i think that considering that this is a high school choir, they did a good job. I think there are some people here who are commenting on videos just to sound smart. Everyone needs to calm down and respect that this group has talent.
now if only the camera operator could have held the camera steady. That's what tripods are for and the way the best videos are created...so as to eliminate distractions... excellent musical performance - especially for a high school group !
Just want to put this out there, we worked on this for just a few weeks if I remember correctly. I know we could have been better, but for the amount of time we spent on it plus how many other songs we spent working on at the same time, I think we did ok.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
i just threw up in my mouth. your vowels were horrible and you absolutely slaughtered this piece. this did no justice whatsoever to eric whitacre and what he intended this piece to be. thank you for almost ruining this for me.
this is pretty good actually. nice to hear another highschool who is good too, and really pays attention to detail: the dynamic contrast, vowels and diction. very good.
wow, very well done. i think this is probably as good as a high school choir can do it.
still... you need men with more mature voices to support the sound... it sounds pretty hollow without them! still props to you for putting it together so well.
Fond du Lac in Wisconsin, i'm from wisconsin. wow, the eyes of shadow-water and open your eyes blew me away. very good. much better than my high school choir was. good job and nice performance.
yeah my parents do pretty well. and I have friends at Berklee. I was thinking about Berklee to go there for film scoring and Jazz composition. but i decided otherwise.
Berklee is a REALLY good school but the tuition there is a lot too. Even with my parents doing well i will still finish with ALOT of debt.
I agree, every choir has spots of needed improvement, your altos at 3:45 went flat, but all it takes is one person, it also has no accompaniment, and its a damn Erik Whitacre piece, the fact that your choir did that is AMAZING, my choirs doing cloudburst this semester, I was hoping when she said we were doing Whitacre we'd get this or sleep, but its a lot of fun. Great video, don't listen to the critics.
UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!!!! This choir is AMAZING. Regardless of it being a HS, amateur, professional, college, WHATEVER. They're AWESOME. They have all those chunky chords RINGING! I'm studying to be a music educator one day and I HOPE i can get my choir to come near the quality that this choir has shown. I didn't think that a HS choir could do Whitacre justice, but they proved me wrong. (at the risk of sound trite or cliche) Bravo!
E flat is a very important note for basses. because writers write E flats because they are low enough to be really low but high enough were people can still here it without a problem. i write them all the time.
but usually when i write low E flats in songs im usually singing bass and i can get them no problem. I dont normally see music that too low for me. lol
Nice to attempt to sound enlightened...and bragging about how low you can go. I wouldn't say E flat isn't an important note for bass. I am pretty sure most (90+ percent) songs require a bass to be able to go as low as an E max and as high as an e 2 octaves above max. Lower is usually optional. Of course even though I sing bass in choir I am not an actual bass, but I am just 15 years old so who knows, I'll probably be able to hit that note powerfully in 10 years.
90+ percent of songs have a low E flat in them? i have been studying choral music for 12 years and the amount of songs i have seen that go down do a low E flat is nowhere near 90+ percent. Im not insulting you i just dont think that that is true.
Re-read my post. I did not say "90+ percent of song have a low E flat in them". How have you been studying choral music for 12 years when your profile says you are just 18? Just because you have been in choir for 12 years does not mean you have been studying choral music for 12 years.
Well i have been singing for 12 years and traditionally sutdying choral music for about 6 now composing for 3 years. and i am a freshman at the julliard school of music in New York. Trust me i know what im talking about.
I'm sure you do. An no sarcasm there, I'm being serious. I was just angry at the time of my posts :(. I failed to make All state choir this year. I'm no music expert unfortunately.
Maryland. It actually came as a bit of a surprise to me because this year I thought my audition was very good whereas last year I thought it sucked and I made it.
I made district IMEA this year (and I did sophmore year as well, but now I'm a senior) but couldn't go due to a previous engagement with community theatre, which I was forced to choose over the festival.
