Interview with Laura Slattery of Virtual Choir 3.0

When I was with Suite101, I interviewed Laura Slattery of Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3.0 to discuss music, the links between music and medicine and Eric Whitacre.

Laura Slattery of Limerick, Ireland, recorded the Soprano 4 and 5 parts to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3 project: “Water Night” from the Grammy-winning album, Light & Gold. This huge multi-track project involved 3,746 videos submitted by amateur and professional singers from 73 countries.

Laura sat down with me on April 27, 2012 via Skype to discuss Eric Whitacre's music, the connections between music and medicine, musical obsessions and Virtual Choir.

Laura Slattery on Choral Singing

Laura has sung in choirs since the age of nine. “Actually, I tried to join my school choir when I was nine and I was told I wasn't good enough,” she recalled. “I said, 'Well I'll show you!' and went in and started getting voice lessons.”

Although Laura plays several instruments, including piano, guitar and tin whistle, choral music holds a special place in her heart. “There's nothing quite like choral singing. You can sing on your own, all you like; but there's just nothing like the experience you get with the people you meet.”

On Singing Eric Whitacre's Music for the First Time

“I think the first that I had heard of Eric Whitacre was actually my current choir,” Laura mused. She sings with the Tullamore Academy Chamber Choir, which recently was named National Choir of the Year.

She went on to recall the first time she sang an Eric Whitacre composition. “I kind of got drafted in at the last minute to sing tenor in “This Marriage” and it was kind of like, 'Wow, this is sick!'” Her conductor advised her to listen to more of Whitacre's music. “He said to go listen to “Cloudburst” . I was absolutely blown away,” she murmured.

Virtual Choir 3.0

“I had only heard “Water Night” once in my life,” she said. “When he announced it in December, I was like, 'Oops.' ” With a chuckle, she added, “I think it's fair to say I procrastinated – a lot. An awful, awful lot.”

She recorded countless times for VC3 and admitted that she was plagued with doubts. “There's just something about listening back to yourself. I hate it at the worst of times,” she admitted.

“We came up to the night before the submissions and I had been talking to my housemate about it. He was like, 'Look, just get and do it. Get up in the morning and get and do it. When are you going to get and do something like this again?' ”

Revitalized, Laura Slattery tried again. “I went into the college at 6:00 in the morning – the day of submissions. Had several failed attempts.” Then there were website and server issues. “I decided to go back home and record the S5 line in the car, just sitting outside of my apartment.”

Once she sent in her submission, Laura made a post to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir page on Facebook, saying, “Am I out of my mind? I recorded it in the car!” Responses came within seconds. “There were loads of people, 'You did great! We're delighted to have you.' ”

When Eric Whitacre announced that the Virtual Choir submission deadline would be extended, Laura decided to record the Soprano 4 line as well. “If he had gone for another day, I would have recorded another one. It was a labour of love.”

She fell in love with “Water Night”. “It's just such a fabulous piece. It's just so complicated. It's kind of counter-intuitive. How does he come up with these things? It just sounds so perfect but when you separate them out, you're like, 'These things shouldn't work together.' ”

Musical Obsessions

When asked about her favourite music, Laura quipped, “Does it sound cliché if I say any of Eric Whitacre's music? That's my study music now.”

“I've gone through kind of phases of being Handel-obsessed. I've gone through Evanescence. Take everything. Irish folk. I have great love obviously, for Irish music. I will absolutely listen to anything. There's very little that I don't like in music.”

“There's something intrinsically intense about music,” she mused. “It's people putting themselves out there, putting their heart out there on a plate.”

On Eric Whitacre and His Music

“Eric Whitacre is unique,” said Laura, matter-of-factly. “There's not a lot of people who utilize digital media.” She went on to explain. “I can put something up on Facebook and can hear back what he's thinking. You know, get an insight of his thought process.”

