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Virtual Choir 5 Community Forum

Meet the Choir. Why did you join Virtual Choir 5?

#86

I’m currently living in North Carolina, but am originally from Ontario, Canada. My first choir experience was in University 12 years ago when we sang Go Lovely Rose, With a Lily, and I Hide Myself in a concert. I was enamoured from the first notes. The virtual choirs were very interesting to watch as musical and technological achievements, so I was super excited to hear about VC5 and being able to sign up. I look forward to hearing this piece from so many voices in so many places, particularly from my Canadian comrades.

#87

Hi I am Karin and I signed up because I just love singing in choirs. Lately, I have been directing my church choir, and also directing high school choir at the school I teach at. I love directing, but really miss singing in the choir among the others, so this was a great chance for me sing right from home. :slight_smile: Keep it up everyone! This is a great way to use technology and music.

#88

Hello, y’all! Alyson here, from Virginia, USA. I participated in VC4 and loved it so much. Music has always been a part of my life. I grew up in church choir, joined band in school, and am now an elementary music educator. I’ve enjoyed the VC experience so very much and have been inviting everyone I meet to join! I don’t have the opportunity often to sing real choral music, so it’s a true treasure.

#89

VC4 was so much more than I had any idea it would be for me. I’m so glad we finally got to really meet In NY. :smile:

#90

Hey, everyone! I’m a tenor who spent most of his life in Nebraska, but has lived in Alabama the past 3 years! I’ve been studying choral and classical music for about 15 years, I’m currently 24. I play piano and have spent most of my life performing in vocal music and acting. Made a few attempts to professional theatre and broadway and have gotten closer every time! Never got to do the VC and have always dreamt to be a part of it ever since Lux Arumque! I look forward to this magical experience!

#91

Hello, am Tanya from Israel
Have been singing in a choir for more than 10 years. We sang Whitacre’s Lux' andSleep’, so when the choir conductor sent us a link to the VC5 there was no question whether to participate.
Assume half of the choir sent the recordings, doubt anyone else will enter the forum.

#92

I am Robert Piper, from Sacramento. I have been following the VC since the 3rd installment, and I was so upset that I missed VC4 due to school. I’ve always enjoyed performing in a choir, and I enjoy chatting with people from other parts of the world. Seeing something like this, where people just come together to sing without judgement, no matter where they are, is something that brings me so much joy. Even though the actual choir part is so short in this 5th installment, I’m so glad to finally be a part of something that has been such a big inspiration to me.

#93

I am from Pennsylvania. I am a singer and I’m going to college for music education on voice. I signed up for this because I think it makes me feel like I’m part of a community. It feels like I’m making something beautiful with my people.

#94

I’ve played in the Dr. Who Fan Orchestra a few times, and I love the feeling of being part of a worldwide musical collaboration. I am so excited about VC5 being “Deep Field,” a marriage of music and science with parts that everyone can sing. Since I’m not a vocalist, I never imagined I’d be participating in such a project. Eric’s enthusiasm and even the technical aspects of the website make it easy to become part of VC5, and his walking us through each cell and gently saying things like “good job” actually made me feel assured, as if he was here with me. I love the map and seeing how truly worldwide this project is, and I really enjoyed earning my badges :slight_smile: . So excited for the final release!!

#95

I joined because I had seen some previous choirs and loved them (specifically Lux Aurumque). Eric does an amazing job with syncing everything, and each VC feels like a legit choir.

I was terrified before submitting my own video. I’ve done music all my life, rehearsed and sung with real life choirs, so a virtual choir was definitely a new experience.

Excited to see the final product.

#96

Hi I’m Lynne from the UK, I’m 71 yrs old and have sung all my life in many choirs of varying sizes from choral societies with 100 members, to my present chamber choir of 26 an octet and quartet …but I don’t do solos!
I sang in VC2 and have been every one since. At first it was because I wanted to be a bit techie to show my children and grandchildren, but now, having met Eric I want to do any that he initiates. I’m a big fan.