I was looking there as well. I was looking at Julliard, Berklee, Western Michigan, and Millikin when I made my desicion. If you go there tell Stephen Weidenhoffer I say hi. (hes the dean of music and director of One Voice if you don't know)
Probably depends on the level of music, dang, thats a lot of time studying, how long do you study? Your tuition makes me cry, Julliard... God thats gotta take its toll on the wallet, scholarship or your parents got mad bank? I recently got mail from berklee, I'm probably going for composition. *High Five*, I've been writing music for a long time, I even have some random guitar work from middle school up here. Anyways... Julliard... Damn.
Yeah, give it a few years, when your voice starts breaking try again, happened to me, I still sing tenor though, more fun, kids don't try to blast as much as the basses do, because they can't do it in there chest voice without sounding retarded, ahaha... Why are you arguing with a Julliard student? Thats bold and stupid.
Plus, if you listen, you hear people crying before the applause breaks out - it shows that moving performances don't have to be perfect, the group just has to want to hit it, you know? Anyway, be nice, and get your snobby heads out of where the sun don't shine - we are all guilty of it at some point or another, even me, but it sometimes takes another person to let you know - I love these choirs ;-)
PS, stop being offensive on here - how many of the people who posted rude things on here have videos up that rival the quality of this one? not many. Appreciate the music; it's not worth it to fight about the quality of the group.
By the way, the sopranos just soar - not screechy at all as we tend to be...eeesh, I'm not gonna lie - It takes a ton of busting your ass to get sound like this - props ;-)
the tenors have a great pure sound in this recording :-)
Whitacre is incredibly difficult, and i really enjoy this recording - personally, i like darker vowel space, however, it's really up to the discretion of the director!
i am in this choir and am in this particular clip i am a tenor and happen to be standing in the front row and the reason we sang this pice is because it is dificult and it is a 16 pice harmony. you can only achive greatness by trying the great pices of music wich Fond du Lac Choirs definitly do. The main reason for poasting this video was for our choir members to watch and get better. Maby your choirs should do the same. Happy watching.
Music isn't competetive. You guys are very good, and you owe it to your director. But don't boast please. Music is universal, and if one person thinks they're better at it, then they don't truly understand it. Keep working at it though! :)
i dont see why everyone one is getting so offensive and defensive. this may not be the best but it is A HIGH SCHOOL choir! this is fantastic for high school level. and while their vowels aren't all perfect who cares. there are like 16 part harmonies in this piece! so props to the singers. grandiose.
look at all these choral experts in here. lol. i didn't know Robert Shaw & John Rutter had accounts on youtube.
how arrogant can you be to say, "i've worked with mr. whitacre and he would slap you for ruining his piece".
obviously, you missed something, because he's extremely humble and i'm sure he would feel honored having ANY choir sing his music. get over yourself . . . first of all.
and 2, why are you idiots coming here to state the obvious?! i mean, is it really necessary?? it's music!
they need to blend with each other more. Throughout the song, individual voices stick out. This is an awesome song but was too advanced for this choir.
I have had the privilege of working with Whitacre, and I must say that he would have smack all of you upside the head for ruining his music. This was not to good, but I must say that it is a LOT better then most of the other videos you can find of this song on youtube.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Average performance of average piece.
Madeleine Marshall is the foremost expect on singing diction. And she says (in general, not about this exact piece) it should be
"wat-ea" with the last syllable sounding the the first part of the word "earth", only never really closing to the "r" sound.
Also, there is no way you should emphasize "ter" in water. That's the exact opposite of how it should be. You would never emphasize the "ter" while speaking, so why would you while singing?
Wow, you really have no knowledge of how singing diction works buddy! Granted, this group is not doing the best job with their pronunciation either, but "water" is one of the most important words in this entire piece. It needs to be stretched to its full potential in order for the listener to truly grasp the beauty in the text. If it was sung as "wah-tuh" with a slight 'r' on the end, it would sound AMAZING! But only emphasize the first syllable, and let the second be a schwa vowel.
