Eric Whitacre - Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine

[hELLOxMONiCA]

this is incredible. so much expression in the choir. excellent job.

[matt22nesloney]

Noice! I'd give anything to be able to tackle a piece like this.. our school is doing seal lullaby but doing something like this or stolen child would be AMAZING

[Wally773MTG]

I wonder how much of an impact the entire choir memorizing the piece had on the performance quality. Thats a very interesting method. Anyways, what a performance for a high school choir! Good diction, dynamics, and intonation, good conducting, good direction and interpretation. Must have been an awesome show!

[anythingcrap]

Brilliant high school choir! Kudos to the director!

[Genesis322]

My choir program is about to tackle this in May (I'm one of the directors). I couldn't be more impressed with the quality of this performance. What a fantastic program and what a talented choir teacher.

[montax35]

You all tackled one of the biggest giants out there and SUCCEEDED!!!! Wow, High school choir?? Really? Your director should be very proud of the hard work that has gone into such a great ensemble. Absolutely amazed.

[choirdudejsu]

Very good job guys! I was pleased with your tone and intonation. This song is very difficult and you all nailed it, being that you are a high school choir! As a music education major, the sound you all have makes me want to teach even more. Good job!!

[oblivionIIT]

Nice singing.. Hope you can view UST SIngers Live performance of this song also.. Just click on my profile.. The video is on my archives.. Keep it up.. Hardwork does pay off.. Gratzi!

[TerrancePogue]

sANG IN SOME PROFESSIONAL ENSEMBLE'S AND CHOIR'S... sO i KNOW HOW DIFFICULT THIS MUSIC IS... GOOOD JOB!!!!

[Chucanelli]

Also: Opera singers move when they sing all of the time without compromising anything. It's called acting.

[Chucanelli]

Notice that I was very diligent in supporting my points with logical connections and a variety of sound examples. You might try that next time you want to assert that your opinion should be "valid" to anyone.

[ninjatenor17]

nice very exceptional for a high school. i know this was years ago but atill is impressive .keep up the work!!

[AliceHale1994]

i had the pleasure to proform this song. it was an amazing piece

[laurbel17]

by the way, this is an amazing rendition of this piece.. I was very moved.. congratulations on such a great performance!

[laurbel17]

Furthermore, If all you have to say has to do with the American way of moving with the music, then you really don't have much worth anyone's time at all. Get over yourself and your stereotypical british snobby attitude. Learn a little bit about different cultures views on music and what is proper stage presence, maybe then you will have something that is worth my time to listen to.

[laurbel17]

To bentomlin

We move as we sing in america to fully tell the story, we cant all be a bunch of stiffs like you brits. Choral music involves a lot of performance aspects and part of getting the point across is in the movement.. now i could say that I think European choirs sound ridiculously young and immature, but then I would be stooping to your obviously immature level. Music is about interpretation and styles are done differently everywhere, but that doesn't give you the right to trash it.

[supermegsavestheday]

I'm singing Eric Whitacre's Marriage, and the Animal Cracker volumes. AND I get to see him over summer and perform Paradise Lost with him! <333333 Oh, and also, I think contstructive critisism is needed. Especially in choirs. No one on here is necessarily critisizing, either. More like- giving advice. We're all musicians here. (Mostly) Everyone's entitled to their own opinion :) And Eric... Don't you agree that he writes amazing music? I love this piece <3

[itsmrGuy]

@supermegsavestheday Here's another one, Meg. =P

[supermegsavestheday]

@itsmrGuy Lmao. You're gonna find a lot more, trust me. I was obsessed with his music for a LONG time. (Still am.) xD

[supermegsavestheday]

@itsmrGuy Annnnd, I was REALLY excited about the fact that I was singing at Carnegie. Lol

<33333

[ghostxxxrebirth]

we just sang whitacre's lux aurumque last night at the wcda. glad to know we aren't the only high school choir tackling whitacre! (we sang cloudburst at our spring concert a few years ago)

[SimplifyItClaire]

Great job

our chamber is doing this song and i know how difficult it is.

the only thing I'd sang to improve on is being better listeners. there are a lot of cluster chords in this piece which is what Whitace wanted, so you gotta make sure each note is heard.

[born2broadway]

guys, this is phenom. your energy is great and needed. great job.

[zaitht]

The constructive criticism is more for the director, not the choir members. The director makes the call regarding tempo, expression and interpretation. There were a few areas a little off but overall this was fabulous. Great job!

[koalalad]

ohhh yeahh. thats my choir, dr rohwer pwns.

[missbreezy100]

i miss u guys.. we completely killed this performance!!!!!!!!! bam! jus like that.. amazing.. hard work pays off..

[SterlingJag]

Please stop giving "constructive criticism" for a high school choir that hasn't sung together since the spring of 2008 and won't need any more of anyone's redundant pointers. Yes, it's fast. Yes, they move. Just because it's not a show choir doesn't mean they can't move.

[bassrob2]

Quite honestly, it shows connection with the music when a choir moves. Not a coordinated movement, but that subconscious ebb and flow. It's a beautiful thing.

The group itself sounds absolutely fantastic... It's the 2nd best rendition I've heard on youtube. (Next to VocalEssence, which they should be proud of)

[pavonibus]

Amazing! I love how involved every member is, vocally and physically. I love the bobbing, it's rather haunting.

