374000
10000
07:49
I'll stop it there in the interest of time.
137
454000
3000
07:52
(Applause)
138
457000
4000
07:56
Thank you. Thank you.
139
461000
4000
08:00
(Applause)
140
465000
8000
08:08
Thank you.
141
473000
2000
08:10
So there's more. There's more.
142
475000
3000
08:13
Thank you so much.
143
478000
2000
08:15
And I had the same reaction you did.
144
480000
2000
08:17
I actually was moved to tears when I first saw it.
145
482000
2000
08:19
I just couldn't believe the poetry of all of it --
146
484000
3000
08:22
these souls all on their own desert island,
147
487000
4000
08:26
sending electronic messages in bottles to each other.
148
491000
3000
08:29
And the video went viral.
149
494000
2000
08:31
We had a million hits in the first month
150
496000
2000
08:33
and got a lot of attention for it.
151
498000
2000
08:35
And because of that, then a lot of singers started saying,
152
500000
2000
08:37
"All right, what's Virtual Choir 2.0?"
153
502000
2000
08:39
And so I decided for Virtual Choir 2.0
154
504000
2000
08:41
that I would choose the same piece that Britlin was singing,
155
506000
3000
08:44
"Sleep," which is another work
156
509000
2000
08:46
that I wrote in the year 2000 --
157
511000
2000
08:48
poetry by my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri.
158
513000
2000
08:50
And again, I posted a conductor video,
159
515000
2000
08:52
and we started accepting submissions.
160
517000
3000
08:55
This time we got some more mature members.
161
520000
3000
08:58
(Singing)
162
523000
10000
09:08
And some younger members.
163
533000
3000
09:11
(Video) Soprano: ♫ Upon my pillow ♫
164
536000
5000
09:16
♫ Safe in bed ♫
165
541000
4000
09:20
EW: That's Georgie from England. She's only nine.
166
545000
3000
09:23
Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?
167
548000
3000
09:26
Someone did all eight videos --
168
551000
2000
09:28
a bass even singing the soprano parts.
169
553000
2000
09:30
This is Beau Awtin.
170
555000
2000
09:32
(Video) Beau Awtin: ♫ Safe in bed ♫
171
557000
7000
09:39
EW: And our goal -- it was sort of an arbitrary goal --
172
564000
3000
09:42
there was an MTV video where they all sang "Lollipop"
173
567000
2000
09:44
and they got people from all over the world to just sing that little melody.
174
569000
3000
09:47
And there were 900 people involved in that.
175
572000
2000
09:49
So I told the singers, "That's our goal.
176
574000
2000
09:51
That's the number for us to beat."
177
576000
2000
09:53
And we just closed submissions January 10th,
178
578000
3000
09:56
and our final tally was 2,051 videos
179
581000
3000
09:59
from 58 different countries.
180
584000
2000
10:01
Thank you.
181
586000
2000
10:03
(Applause)
182
588000
3000
10:06
From Malta, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam,
183
591000
3000
10:09
Jordan, Egypt, Israel,
184
594000
3000
10:12
as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Zealand.
185
597000
3000
10:15
And we also put a page on Facebook
186
600000
4000
10:19
for the singers to upload their testimonials,
187
604000
3000
10:22
what it was like for them, their experience singing it.
188
607000
3000
10:25
And I've just chosen a few of them here.
189
610000
2000
10:27
"My sister and I used to sing in choirs together constantly.
190
612000
2000
10:29
Now she's an airman in the air force constantly traveling.
191
614000
3000
10:32
It's so wonderful to sing together again!"
192
617000
3000
10:35
I love the idea that she's singing with her sister.
193
620000
2000
10:37
"Aside from the beautiful music,
194
622000
2000
10:39
it's great just to know I'm part of a worldwide community of people I never met before,
195
624000
3000
10:42
but who are connected anyway."
196
627000
2000
10:44
And my personal favorite,
197
629000
2000
10:46
"When I told my husband that I was going to be a part of this,
198
631000
2000
10:48
he told me that I did not have the voice for it."
199
633000
2000
10:50
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of you have heard that too.
200
635000
2000
10:52
Me too.
201
637000
2000
10:54