My choir is also performing with Mr. Whitacre singing a combined Sleep and Lux Aurumque, however our choir is singing With a Lily in the Hand. Along with Desh by Dr. Sperry (Miami University) and O Nata Lux, not sure whom it's by.
i'm a chorale major in my high school, i just wanted to say that the first time you hear the half notes of "water" you shouldn't make it wah der. it should have an emphasized Ter sound... but thats me. at the first fortissimo of eyes.... rounded vowels
thats just my opinion though, don't take this as being mean, but as of constructive criticism. :)
Ok what top notch instructor are you talking to because you should always have the distinct ter diction when saying water, never wah daa. i would be suprised to see any top notch director say that...
I've always had directors who in instances like that say that it should have more of a British accent sound to it. That way it's like a mix of wah-tah and wah-ter, and it's not as harsh sounding. *shrugs* Whatever works best for the choir, I guess.
I would have been inclined to agree with you but my chamber choir sang witness first term and worked with Ronald Stalei on it. He is considered one of the best directors in the world right now and is over the BYU singers. He asked us to do something weird with one of our words so you never know who might say what.
Sheesh, I'm no vocal major but one of the foremost choral directors on the east coast teaches at my university (Dr. Peggy Dettwiler at Mansfield University) and when our men's chorus sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water", we were taught to sing water like, "wah-der". Though this might have been out of style - our arrangement was written gospel style, so it's possible that diction was appropriate for that style. So many different choices, who's to say who is right and who is wrong?
wah-tuh. Tuh should have the same vowel as in the word "put," possibly even more closed than that, and definitely rounded in the lips. That's what I have my choir do.
So many choirs singing this song on YouTube could not match this--I'm not saying it was perfect, though. There seemed to be some choppy parts and, as some ppl have pointed out, an overpowering of the sopranos.
The New Jersey All- State choir did this song the best i've ever heard and i'm not only saying that cuz i'm in the chorus, but when the CD comes out i'm gonna put it on here, it's amazing.
Note to the conductor: Never, never, never, never, under any circumstances restart a piece unless the "train has derailed." It is embarassing for your performers when they have to account for your bad upbeat. Just go on, and they will follow.
After performing this piece, I'm sure they did, with the amount of times the director must have told the second sopranos to sing out whenever they held the dissonant parts!
This is an extremely difficult piece, and your choir did a very good job on this piece! All I can say is taller vowels and better intonation, but that's getting nit-picky.
I personally thought the song was very good!!! I think you guys did a good job! Some notes sound a little shaky, but they are probably supposed to since I bet the notes clash (as in B and C). Good job! Really pretty!
It's not that horrible. I think the worst part about this is the background noise coming from aound the area of the camera. They're obviously doing some amount of staggered breathing because otherwise it would sound like absolute crap. Maybe you should think before you post idiotic comments that aren't even relevant.
Oh of course, staggered breathing isn't relevant to WATER Night... Get it? It's supposed to sound like water? How hard is it to take 20 seconds out of rehearsal and say "you guys need to spread out your breathing so that it sounds smooth"?
No, it's not relevant because look at the way he's conducting it. He's putting points in there where they all regroup to add dramatic effect. And i'm pretty sure you're not Eric W. so stop trying to act like you know Everything there is to know about the piece.
Its because they havent been taught how to alternate breathes so the phrases make a seamless line, melting into eachother so it seems that no one is breathing. Its a hard concept for a highschool choir to get, but they did a good job with this song for highschool.
Cool. I love this song so much, as well as Eric's other songs he did. I remember singing this song, along with the rest of the choir of course, during my Senior Year of High School last year. You guys did a much better job though. Great job, and well done....
Yikes!
