Added: 4 years ago
From: lildragongirl19
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  • Tears... E V E R Y TIME!!!!!

  • I was a three year all stater...really wish I had tried out my freshman year! I LOVE the 2005 music!!!!!!!!

  • @Finne116

    My teacher told me about this choir and I'm going to try and get in next year, what are some pointers? I dream of being a part of this

  • goosebumps!!

  • I didnt make Allstate that yr but I remember loving this song sooo much especially during camp at Wartburg College

  • comment

  • Too fast. But great voices.

  • replay button = raped <3

  • That was really good, but really fast...it didn't have any expression or feeling in it. Too metered.

  • Comment removed

  • I loved singing this in this choir. I was fortunate enough to make it all 4 years. Fuckin awesome high school experience! Good song.

  • This is what I've always imagined how heaven would sound like(:

  • so unbelievably haunting and chilling to the bone

  • I really wish they would have done it slower so the awesomeness would have lasted longer.

  • Thank you so much for posting this! I auditioned for the Iowa All-State Chorus in 2004, 2005, and 2006, but never made it. Of all the pieces I learned, "Cloudburst" is one of my favorites.

  • Wow! That was awesome guys! Just beautiful...makes me think of music from the Lord of the Rings.

  • we are singing this in our choir right now

  • I was in this choir!!! I made it in all 4 years! I'm only the second person from my school who did that. If you look right near the beginning, around the 1 minute mark, I'm in the black robe with a plain orange sash on both sides.

  • what an idiot

  • incredibile, stupendo, un opera d'arte----------I love this

  • gosh this is fantastic... i really really want to sing this someday

  • This size is INSANE!!! love this!

  • this is so cool!! i LOVE it!

  • We're actually doing this for our marching band show! it's been written for us to play!

  • Really nice, congratulations. I sang this incredible piece last year with the Andalucian Young Choir in Spain (Joven Coro de Andalucía) and it was a great experience.

  • this is very good, the tempo was a litte fast my my liking but great nonetheless

  • I saw this at the San Fransisco Heritage Festival, and might I say that even in this humble video I still feel like I'm being initiated into a cult while watching it. Seriously, it may sound amazing, but why do I feel so scared?

  • how many people are in that daggum choir?!! because in tennessee allstate choirs-the max amount is like 275..!

  • 600ish

    They always admit about 150 on each part.

  • That's what I'm going for this school year! I would love to make All State

  • I Was In That Choir!!! It was so much fun and I couldn't believe how many amazing singers there were there!

  • When I was in All-state in Nevada, we actually had Eric Whitacre come and direct the choir. It was AWESOME! He's really nice. He grew up in northern NV. He has some of the most unique and beautiful pieces I've ever heard.

  • Unique, Eric has a nice style definitely, but none of his pieces are unique from eachother. They all bear the same swells, harmonies, and overall tones.

  • I meant unique from the other choir stuff out there, not his own pieces. I have sung in many choirs and watched many choirs and he definitely stands out from the other composers right now.

  • i like this better than the band version

  • omigawd, that is a HUGE choir. And this is a high school? How would you ever find that many people in a high school to be in choir?

  • It's high schools throughout Iowa that try out, not just one HS... I tried out that year, but didn't make :(

  • 'scuse my language but orgasm here.. and how do u direct a choir THAT HUGE?!?!?!

  • scuse my lanugage here but orgasm

  • Comment removed

  • I was actually honored to be a part of all three Whitacre pieces the Iowa All-State Honor Choir did and I absolutely love Whitacre... His work is truly amazing...

  • favorite contemproy composer

  • and you guys really changed it in some parts like when you have your hands up there is suposed to be a huge clap of thunder. and it was really fast.

  • try singing this under the direction of the composer himself!

  • I think the choir's size actually makes this song sound better. You can hear the parts more clearly, and it sounds so powerful.

  • This song is absolutely incredible. Very challenging piece that takes an honors choir to perform, but the choir is too sizable, take it down to about 80, 90 peopole and you've got something :]

  • I agree, but I do think that in the case of this particular piece, the size of this group was perfect. Maybe I'm just weird though, I love being in huge groups like this. But for any other piece (except maybe O Fortuna), definately no more than 80-90 people in the group.

  • Wow I heard this done in the High School Honor Band and it's amazing how similar they sound! Really a great performance...

  • wow thats alot of people haha

    but that was pretty awesome haha

  • this song is so pretty but it was sung way to fast here.

  • ya'll sound pretty good but you all look so dead. this song is so full of life! lets see some of that.

  • O_O Lotsa peeps xD They did very, very well, lotsa power, and solos were actually GREAT....

  • i was in this choir! it was amazing! music is appreciated so more when it has to be sung!