"It hurt so much, and I shed some tears,
202
639000
2000
10:56
but something inside of me wanted to do this despite his words.
203
641000
3000
10:59
It is a dream come true to be part of this choir,
204
644000
3000
11:02
as I've never been part of one.
205
647000
2000
11:04
When I placed a marker on the Google Earth Map,
206
649000
2000
11:06
I had to go with the nearest city, which is about 400 miles away from where I live.
207
651000
3000
11:09
As I am in the Great Alaskan Bush,
208
654000
2000
11:11
satellite is my connection to the world."
209
656000
3000
11:14
So two things struck me deeply about this.
210
659000
3000
11:17
The first is that human beings
211
662000
2000
11:19
will go to any lengths necessary
212
664000
2000
11:21
to find and connect with each other.
213
666000
3000
11:24
It doesn't matter the technology.
214
669000
2000
11:26
And the second is
215
671000
2000
11:28
that people seem to be experiencing an actual connection.
216
673000
3000
11:31
It wasn't a virtual choir.
217
676000
3000
11:34
There are people now online that are friends; they've never met.
218
679000
3000
11:37
But, I know myself too, I feel
219
682000
2000
11:39
this virtual esprit de corps, if you will, with all of them.
220
684000
3000
11:42
I feel a closeness to this choir --
221
687000
2000
11:44
almost like a family.
222
689000
3000
11:47
What I'd like to close with then today
223
692000
2000
11:49
is the first look
224
694000
2000
11:51
at "Sleep" by Virtual Choir 2.0.
225
696000
2000
11:53
This will be a premiere today.
226
698000
2000
11:55
We're not finished with the video yet.
227
700000
2000
11:57
You can imagine, with 2,000 synchronized YouTube videos,
228
702000
3000
12:00
the render time is just atrocious.
229
705000
3000
12:03
But we do have the first three minutes.
230
708000
2000
12:05
And it's a tremendous honor
231
710000
2000
12:07
for me to be able to show it to you here first.
232
712000
3000
12:10
You're the very first people to see this.
233
715000
2000
12:12
This is "Sleep," the Virtual Choir.
234
717000
3000
12:17
(Video) Virtual Choir: ♫ The evening hangs ♫
235
722000
4000
12:21
♫ beneath the moon ♫
236
726000
9000
12:30
♫ A silver thread on darkened dune ♫
237
735000
12000
12:42
♫ With closing eyes and resting head ♫
238
747000
10000
12:52
♫ I know that sleep is coming soon ♫
239
757000
15000
13:07
♫ Upon my pillow, ♫
240
772000
5000
13:12
♫ safe in bed, ♫
241
777000
8000
13:20
♫ a thousand pictures fill my head ♫
242
785000
12000
13:32
♫ I cannot sleep ♫
243
797000
3000
13:35
♫ my mind's aflight ♫
244
800000
5000
13:40
♫ and yet my limbs seem made of lead ♫
245
805000
14000
13:54
♫ If there are noises in the night ♫
246
819000
13000
14:07
Eric Whitacre: Thank you very, very much. Thank you.
247
832000
3000
14:10
(Applause)
248
835000
10000
14:20
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
249
845000
3000
14:23
(Applause)
250
848000
5000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eric Whitacre - Composer, conductor
After creating and conducting a worldwide virtual choir on YouTube, Eric Whitacre is now touring with an astonishing live choir.

Why you should listen

Eric Whitacre began his music career singing in his college choir; by 21, he had written his first concert work, Go, Lovely Rose, and advanced to Juilliard, where he studied under John Corigliano. Today, he has published more than four dozen choral works, conducted in some of the most esteemed halls in the world, and featured on dozens of recordings. His album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works earned him a Grammy nomination in 2007, as did his Decca debut Light & Gold, while his new album, Water Night, debuted at #1 in US iTunes classical charts.

You may know him, too, as the creator and conductor of the virtual choir, a network of YouTube-connected singers whose voices blend together online to become true magic. And he's now touring with the Eric Whitacre Signers, a 28-voice choir (yes, they're all in the same room).

More profile about the speaker
Eric Whitacre | Speaker | TED.com