SingInTune 1 month ago
Vowel shapes...my only complaint
Gobstoper4you 4 months ago
The awkward cough.....
chucktownboi843 5 months ago
I'm in love with the altos in this choir. usually 2nd alto is the part you can barely here in choirs. not here, nice and clear! bravo
91BROWNIE91 1 year ago
i think that considering that this is a high school choir, they did a good job. I think there are some people here who are commenting on videos just to sound smart. Everyone needs to calm down and respect that this group has talent.
Mksrocks7 1 year ago
now if only the camera operator could have held the camera steady. That's what tripods are for and the way the best videos are created...so as to eliminate distractions... excellent musical performance - especially for a high school group !
eugenesteiner 1 year ago
Just want to put this out there, we worked on this for just a few weeks if I remember correctly. I know we could have been better, but for the amount of time we spent on it plus how many other songs we spent working on at the same time, I think we did ok.
princesspink22003 2 years ago
I think yall did a good job on this song, i mean i heard one of the best choirs in texas sing this song and they sounded amazing lol keep it up
Jyron2 2 years ago
....look at MVHS' performance of water night, and then you guys will be blown away.
gorillazure 2 years ago
As impolite as that is.....the performance gorilla speaks of is just incredible.
JAnthony37 2 years ago
Love the alto's part.
Lalaluvinfrankie 2 years ago
we sang this song and i love the alto part but the altos were flat in this vid!
MeggieMusic 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
i just threw up in my mouth. your vowels were horrible and you absolutely slaughtered this piece. this did no justice whatsoever to eric whitacre and what he intended this piece to be. thank you for almost ruining this for me.
heyhihello72 2 years ago
The vowels were a little lacking, and the overall tone was kind of bright, but the musicality was nice.
bama1091 2 years ago
I was in there!
LifeSkt3 2 years ago
yay! I am in there
allyappleseed 2 years ago
yes, very well job, we sing it in choir, too.
but what happend in 1.50? ^^
sorry about my english..
aerosmithphili 3 years ago
That's the actual chord.
midnightpredator18 3 years ago
Yes, that's the chord.
zachmaga 2 years ago
oh you're right. i thought because it sounds a little bit dissonant, but i saw it have to sound so :P
aerosmithphili 2 years ago
this is pretty good actually. nice to hear another highschool who is good too, and really pays attention to detail: the dynamic contrast, vowels and diction. very good.
walkingggSIN 3 years ago
wow, very well done. i think this is probably as good as a high school choir can do it.
still... you need men with more mature voices to support the sound... it sounds pretty hollow without them! still props to you for putting it together so well.
chinter 3 years ago
It was hard being the only Bass II who could actually rumble down there. Looking back, I still think we did an okay job.
zachmaga 3 years ago
Fond du Lac in Wisconsin, i'm from wisconsin. wow, the eyes of shadow-water and open your eyes blew me away. very good. much better than my high school choir was. good job and nice performance.
yoplaitdude1807 3 years ago
yeah my parents do pretty well. and I have friends at Berklee. I was thinking about Berklee to go there for film scoring and Jazz composition. but i decided otherwise.
Berklee is a REALLY good school but the tuition there is a lot too. Even with my parents doing well i will still finish with ALOT of debt.
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
One of my favorites! I was even hoping to see the Philippine Madrigal Singers' version of this piece. They superbly performed this song.=)
makoi0130 3 years ago
You guys should argue elsewhere, leave this area open for comments, not debates.
zachmaga 3 years ago
I agree, every choir has spots of needed improvement, your altos at 3:45 went flat, but all it takes is one person, it also has no accompaniment, and its a damn Erik Whitacre piece, the fact that your choir did that is AMAZING, my choirs doing cloudburst this semester, I was hoping when she said we were doing Whitacre we'd get this or sleep, but its a lot of fun. Great video, don't listen to the critics.
hisheartofstone 3 years ago
NICE!!! especially for a high school choir!!!
hubermore 3 years ago
UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!!!! This choir is AMAZING. Regardless of it being a HS, amateur, professional, college, WHATEVER. They're AWESOME. They have all those chunky chords RINGING! I'm studying to be a music educator one day and I HOPE i can get my choir to come near the quality that this choir has shown. I didn't think that a HS choir could do Whitacre justice, but they proved me wrong. (at the risk of sound trite or cliche) Bravo!