#97

I signed up from Parker, Colorado. I first heard about the VC when a friend sent me the weblinks to VC1 and VC2. I was hooked. This is my third VC (VC3, VC4, VC5). I’ve sung in choirs all my life until the past few years. Because I travel so much for work, I can’t commit to rehearsals, which prevents me from joining a local choir. Eric’s VCs provide me the opportunity to sing as part of a group and as long as work prevents me from singing locally, I’ll join virtual choir.

#98

Im from the UK and have taken part in VC 3 and 4, so excited to now be part of this amazing piece for VC5!
I can’t begin to list or explain everything being part of VC has done for me, I hope you all get the same pleasure from taking part :blush:

#99

This will be fun and a great time for me. I like to sing and I already sang in a choir, but this is going to be totally diferent and a wonderful exeprience. Great time for all…!!!

#100

I joined to sing and to meet my soulmate. I have only one year of formal college vocal training and 5+ years of singing in an ensemble. Love to finally be a part of this experience and look forward to the final product! I joined choir in high school because of a girl and I am so thankful that I did. That experience helped me in college pursuing my music degree. I’m a percussionist, so serious singing was a bit daunting at first, but then it became serious fun!

-Grant Choitz, OR, USA

#101

I’ve been following Eric since his MySpace days and the demos of his show Paradise Lost. I saw VC’s 1, 2 and 3 go past and finally joined for VC4. Then I got accepted to the Disney world of color project and have been on the edge of my seat waiting for VC5.
I was very active in music and musical theatre since I was about 5 or 6. Then after school ended, I lost touch and only did a few shows. Then I had kids and life is so busy VC’s are my only way to participate in a choir. I’m really excited to see how this turns out and to show my kids that even tho I’m a little rusty, mommy can sing!

#102

I had the wonderful experience of singing in a 400-voice live choir conducted by Eric in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian outside on a lovely June day a few years ago and have been waiting for this exciting opportunity to experience singing in a virtual choir. Deep Field is amazing I love listening to it and practicing. I’m also interested in space exploration. I’ve learned so much by earning the badges and the website is beautiful. I also miss practicing and performing in a large live choir, the National Christian Choir, since I moved from Maryland to Jacksonville, Florida.

#103

Hello!
I’m Batya, a Soprano (but I actually sing whatever is needed Tenor-Soprano) from Castle Rock, Colorado. I’ve been in choir consistently for 7 years now, but this is my first VC. I am a student at CU Boulder studying Astrophysics and music, so when I got Eric’s email about this one, I got really excited. I love the previous VC videos and singing in choir. Music is home and Astrophysics is my passion, so this is really exciting for me!

#104

I’m from Pensacola, FL. I am a singer, and a middle school choir director. I stumbled upon Eric Whitacre after his Ted Talk and have taught my students about him, encouraged them to participate when they can in the virtual choirs when they become available.
I was super excited when Virtual Choir 5 came up, and was hoping to hit it at the end of the school year with my students, but we finished the school year before it went live. I’m excited to finally participate, after watching them!