“He just captures words so well,” she said of Whitacre's music. “Every word you can see is thought out: 'Exactly how am I going to put those harmonies there? How am I going to get the message across?' “

“There's such feeling in it and a kind of purity and honesty,” she said. “Going back to the heart on a plate analogy, he's someone who literally, I imagine, gives all of himself. It's certainly how it comes across in his music.”

“He's exploded onto the choral scene,” she reported. “Every competition you go to – Ireland's not a big country – there's five or six choirs doing an Eric Whitacre piece.”

The Connections Between Music and Medicine

Ms. Slattery is a second-year medical student at the University of Limerick. She's in the graduate program, specializing in pediatrics oncology.

“Music is kind of like a vocation,” she said after pondering the question. “Medicine obviously has to be. The art of being a good musician, shall we say, is making it sound simple. It requires massive dedication, from the time you're a young child.

“And the ability to communicate emotions and the ability to understand emotion,” she added. “That is massive as a doctor, that too often is missing. You know, focus on the condition, focus on disease and fail to see the person, the emotion, the experience.”

Another link Laura recognized is the connection between creativity and adaptation. “There's obvious creativity in music. In medicine you have to think on your feet – adapt to situations.”

“Interestingly enough, an awful lot of people in my course are musical,” she admitted. “We've had talent nights.” She mentioned also that some medical students sing in choirs, while others teach music part-time.

“It's great to have something to escape to. Something to balance your life with. If you become too one-dimensional, then you lose the human aspect. If anything, I want to be a human doctor.”

Interview with CA Edington of Virtual Choir 3.0

When I was with Suite101, I interviewed CA Edington from Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3.0 to discuss musical traditions, life in Japan and Virtual Choir.

CA Edington of Sapporo, Japan, recorded the Soprano 4 part to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3 project: “Water Night” from Whitacre's Grammy-winning album, Light & Gold. This huge multi-track project received a total of 3,746 videos from amateur and professional singers worldwide. The audio and video was cleaned on each submission before they were incorporated together.

Ms. Edington sat down with Suite101 on April 14 and 28, 2012 via Skype to discuss Eric Whitacre's music, life in Japan and Virtual Choir.

CA Edington on Musical Traditions

CA grew up in a very musical family around upstate New York. “Everybody would go to my grandparents' house at Christmas,” she recalled. “It was in a small town in Ohio and they had a huge house. We would all stay there for two or three days, and the piano was never empty.”

Christmas carols were unique. “Christmas morning, we would all gather around the tree and before we opened the presents, we would sing a carol in four-part harmony. I thought this was a tradition that was carried on everywhere, in every family. I didn't realize it was just us,” she added with a laugh.

CA Edington on Living and Singing in Japan

CA Edington moved to Japan in 1982 and hasn't looked back since. “I wanted to be in another culture, not just visit. I wanted it to be another culture that's very different from the US.” CA works as an English teacher, proofreader, narrator and transcriber in Sapporo.

CA has nothing but warm things to say about her adopted home. “The city of Sapporo is such an easy city to get around, compared with a lot of places in Japan because it is only a little over 100 years old. The public transportation is fantastic here. I live near a gorgeous park. I can walk through that park anytime of day or night and feel completely safe.”

One of the draws to Sapporo for CA is the vibrant arts community. “Music is very big here,” she said. “There are a lot of choral competitions. There are so many choruses, I don't even know how many.”

Sapporo also boasts The Pacific Music Festival, which was founded by Leonard Bernstein in 1990. “He founded it here in Sapporo. Young musicians come from all over the world for a month to study and perform here in Sapporo.”

CA was one of the first members of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra Chorus. “It just got started about five years ago,” she recalled. “A student knew about the auditions and she got the audition papers for me and I thought, “Oh. I'll just fill them out.” I was in another chorus, a pretty high level chorus that does mainly classical music and I was very happy in that chorus. I thought, “I'll just try out,” and I went and tried out. Actually, there were about six people from my chorus, six other women and a couple of the men who tried out as well.”