  • i would kill to be part of such a large and powerfull choir

  • It's very cool to be a part of something so impressive.

  • Since IA All State is always so excellent (and so huge and powerful), it's disappointing to see that this piece was not performed at its full potential. The tempo is a tad to pronounced throughout, and the climax of the entire 8-minute song (the explosive "MAAAAAAAH" at m. 76) is way, way, WAY too fast.

    But the choir sounded heavenly, as it always does. And thank goodness IA All State does Whitacre music.

  • I think what's making it sound off is the choir size. It's hard to get the range of dynamics with a choir this large. Loud is easy, but soft if near impossible. When my choir did it we had 40-45 and that was perfect. This choir is an amazing to sing in.

  • That may have a lot to do with it.

    Even so, I think they did a better job with A Boy and a Girl.

    Incidentally, does anyone know where I can find a recording of this choir doing Sleep in 2006?

  • Are they doing one Whitacre piece per year now, geeze.

  • Oh my goodness its flattering you say that!

    I was a part of the choir when we sang A Boy and a Girl. It was such a beautiful piece I fell in love with Whitacre.

    I wish I could have been a part of this one as well, it is so capturing.

  • I deleted the video comment which I previously left up here, and re-uploaded the song in HD. Enjoy! :)

  • OMG they're powerful

  • this is really good and a veryyy difficult song but this choir has no energy in there vowels

  • The choir is too big for that.

  • look at the size of the choir tho of course they should make such rediculous noise lol

  • This is really good.

  • Hey im in this one!

  • Just started learning this for our next concert. Seems technically difficult but sounds amazing.

  • Fantastic...great basses

  • yay iowa allstate!! i wonder if i can see some of my friends *looks*

  • my allstate for utah is doing this song and i am very excited. but this version made me cry. GREAT JOB! it was wonderful.

  • I can't wait to sing this for the concert! which county are you in?

  • we're doing this for new york all-state. so excited!

  • I'm going to new york all-state too. Can't wait!

  • We were wonderful too! All praises to Dr. Allred.

  • Hey I watched your performance!!! So so so so so so so good! It has become one of my top choir favorites now. I love the intense harmonies and clashing and especially when the "storm" is at its peak. It was awesome.

  • Damnit but whitacre's amazing and you did an incredible job interpreting it. Good job.

  • do you have the words to this? If so, could you post them. I love songs in different languages.

  • Google is your friend mate! =D just google cloudburst whitacre text and you can even get the English translation of it.

  • I only know three of the words because I played a band version of this and there was a measure where we all whispered "La leu Via".

  • La lluvia* actually.

    Spanish for, "the rain."

  • Awesome job guy's and girl's. I really like this song and you all did a wonderful job! To all the people posting rude and harsh comments try to remember that these kids are ages 14-18, and will have access after high school to improve with higher quality vocal coaches.

  • I love this song but its a too fast for my taste in the beginning and at the cloudburst section i believe the tempo is quarter note=60 so its too fast but its very nice singing!!!

  • what a great song and a great job with it. glorious! i was kinda bothered by was her arm moving on the spoken soloists part and the male soloist's vowels were harsh. but grand

  • This is the best version I've found of this song besides the one on his CD. The only complaint I have is that I feel like the director took it too fast in certain spots and it took away some of the emotion.

  • i'm a governor's school choral student in NC this summer and we are doing this song for our next concert. After hearing your group perform this, I can not wait to sing it. You all are incredible!

  • i would be soo happy if our chorus could even close to live up to this...i love whitacre's work, complex chords, etc, and this song is so unique even for his work...and this version was just incredible

  • Amazing. I absolutely loved this performance. I'm a big fan of Whitacre, and this did him justice!

  • I hated this song. Bleh.

    Sounds good though!

  • amazing!

  • is that jo-michael scheibe conducting?

  • Sure is =]

  • The chords at "Picos de Luz" or "Peaks of Light" are perfect. I can picture someone looking out their window right before a storm with the last peaks of sun going behind the clouds and hearing those chords. I'm from Iowa and tried out for the All-state last October but didn't make it. I'm trying out for the next three years though! I'm lucky to have a chance to be in this choir.

  • agreed, i saw the same performance as Stevtomato. Tis piece is amazing, but the performance i saw had greater contrast, most likely because it had slightly fewer members.

  • This is amazing, I just listened to this piece live, performed by the Elder Conservatorium Chorale (Adelaide) and it was so astonishing. I'd have to say the performance I watched did better at the Cloudburst section. More oomph, and ahem, a little girl was so startled she cried -_-

    But this is amazing! Love them robes =P

  • yea i just saw this at the Elder Con in Adelaide. they were incredible. i plan to go there one day but unfortunately my skills are limited to the piano.

    sure i can sing, just not with that much talent! haha

    xxx

  • lol ur in Adelaide too? Ru in Elder Con too? xD

  • Yeah i'm in Radelaide - not at the elder con tho. My bf is studying composition there and made me go to that thing - i'm super glad i went tho.