GpD79 3 years ago
beautiful.
musicprodigy 3 years ago
That low e flat for the basses is killer...unfortunately it's a half a step below the lowest I can hit so I had to be moved up to a higher divisi :(
agentkro 3 years ago
E flat is a very important note for basses. because writers write E flats because they are low enough to be really low but high enough were people can still here it without a problem. i write them all the time.
but usually when i write low E flats in songs im usually singing bass and i can get them no problem. I dont normally see music that too low for me. lol
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Nice to attempt to sound enlightened...and bragging about how low you can go. I wouldn't say E flat isn't an important note for bass. I am pretty sure most (90+ percent) songs require a bass to be able to go as low as an E max and as high as an e 2 octaves above max. Lower is usually optional. Of course even though I sing bass in choir I am not an actual bass, but I am just 15 years old so who knows, I'll probably be able to hit that note powerfully in 10 years.
agentkro 3 years ago
90+ percent of songs have a low E flat in them? i have been studying choral music for 12 years and the amount of songs i have seen that go down do a low E flat is nowhere near 90+ percent. Im not insulting you i just dont think that that is true.
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Re-read my post. I did not say "90+ percent of song have a low E flat in them". How have you been studying choral music for 12 years when your profile says you are just 18? Just because you have been in choir for 12 years does not mean you have been studying choral music for 12 years.
agentkro 3 years ago
Well i have been singing for 12 years and traditionally sutdying choral music for about 6 now composing for 3 years. and i am a freshman at the julliard school of music in New York. Trust me i know what im talking about.
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
I'm sure you do. An no sarcasm there, I'm being serious. I was just angry at the time of my posts :(. I failed to make All state choir this year. I'm no music expert unfortunately.
agentkro 3 years ago
you said you 15? there will be plenty of time. What state?
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Maryland. It actually came as a bit of a surprise to me because this year I thought my audition was very good whereas last year I thought it sucked and I made it.
agentkro 3 years ago
yeah when i was living in Illinois the same thing happened to a good friends of mine. he was PISSED.
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Haha, where did you live in Illinois?
I made district IMEA this year (and I did sophmore year as well, but now I'm a senior) but couldn't go due to a previous engagement with community theatre, which I was forced to choose over the festival.
I'm going to go to Millikin for Music ed. =D
DeliciousCakechan 3 years ago
I was looking there as well. I was looking at Julliard, Berklee, Western Michigan, and Millikin when I made my desicion. If you go there tell Stephen Weidenhoffer I say hi. (hes the dean of music and director of One Voice if you don't know)
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Probably depends on the level of music, dang, thats a lot of time studying, how long do you study? Your tuition makes me cry, Julliard... God thats gotta take its toll on the wallet, scholarship or your parents got mad bank? I recently got mail from berklee, I'm probably going for composition. *High Five*, I've been writing music for a long time, I even have some random guitar work from middle school up here. Anyways... Julliard... Damn.
hisheartofstone 3 years ago
You should send me some of your stuff. Do you have Finale or something like that you can e-mail me some stuff.
ASchneider0908 3 years ago
Yeah, give it a few years, when your voice starts breaking try again, happened to me, I still sing tenor though, more fun, kids don't try to blast as much as the basses do, because they can't do it in there chest voice without sounding retarded, ahaha... Why are you arguing with a Julliard student? Thats bold and stupid.
hisheartofstone 3 years ago
HOLY SHIT!
THAT IS RIDICULOUS
This choir is like REDONK GOOD
Kinda jealous, I should convince my Director to let us do this piece
SuperMaxx789 3 years ago
I love how Eric Whitacre has a lot of dissonance in his music and how the melody goes with the lyrics.