[Chucanelli]

While I'm sure your criticism is appreciated (by someone), half of what you said is completely subjective issues of interpretation. This conductor has obviously been very explicit with his choir on what he wanted, and for you to assert that his interpretation is incorrect (or simply saying that something should or shouldn't be done a certain way) is pretentious and rude.

[JamesPigBandit]

@bentomlin

Well - pardon all of us for not believing that English choral music is the centre of the universe. Living in the shadow of the U.K. choral scene in Ireland I have to say that the Americans have, on balance, far more to offer choral music at the moment than the U.K. does.

[hughlauriethebrit]

@bentomlin Did you know that many africans move when they sing, and the movement is so one with the singing that sometimes when they go to concerts in America they cant even take in the music because they are so focused on the stiffness of the choirs? Every culture is very different and your opinion may be valid for your culture, but I find personally that moving helps me stay on beat, with the conductor, and most importantly, fully immersed in the music.

[Chucanelli]

@bentomlin

You still haven't given any logical reasons why it's ridiculous. You've simply stated that that's not how it's done, so it shouldn't be done at all. Being a singer does not make your opinion valid (appeal to authority, anyone?); only sound, logically supported arguments can do that.

I think you are simply not very receptive to criticism. Again, you give no logical reason for me to value your opinion, only a very weak appeal to authority.

[Chucanelli]

There are differing opinions on a choir's physical involvement in performance; some directors want their choirs totally still, some allow them to move freely. There is no consensus on that. You can move freely without compromising vocal technique.

[Chucanelli]

And as far as picking on every little fault goes, cut it out. This is a high school choir, there are going to be faults. Even some of the best choirs in the world, like Brigham-Young Singers, have little issues like that. No choir is absolutely perfect, and for you to pick on every little thing is also pretentious, self-righteous, uncalled for, and rude.

I have sung this piece and it is incredibly difficult to tune and syncroniize. This choir handles it beautifully.

[Chucanelli]

Oh, and good job on assessing balance from a recording done with a consumer-grade video camera. Cameras like that are designed more for speech and the lower frequencies are largely lost and the higher ones prevail. This is also why high notes tend to distort low-quality camera mics much easier. (Additionally, all dynamic contrast is lost because of the extreme compressors put in cameras like those.)

[katzmeow4]

Wow.

[rebeltil2011]

kinda fast in my opinion.

some blending issues,

but overall pretty decent :)

[vgiangvian]

whys he going so fuckin fast?

haha

[XXXBLACKZOMBIE19]

this song fuckin sucks

gay

[elderaa]

That was great! The tonality began to suffer at 2:06 make sure to stay on top of the pitch and the tempo really accelerated quickly, be careful of that happening too expeditiously. Great!!! I look forward to hearing more of this choir.

[Akathist]

Stop giving him thumbs down. He's right and he's being nice about it. We call it constructive criticism.

[SterlingJag]

Hands.

That is all.

;)

[talltexankutie]

love love loveeeeee this song :) wish i could re-live that 7 minutes and 35 seconds over and over again..shout out to the 07-08 jaguar chorale and doc!!

[pianomatteo]

holy balls. some high school choirs have fantastic blend like northfield or stillwater, but i'm really impressed with the technique of these singers. the mens section sounds great! good job

[IBeMandee]

I'm in a college choir and we're doing this piece for our concert tonight and I know how difficult this song is!!! This is AMAZING for an high school!! especially considering how few males there are in comparison to females!! Kudos!!!!

[KaitousFlame]

YEY! No vibrato, good enunciation... but the first sopranos were a little loud and sometimes sharp. Balance it out by boosting the bases and alto 2s.

Just some advice from another highschool choir nerd. :D

[hut765]

this is really good

[redfingernails2009]

good tuning! very pure sound. I really enjoyed it.

[composer4u]

that was BEYOND amazing. how can you only be high school students?! ya'll are fatastic!!

[CallForthMusic]

Wow.

Is all I can say.

[AzitaEatsCake]

SO impressed.

I'd love to be in a group that could perform so well.

[Brivixxycej8]

holy cow! This is very well prepared and well done!

[ecougle]

this is fantastic at a high school level. very impressed.

[ericwhitacrefan]

Wow this was really great! I still don't understand why people comment every choral video with what they think to be their erudite opinions. You're usually wrong, and you make yourself look ignorant by always critiquing rather than enjoying. The importance is in the music and what it does for each individual. This is not a contest and these people aren't going to take your criticisms as constructive and change something.

Just enjoy the work. It was well performed and very difficult.

[choirnerd99]

Hallelujah! Finally a sane person out there!

[McdBass1]

i disagree. I think this is an incredible version of this song.

[norek1977]

much to fast and much too much womens voices.

[shnookerton]

Tenors much?

[emoisoxygen]

im on the 3rd row

this was our fave piece by far!

[moshyourfacekick]

OMFG thats my choir!!!!! we were the 1st choir at swacda to get a standing ovation!!!

GO US!!!

[XxRobot13xX]

too fast, great sound but a tad bit fast =]

[born2broadway]

Great job guys, you're really a great choir. I'm gonna get this on CD so I can listen to it whenever I want :) 5 stars.