[pause]
>> ERIC: Hey gang! Eric Whitacre here - and here we go again. For this version of the
Virtual Choir we will be singing Sleep; a piece that I wrote in the year 2000. The very
first Virtual Choir was Sleep, but that was really just a test to see if the concept would
work. We took a big step forward with the second version, which was Lux Aurumque, and
now we go back and do Sleep, but this time for real.
Alright, so now let's get into the music. Beginning with the first page, page three:
"The evening hangs beneath the moon". This is something I want you to think about during
your entire performance - that is diction. The dedication to these gorgeous consonants.
"The-ee eve-ning hangs be-neath ..." - there's the potential for little lovely sounds on
every one of those beats. The second concept that I want you to keep throughout the entire
piece is this sense of legato. So that instead of going from chord, to chord to chord, we're
singing in long, fluid, unbroken lines. When we hit "beneath the moon," make "moon" the
most perfect "ooh" you possibly can. Same thing with the "silver thread on darkened
dune", with "closing eyes and resting head" ... make sure here that you stagger breathe
through this so that you can breathe anywhere else in that phrase quietly, but don't breathe
"resting head" - make that unbroken. "Know that sleep is coming soon" and again, a perfect
"ooh" vowel.
Then at the bottom of page four; "Upon my pillow safe in bed" - let this flow openly,
freely, and again a legato line, not note to note, and make the entire climax of that
phrase the word "bed". "A thousand pictures fill my head", nice and gentle to rise up
out of the texture here. "I cannot sleep my mind's aflight", "aflight" - this is all about
you. Bring that out there. "And yet my limbs seem made of lead". It's essential on the
word "lead" that you cut off exactly where it's written, so basses you'll notice that
you cut off on beat three, baritones beat four, tenors on beat one of the next bar.
The idea is that we're taking the chord "lead" and then sort of making it evaporate one note
at a time from the bottom up until we're all singing very delicately. Then "if there are noises" - nice little crescendo.
Same thing "in the night". Then "a frightening shadow", give me a nice 'f' on "frightening",
and again on "flickering light" we can paint the idea of a flickering candle light with
that 'f'. Altos when you come in "then I surrender" maybe a little louder, be a little bit more
present. Then lots of diction here and just lovely simple sounds. Make sure you have a
real dedication to where the crescendo and the decrescendo is written to each of your
individual parts. It'll make the texture sort of come alive if we all do that as written.
Then page eight; "what dreams may come both dark and deep". "Wha-t drea-ms may co-me"
- again there's another one; "dre-ams may co-me both dark and deep". Ladies; "flying
wings and soaring leap" save, save, save that crescendo - we just want to build, build the
energy so that by the time we rich forte we're ready for the breathe "as I surrender unto
sleep", and then here just the freest most open sound you can make "dark and deep ...".
Then when we get to the big climax "as I surrender unto sleep", especially ladies,
instead of a "ah" just think of a long tall "ooon" vowel and soar over the top of this.
Not too much vibrato but a good healthy clean, clear sound. We come all the way down through
the top of page 10. Then in sixty-three "sleeeep" - a nice crescendo decrescendo breathe in
and a breathe out. Same thing on the next one. Then I'd love to hear a good solid crescendo
from baritones and tenors, and then eventually from the altos and the sopranos going into
the downbeat of sixty seven. We come all the way down, and then when we start the meditation
on eleven "sleeeep ... sleeeep" let each one diminuendo - poco a poco - and by the time
you get to the seventh or eighth reptition of it, you should really be at almost a whisper
- almost gone. You should only have to eight, maybe nine, maybe ten repetitions of it singing
as soft as you possibly can. And when you finish, hold for just a moment so that we
can co-ordinate everyone's ending together. Just hold the still face.
I guess that's it! Let's make some music.