Beautifully done :) gave me chills
ghinga7girl 3 years ago
beautifully done. one of my favorite pieces by whitacre. especially for a high school choir.
albkmusic 3 years ago
Job well done!
I love this song!!!
But I do prefer it with a smaller group.
My choir is singing it right now and we only have 18 people...
But that is just my preference.
Great job!!!This is a tough piece.
born4broadway 3 years ago
Very impressive that a high school choir pulled off this VERY tough piece.
RipRomp 3 years ago 3
Plus, if you listen, you hear people crying before the applause breaks out - it shows that moving performances don't have to be perfect, the group just has to want to hit it, you know? Anyway, be nice, and get your snobby heads out of where the sun don't shine - we are all guilty of it at some point or another, even me, but it sometimes takes another person to let you know - I love these choirs ;-)
PinneapleDuck 3 years ago
PS, stop being offensive on here - how many of the people who posted rude things on here have videos up that rival the quality of this one? not many. Appreciate the music; it's not worth it to fight about the quality of the group.
PinneapleDuck 3 years ago
By the way, the sopranos just soar - not screechy at all as we tend to be...eeesh, I'm not gonna lie - It takes a ton of busting your ass to get sound like this - props ;-)
PinneapleDuck 3 years ago
the tenors have a great pure sound in this recording :-)
Whitacre is incredibly difficult, and i really enjoy this recording - personally, i like darker vowel space, however, it's really up to the discretion of the director!
PinneapleDuck 3 years ago
i am in this choir and am in this particular clip i am a tenor and happen to be standing in the front row and the reason we sang this pice is because it is dificult and it is a 16 pice harmony. you can only achive greatness by trying the great pices of music wich Fond du Lac Choirs definitly do. The main reason for poasting this video was for our choir members to watch and get better. Maby your choirs should do the same. Happy watching.
markbuhler007 3 years ago
Music isn't competetive. You guys are very good, and you owe it to your director. But don't boast please. Music is universal, and if one person thinks they're better at it, then they don't truly understand it. Keep working at it though! :)
OperaGuru 3 years ago
i dont see why everyone one is getting so offensive and defensive. this may not be the best but it is A HIGH SCHOOL choir! this is fantastic for high school level. and while their vowels aren't all perfect who cares. there are like 16 part harmonies in this piece! so props to the singers. grandiose.
retoricalanswers 3 years ago
yes yes. agreed.
JBH113087 3 years ago
look at all these choral experts in here. lol. i didn't know Robert Shaw & John Rutter had accounts on youtube.
how arrogant can you be to say, "i've worked with mr. whitacre and he would slap you for ruining his piece".
obviously, you missed something, because he's extremely humble and i'm sure he would feel honored having ANY choir sing his music. get over yourself . . . first of all.
and 2, why are you idiots coming here to state the obvious?! i mean, is it really necessary?? it's music!
JBH113087 3 years ago
True dat. Music isn't supposed to put anybody down, it's not competitive. Rather, it's joining. "It's music!"
OperaGuru 3 years ago
they need to blend with each other more. Throughout the song, individual voices stick out. This is an awesome song but was too advanced for this choir.
aboutjosh129 3 years ago
I have had the privilege of working with Whitacre, and I must say that he would have smack all of you upside the head for ruining his music. This was not to good, but I must say that it is a LOT better then most of the other videos you can find of this song on youtube.
NightWithTheEyes 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Average performance of average piece.
Madeleine Marshall is the foremost expect on singing diction. And she says (in general, not about this exact piece) it should be
"wat-ea" with the last syllable sounding the the first part of the word "earth", only never really closing to the "r" sound.