  • LOL I'm doing composition there too! Who's ur bf. I'm in 1st year though.

  • ...DAAAAMN does everyone in Iowa wear robes???

  • If music be the fruit of love

  • sing on till i am fill'd with joy!

  • It's "If music be the FOOD of love"

  • dah! i got to sing this is carnegie hall!

  • the blue knights drum corps is doing this song in their 2008 field show! its awesome!!!

  • i love this...:D:D:D i love how you all use the traditional robes for choir...most choirs now use only black dresses and tuxedos...which gives this group the ALL STAR image it deserves...great work

  • I agree, A little slower would really give it a better affect, but I love this song, you guys are awesome.

  • I most say that the spanish pronuciation is extraordinary!!!!!!!! Felicidades!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Congrats)!!!!!!!!

  • this song is sooooooo good. our advanced choir sang it at our concert at first presbyterian yesterday.

  • If you understood the lyrics you'd do it slower.

  • holy crap their all-state is HUGE! ours was like half that size

  • Keep in mind, music is extremely popular in Iowa -- at most schools, even jocks are in choir and/or instrumental music (often both). My high school had 650 students, and 110 in marching band, probably the same number in the various vocal ensembles...not much else to do in Iowa.

  • Just the Concert Choir at my high school this year had 118 students thats not including the other few hundred in the other two choirs... the midwest is known for its large music programs...my high school has the largest music program in the Big 9 so far...

  • Music is subjective art, henceforth, it is at the conductors discretion as to which "speed" (tempo; come on people) that the piece is performed.

  • Thank-you! I was waiting for someone to say that. :)

  • a little too fast [for me] at 1:30

    my choir is singing this in our spring concert and it sounds soooo cool...LOVE eric whitacre!!!

    very awesome job though =]

  • WOW.

  • Why does everyone want to take Whitacre's music like 10 times faster?!

  • yeah, way too fast toward the middle

  • NOT WAY TOO FAST!!! That is the correct speed for this piece. If you are performing the piece slower than this, then your choir is not performing the piece up to speed. CORRECT SPEED! GREAT JOB!

  • One of my favourite choral pieces, yes, but much much too fast.

  • HEYYY Jo-Michael Schibbe was our choral director for GMEA All State Chorus 2007...and we sang Eric Whitacre's Sleep... what a coincidence that he directed in this performance too!

  • We're playing this in symphonic band. I personally don't like it.

  • I agree with everyone else. WAY too effing fast. I'm not even in choral groups, but I've heard this song performed really well and like... LINGER ON THE CHORDS the chords are so beautiful. Let them be as orgasmic as they are.

  • i almost started to cry when i heard that soloist at the beginning, that was amazing.

  • sooooo many people O__O!! they're mixed too!

    Wow, and a high school accompanist! Impressive

    They did an awesome job, and we also have to remember that they are high school students too - I love Eric Whitacre, he's such an odd man, with odd dreams that he puts in sheet music. He's brilliant, but he can drag things out sometimes, lol

  • WAAAAAAAY TOO FAST! I learned the music for that year and that sounds funny when it's too fast. What was he thinking? Overall nice tone, the first soloist sounds exactly like the college kids who sang it for the first session of Meistersinger All State Camp though... oh well. I recognize some of the people. Funny thing is that they are from my conference!

  • dude!!! i know some of those people. and person who was criticizing the performance . . . just enjoy the music, its up to the director's interpretation anyway. beautiful song

  • Very nice.

  • REALLY AWESOME!!!!

  • eeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! Das ist viel zu schnell! Whitacre wollte das nicht so. 1 Stern von mir!

  • WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too fast. the conductor obviously doesn't know what whitacre's about- savoring each chord and dissonance rather than speeding through the song. Nice dynamics, but I strongly disagree with the thunderclap- Opening palms? Kind of ruins it. THe soloists (other than the soprano) were kind of horrible too.

    But overall, for an honor's choir it wasn't bad. I'm just saying there are things that could have been so much better. Other things are yucky.

  • A little rushed, but very well done for a choir of that size. NJ all state tried foing water night and it was mediocre. This is superb.

  • I've always found eric whitacre's music to be very interesting. it's out there, but I like it. really cool piece

  • Excellent job! Impressive honors choir.

  • my brother was in this.

