1 00:00:00,199 --> 00:00:04,017 [pause] 2 00:00:04,017 --> 00:00:08,149 [pause] 3 00:00:08,149 --> 00:00:16,079 >> ERIC: Hey gang! Eric Whitacre here - and here we go again. For this version of the 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:21,096 Virtual Choir we will be singing Sleep; a piece that I wrote in the year 2000. The very 5 00:00:21,096 --> 00:00:25,056 first Virtual Choir was Sleep, but that was really just a test to see if the concept would 6 00:00:25,056 --> 00:00:31,002 work. We took a big step forward with the second version, which was Lux Aurumque, and 7 00:00:31,002 --> 00:00:33,095 now we go back and do Sleep, but this time for real. 8 00:00:33,095 --> 00:00:38,048 Alright, so now let's get into the music. Beginning with the first page, page three: 9 00:00:38,048 --> 00:00:43,002 "The evening hangs beneath the moon". This is something I want you to think about during 10 00:00:43,002 --> 00:00:48,026 your entire performance - that is diction. The dedication to these gorgeous consonants. 11 00:00:48,026 --> 00:00:58,066 "The-ee eve-ning hangs be-neath ..." - there's the potential for little lovely sounds on 12 00:00:58,066 --> 00:01:02,077 every one of those beats. The second concept that I want you to keep throughout the entire 13 00:01:02,077 --> 00:01:07,085 piece is this sense of legato. So that instead of going from chord, to chord to chord, we're 14 00:01:07,085 --> 00:01:15,799 singing in long, fluid, unbroken lines. When we hit "beneath the moon," make "moon" the 15 00:01:15,799 --> 00:01:19,081 most perfect "ooh" you possibly can. Same thing with the "silver thread on darkened 16 00:01:19,081 --> 00:01:26,479 dune", with "closing eyes and resting head" ... make sure here that you stagger breathe 17 00:01:26,479 --> 00:01:30,829 through this so that you can breathe anywhere else in that phrase quietly, but don't breathe 18 00:01:30,829 --> 00:01:39,289 "resting head" - make that unbroken. "Know that sleep is coming soon" and again, a perfect 19 00:01:39,289 --> 00:01:40,209 "ooh" vowel. 20 00:01:40,209 --> 00:01:45,349 Then at the bottom of page four; "Upon my pillow safe in bed" - let this flow openly, 21 00:01:45,349 --> 00:01:51,109 freely, and again a legato line, not note to note, and make the entire climax of that 22 00:01:51,109 --> 00:01:58,819 phrase the word "bed". "A thousand pictures fill my head", nice and gentle to rise up 23 00:01:58,819 --> 00:02:05,079 out of the texture here. "I cannot sleep my mind's aflight", "aflight" - this is all about 24 00:02:05,079 --> 00:02:10,739 you. Bring that out there. "And yet my limbs seem made of lead". It's essential on the 25 00:02:10,739 --> 00:02:15,159 word "lead" that you cut off exactly where it's written, so basses you'll notice that 26 00:02:15,159 --> 00:02:20,034 you cut off on beat three, baritones beat four, tenors on beat one of the next bar. 27 00:02:20,034 --> 00:02:26,023 The idea is that we're taking the chord "lead" and then sort of making it evaporate one note 28 00:02:26,023 --> 00:02:40,004 at a time from the bottom up until we're all singing very delicately. Then "if there are noises" - nice little crescendo. 29 00:02:40,004 --> 00:02:48,006 Same thing "in the night". Then "a frightening shadow", give me a nice 'f' on "frightening", 30 00:02:48,006 --> 00:02:52,004 and again on "flickering light" we can paint the idea of a flickering candle light with 31 00:02:52,004 --> 00:02:58,569 that 'f'. Altos when you come in "then I surrender" maybe a little louder, be a little bit more 32 00:02:58,569 --> 00:03:03,084 present. Then lots of diction here and just lovely simple sounds. Make sure you have a 33 00:03:03,084 --> 00:03:08,009 real dedication to where the crescendo and the decrescendo is written to each of your 34 00:03:08,009 --> 00:03:15,609 individual parts. It'll make the texture sort of come alive if we all do that as written. 35 00:03:15,609 --> 00:03:24,011 Then page eight; "what dreams may come both dark and deep". "Wha-t drea-ms may co-me" 36 00:03:24,011 --> 00:03:31,064 - again there's another one; "dre-ams may co-me both dark and deep". Ladies; "flying 37 00:03:31,064 --> 00:03:38,004 wings and soaring leap" save, save, save that crescendo - we just want to build, build the 38 00:03:38,004 --> 00:03:43,054 energy so that by the time we rich forte we're ready for the breathe "as I surrender unto 39 00:03:43,054 --> 00:03:50,629 sleep", and then here just the freest most open sound you can make "dark and deep ...". 40 00:03:50,629 --> 00:03:59,579 Then when we get to the big climax "as I surrender unto sleep", especially ladies, 41 00:03:59,579 --> 00:04:05,068 instead of a "ah" just think of a long tall "ooon" vowel and soar over the top of this. 42 00:04:05,068 --> 00:04:12,017 Not too much vibrato but a good healthy clean, clear sound. We come all the way down through 43 00:04:12,017 --> 00:04:21,002 the top of page 10. Then in sixty-three "sleeeep" - a nice crescendo decrescendo breathe in 44 00:04:21,002 --> 00:04:27,004 and a breathe out. Same thing on the next one. Then I'd love to hear a good solid crescendo 45 00:04:27,004 --> 00:04:32,018 from baritones and tenors, and then eventually from the altos and the sopranos going into 46 00:04:32,018 --> 00:04:37,032 the downbeat of sixty seven. We come all the way down, and then when we start the meditation 47 00:04:37,032 --> 00:04:46,099 on eleven "sleeeep ... sleeeep" let each one diminuendo - poco a poco - and by the time 48 00:04:46,099 --> 00:04:53,000 you get to the seventh or eighth reptition of it, you should really be at almost a whisper 49 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:59,011 - almost gone. You should only have to eight, maybe nine, maybe ten repetitions of it singing 50 00:04:59,011 --> 00:05:05,076 as soft as you possibly can. And when you finish, hold for just a moment so that we 51 00:05:05,076 --> 00:05:09,056 can co-ordinate everyone's ending together. Just hold the still face. 52 00:05:09,056 --> 99:59:59,999 I guess that's it! Let's make some music.