Also, there is no way you should emphasize "ter" in water. That's the exact opposite of how it should be. You would never emphasize the "ter" while speaking, so why would you while singing?
skinnypez 4 years ago
Wow, you really have no knowledge of how singing diction works buddy! Granted, this group is not doing the best job with their pronunciation either, but "water" is one of the most important words in this entire piece. It needs to be stretched to its full potential in order for the listener to truly grasp the beauty in the text. If it was sung as "wah-tuh" with a slight 'r' on the end, it would sound AMAZING! But only emphasize the first syllable, and let the second be a schwa vowel.
thearkangel619 4 years ago 4
Me? I was clearly just giving the opinion of the foremost English signing diction author that has ever written, but I'm sure you know more than her.
skinnypez 4 years ago
...Dr. WOLD? IS that you??
themandikat 3 years ago
Skinny is right. It sounds beautiful.. until they sing "waaTURRR"
If they sang "waataaaah" with a slight "r" as they're cutting off the note, it would sound correct. That's how you have to sing.
The way they sing it doesn't 'emphasize' the word, it makes it ugly.
singerlad34 3 years ago
My choir is also performing with Mr. Whitacre singing a combined Sleep and Lux Aurumque, however our choir is singing With a Lily in the Hand. Along with Desh by Dr. Sperry (Miami University) and O Nata Lux, not sure whom it's by.
Olentangy Liberty Varsity Chorale
wickedtwizta17 4 years ago
My choir is performing this song along with Sleep and Lux Aurumque in front of Mr. Eric Whitacre himself :)
Hilliard Darby Symphonic Choir.
racheldawnx09 4 years ago
i'm a chorale major in my high school, i just wanted to say that the first time you hear the half notes of "water" you shouldn't make it wah der. it should have an emphasized Ter sound... but thats me. at the first fortissimo of eyes.... rounded vowels
thats just my opinion though, don't take this as being mean, but as of constructive criticism. :)
wickedtwizta17 4 years ago
my choir is singing this as well, and several top-notch instructors have said the exact opposite thing.
wah-daa not wah-ter
tk421a 4 years ago
Ok what top notch instructor are you talking to because you should always have the distinct ter diction when saying water, never wah daa. i would be suprised to see any top notch director say that...
jeffatv2 4 years ago
I've always had directors who in instances like that say that it should have more of a British accent sound to it. That way it's like a mix of wah-tah and wah-ter, and it's not as harsh sounding. *shrugs* Whatever works best for the choir, I guess.
lauxianlady405 4 years ago
I would have been inclined to agree with you but my chamber choir sang witness first term and worked with Ronald Stalei on it. He is considered one of the best directors in the world right now and is over the BYU singers. He asked us to do something weird with one of our words so you never know who might say what.
manookin 4 years ago
Sheesh, I'm no vocal major but one of the foremost choral directors on the east coast teaches at my university (Dr. Peggy Dettwiler at Mansfield University) and when our men's chorus sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water", we were taught to sing water like, "wah-der". Though this might have been out of style - our arrangement was written gospel style, so it's possible that diction was appropriate for that style. So many different choices, who's to say who is right and who is wrong?
JPSaxMan 3 years ago
wah-tuh. Tuh should have the same vowel as in the word "put," possibly even more closed than that, and definitely rounded in the lips. That's what I have my choir do.
Yatlick 3 years ago
The vowel should be closer to the O in "pot" as if you were saying it with a British accent.
singerlad34 3 years ago
So many choirs singing this song on YouTube could not match this--I'm not saying it was perfect, though. There seemed to be some choppy parts and, as some ppl have pointed out, an overpowering of the sopranos.
mybluecastle 4 years ago 2
St. Olaf gave me chordgasms on this piece. I think it's a big debate between who's better: BYU or St. Olaf.
mootz09 4 years ago
Definitely BYU. It's really a more pure and refined sound.
bryceep 4 years ago
Really? Huh...well, I'd have to agree after listening to BYU again. I still believe that they are both very reputable choirs.
mootz09 3 years ago
Have you heard st olaf perform this piece UNBELIEVABLE
Pianoboi90 4 years ago
oh man. I love this song. we did this in highschool... I miss it.