  • This was so much more amazing in person

    The Iowa All state choir is always amazing

  • almost as big as motab ;)

  • absolutely beautiful

  • the soloist in the beginning looks so happy to be there. lol

  • by far the largest high school choir I've EVER seen in my life

  • its not a high school choir, tard.

    its a HONOR CHOIR FOR ALL OF IOWA

  • I think XrunsXwithXscizzerzX meant that it's the largest combined group of high school vocalists.

  • HOLY COW that's the largest choir I've ever seen in my life!!!

  • Its not tard.

  • And yes, okibum, it IS the largest choir that I (meaning MYSELF) have ever seen.

  • my bad i thought you were like xrunsxwithxscissorsx thinking its one high school choir

  • whatsit with you and calling people tards? haha.

  • This version of cloudburst moved me more than any other i have ever heard, despite the quickness in the cloudburst section, and i dont even sing, eric whitacre is amazing

  • Wow, I love Eric Withacre's work. The first time I heard Cloudburst it blow me away to a lot of feelings.

    And even when the conductor chage a little bit the climax in this performance, I think that it was one of the best I've had heard.

  • eveything was going so well,,,why, oh why did the conductor have to take the actual coudburst, the climax of the piece, the part everyone waits for...so,,,damn...FAST! it ruined the whole thing for me.

  • Woot i see the green, is that kennedy?

    I think so. =] i might try out for all state next year.

    <3

  • I think, first and foremost, that it was much too fast. Also, the diction could have been improved. The spoken solo was intended for a male, and a female version of that solo decreases, in my opinion, the power of the piece. Nevertheless, her tone and expression were good. But overall, it was well done.

  • I was extremely impressed. The dynamics were amazing. My directors always tell us it is easy to be loud in a large choir, but being soft is another story. Great job!

  • k...well "leroythegreat2007" ever heard of no cares bout wut u have to say i've made the iowa allstate chorus all four years...and it rocks so u can shove ur f'd up comments up ur ass...no one cares

  • Very nice! A little too fast at parts, but I felt the blend and tone were great. Whitacre's music is exquisite, and very easy to screw up if a choir of ANY skill level isn't paying attention to each other and their director. This was great, considering the size of the choir and age of the singers.

  • I do think that this piece was performed too fast. In the section between the baritone soloist and the female Spanish-speaker, I think you could have paid a bit more attention to the dynamics. A bit more sensitivity in that section would have made it better.

    Also, the forte "Ma-O" during the beginning of the storm was a bit comical. I think it would have made more sense to clap instead of popping your hands open. I could tell the singers weren't taking it seriously.

    Overall, good job. :)

  • Amazing job, All-State.  You've represented Iowa at its best!

  • brilliant soloists...the choir has a whole could have been much better tho

    the blend sucked

    it WAS too fast

    anyone ever heard of dynamics?

    florida's all state is simply the best

  • What were you listening to? You just don't know what you're talking about. You can't always hear the more intricate dynamics because it's just a youtube video.

  • really great performance...i sang this in high school, a couple of things i had to say: wish you could have worked on your spanish pronunciation, when the choir sang "MAO", it would have been better if you all clapped your hands together once as if making the sound of a big lightning bolt like it says in the vocal score, i guess the conductor didn't read the notes inside of it, and a tad too fast. but other than that awesome job!

  • I am not old enough to try out for this one but I did try out for opus but I didnt make it!! I got really mad

  • I agree the conductor has a horrible conducting pattern. My choir is competing in Hawaii in March and we are doing this piece.

  • just a note. no offense or anything, but pattern isn't everything. some of the best conductors hardly ever use a pattern. especially with a piece like this, it's more about directing expression than concise rythm.

  • omg, beautiful piece.

    nicely done.

    i wish the sound quality was a little better, though...

    whitacre's chord structures are intricate and delicately placed, it's hard to hear them with the sound this way.

    but great job on the piece, absolutely amazing.

  • This song should be sung aspirately and slower. Ti's a cloudburst, not a hurricane. TOO FAST. Nice soprano soloist. More emotion. I blame the director though, not the choir.

  • My girlfriend is the soprano soloist! It's an awesome song and I enjoyed seeing this.

  • we just had all state auditions in storm lake yesterday. i made it. i am a two year all stater and i am a sophomore. i see my sister and 13 other people from my school. i was sitting in the front row for this concert. my dad is a band director and Mr. Hallberg is the orchistra chair

  • Where are you from? I'm from storm lake and I made it.

  • I was a member of the 1984 chorus Nice to see It sill making beautiful music!

    Dean Johnson

    Ankney

  • I Love this piece!!!!! My Choir is performing this at Caroling Competition. I hope to get the Soprano solo. The composer has written some amazing chords. I love the part where the basses start with "raices" and all of the parts follow. It is truly an outstanding composition!

  • nice

  • Oh man.

    I was in this! =]] I have been looking ALLLL Over for a video of it.

    I love this song.