#105

Hi Everyone! I think this community and forum that Eric Whitacre and his team have decided to add is quite beautiful! So, I just thought since everyone on this forum and thread share the same love and passion for Choir as I do, I thought what better people would there be in this world to share my story with then all of you! I am going into my Junior year of High School after this summer. It would actually be my senior year that I would be going into, but I was going through some things in my life at that time that made me to make choices in my life that caused me to be away from what I love, which is Choir. So I’m 16 years old now. And for me, there was something that I struggled with a lot, and that was my eating habits. Growing up, I didn’t live in the ideal environment. I went through a lot with my parents and my family and I dealt with that by eating. So, since I started doing that from a young age. I became overweight early on in my life. I didn’t really start gaining weight until I was in 3rd grade. But that was still very early on in my life. And so, I gradually gained and gained as I got older, kept using food to deal with was going on with my family. And when I was about 13 years old. My family life at that point was actually really good. I just was used to over-eating that it was just normal for me at that point, even when my family life was in a good place. So at age 13, I reached my highest weight, and that was 280 lbs at just 13 years old. I was practically obese. At that point I had virtually no self-confidence and deep down I hated the way that I looked. But my whole life, I always made excuses for myself as to why I couldn’t lose the weight. So one day, my mom picked me up from school and she told me that she talked to my doctor earlier in the day and he said he was worried that I was diabetic. So, at my age hearing something like that scared the absolute life out of me. And it was at that point when i told myself that I need to get in gear and do what I need to do to lose this weight and get healthy. So I did, I lost about 110 lbs in a little under a year and I went from 280 down to 170. I told myself at the time that I was healthy, I was on top of the world. Nothing could bring me down. And at the point when I achieved my goal weight. I was in my freshman year of High School. 2015-2016 And of course, going into a brand new period of my life. I joined the absolutely amazing choir program that we have at my high school, and that’s when my love and passion for Choir truly blossomed. I discovered something in my life that I loved more than anything previously. I made All-State Choir, I made such amazing memories that I will cherish so greatly for the rest of my life. And so with that, I went through my freshman year of High School and I kept the weight off the whole school year. I started working out everyday, I started to develop a level of self-confidence that I have never had before. I felt happier than I ever have felt previously in my life. So as the school year went on, I started doing this thing called cheat days. Where I would eat healthy for six days of the week, and I would go crazy and eat whatever I want the other day of the week. I did that every Saturday. And as I kept doing it, my mind started to develop the idea that whenever I did these cheat days, I was losing all the weight and progress that i made losing the weight. So as I kept dealing with it, it got worse. i developed bulimia. And… I dealt with that for about two months, I only did it once a week. But I still know looking back on it, it was a very bad thing to be dealing with. So eventually, over that summer. I stopped doing that, but I still struggled and started to develop a lot of anxiety that I had never dealt with before. And because of the fact that I waited too long to deal with the problem, it eventually caught up to me. I went into that next school year still dealing with that level of anxiety that I never experienced before. I freaked out, my mind freaked out. And my mind was trying to figure out a way for me to get away from this anxiety. So, I left school. I left Choir, what I loved so much. My friends. Because my mind told me that was the best solution to get this anxiety to go away. And I listened too it. I left school and everything that I knew and loved. So at that point I wasn’t doing anything with my life. I started isolating myself from the world and barely left my house. And as the days went by, I slowly started realizing the mistake that I made of leaving school and what I love. And then I had a voice in my head that told me that it was too late for me, too late for me to get my life back on track and to go back to what I love. And I listened to that voice as well, and I developed depression. And so, as that school year went by. I kept doing the same thing, not facing and dealing with the problem head on, rather I was running away from it hoping that it would just all magically go away. So as that school year past by, and summer came. My life started to actually feel like it was getting on track. I was dealing with my depression and anxiety and it wasn’t affecting me that much. And so, one day I was walking a trail at a really pretty park in my town. It was a great day, I was just really happy and in a good mood. And so as I was walking, my choir director at my high school texted me to see how I was doing. And it was at that point, where I knew if there was any better opportunity for me to get my life back together. It was now. So I did, I enrolled back at my high school and I went back to what I loved most, and that is Choir. I had a lot of anxiety at first going back to school, but I stayed strong and I pulled through. So I stayed in school and I finished the year. I went back as Sophomore not because I had too, but because I did so I could make up for the year of choir that I missed. And at the end of the day, I knew as long as I could do that. That’s all that mattered to me… So to say that choir, choir music, and the absolute blessing that I have with my high school Choir Director and the choir program that I am able to be apart of. Choir for me has not only changed my life forever, but it has saved my life as well…