Lovely47 4 years ago
The sweetest recording of this by Polyphony conducted by Steven Layton.
moziggy 4 years ago
The New Jersey All- State choir did this song the best i've ever heard and i'm not only saying that cuz i'm in the chorus, but when the CD comes out i'm gonna put it on here, it's amazing.
tCrOMez1990 4 years ago
Omg Me too!! Nj allstate yeah
taternut 4 years ago
too bright.
words could be dragged out more too.
finally555 4 years ago
makes me wish the high school i attended back in the day hadn't had such a suckee chorus...
guapobear 4 years ago
very good for a HS choir but painful if you've heard the BYU Singers recording, which is unmatched.
bulgarianmimi 4 years ago
omg. i LOVE eric whitacre. this is the most amazing piece of music ever. this is the ballad for our marching show this year.
jessi000010 4 years ago
To msholmes I don't think the conductor is "restarting" the piece. I think he's just getting them to hold the first chord
dalia008 4 years ago
Note to the conductor: Never, never, never, never, under any circumstances restart a piece unless the "train has derailed." It is embarassing for your performers when they have to account for your bad upbeat. Just go on, and they will follow.
msholmes 4 years ago
yea, i am doing this song right now in my university concert choir, its not an easy piece. good job
topherucm 4 years ago
Very GOOD for High School..
ihanp 4 years ago
A little bright.
mybluecastle 4 years ago
Quite nice, slightly choppy and less legato than we would, but for a High School choir, that is really a nice sound.
The sopranos may overpower a tad.
HannahBeex0 4 years ago
After performing this piece, I'm sure they did, with the amount of times the director must have told the second sopranos to sing out whenever they held the dissonant parts!
This is an extremely difficult piece, and your choir did a very good job on this piece! All I can say is taller vowels and better intonation, but that's getting nit-picky.
Very well done!! Bravissimi!!
ExVash 4 years ago
I personally thought the song was very good!!! I think you guys did a good job! Some notes sound a little shaky, but they are probably supposed to since I bet the notes clash (as in B and C). Good job! Really pretty!
pnksxypmp 4 years ago
very nice, but it's missing the solid bass line. the guys aren't that good yet lol.
backoffyou 4 years ago 2
haha. get over it? I think they did a good job for being a highschol choir with that many people in it.
IAmYourRadio 4 years ago
Staggered breathing is a hard concept?
CWalsh0923 4 years ago
It's not that horrible. I think the worst part about this is the background noise coming from aound the area of the camera. They're obviously doing some amount of staggered breathing because otherwise it would sound like absolute crap. Maybe you should think before you post idiotic comments that aren't even relevant.
IAmYourRadio 4 years ago
Oh of course, staggered breathing isn't relevant to WATER Night... Get it? It's supposed to sound like water? How hard is it to take 20 seconds out of rehearsal and say "you guys need to spread out your breathing so that it sounds smooth"?
CWalsh0923 4 years ago
No, it's not relevant because look at the way he's conducting it. He's putting points in there where they all regroup to add dramatic effect. And i'm pretty sure you're not Eric W. so stop trying to act like you know Everything there is to know about the piece.
IAmYourRadio 4 years ago
Its because they havent been taught how to alternate breathes so the phrases make a seamless line, melting into eachother so it seems that no one is breathing. Its a hard concept for a highschool choir to get, but they did a good job with this song for highschool.
Morelambasbread3 4 years ago
wow my marching band's playing a version of this for one of our movements this upcoming season. great job! wow the sound quality is rly good too.
backoffyou 4 years ago
Cool. I love this song so much, as well as Eric's other songs he did. I remember singing this song, along with the rest of the choir of course, during my Senior Year of High School last year. You guys did a much better job though. Great job, and well done....
Oremjo 4 years ago