The audition process took place in several stages. “First, we had to do sight reading. I mean cold. We got the piece and got to look at it for 30 seconds and then we had to go in and sing it. The next stage of the audition process was to sing an excerpt from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Getting accepted was a pleasant surprise. “Fast forward to a month later. The class that had recommended that I join the chorus was just finishing up. I went across the hall and found a letter from the symphony. I opened it and I couldn't exactly understand what it was saying.” With a laugh, she added, “So I took it over to my class members and they read it and said, “CA you got in!””

After a moment's reflection, she added. “I wasn't sure whether they would accept me or not, but I've been very accepted. What I love about the chorus is that I'm not a gaijin [non-Japanese] in the chorus. I'm a soprano.”

CA Edington Discusses Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

CA learned about Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir shortly after VC2: “Sleep”, so she had to wait for almost another year to participate in VC3. “I thought 'OK, I'll learn the piece in a couple of days and record it and then that'll be it.' Well, I didn't start until the middle of January and what I discovered was that it was going to be much more challenging than I had thought; especially since I chose Soprano 4.”

She can laugh easily now about some of the challenges she experienced. “Then I'm ready for recording, right before the deadline. I mean, a day or two and there was trouble! I kept getting error messages and then discovered – because I was on the Facebook site and also checking the website – that others were having technical problems.”

Another issue was staggering the breath. “When you're with a chorus you stagger your breath with the person around but here you are singing alone and where do you stagger the breath?” She decided to check some of the other Virtual Choir submissions. “I don't think I heard anyone who got all the way through “soul” the final word, without taking a breath; so then I felt more relaxed about it.”

In the end, it all worked out. “I don't even know how the technicians work that out. To me, that's amazing, but I suppose once you get 3,500 plus voices together, it's not that noticeable who's taking a breath where.”

CA Edington on Eric Whitacre's Music and the “Water Night” Premiere

CA was moved when VC3: "Water Night" and Water Night the album premièred on April 2, 2012. “When that blue screen came up and the faces started – even talking about it right now, I'm getting chills. Just chills,” she recalled. “Of course, I was riveted, not just because I had participated in it, but because the whole concept and the piece and Eric himself are all – I don't want to use the word “amazing”. That's overused. I can't find a word that describes it entirely. It gave me chills. Pleasant chills. Good chills.”

Like many Whitacre fans, Eric Whitacre's music holds a special place in CA's heart. “It transports me when I hear it. It's so complex and at the same time, so simple. How he gets all those notes in there and how they end up sounding so together, I have no idea. The man is a genius and he is the kind of genius that is just so rare.”

Originally published June 12, 2012.  All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.

Interview with Julie Souin of Virtual Choir 3.0

When I wrote for Suite101, I had the opportunity to interview Julie Souin from Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3.0 to discuss Eric Whitacre, DCINY's Sing with Eric and Virtual Choir.

Julie Souin of Rhode Island, USA, recorded four voice parts to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3 project: “Water Night”. A total of 3,746 videos were submitted by singers from around the world. Souin sat down with Suite101 on April 25, 2012 via Skype to talk about Eric Whitacre's music, Virtual Choir and Sing With Eric.

Julie Souin on Recording Virtual Choir 2 and 3

“I obsessed over my recording with Sleep,” she recalled. “It wasn't good enough. No, I could do better.” She recorded 50 times before submitting her final video for VC2.

“I knew that it wasn't great and I could probably do even better; but it was the best I could do at the time, with the equipment that I had.” With a triumphant voice, followed by a hearty chuckle, she added, “I just felt like I conquered the world when I pressed 'Submit.' ”

Julie felt more relaxed while preparing for VC3, but had other challenges to contend with. “I had all the external issues, like my dogs making noises.” In another take, it was someone else. “My kids came home right as we're holding that last note. I'm holding one hand up to the door as they got the key in the door making a chick-chick-chick...I still submitted it!

“I think with Sleep, I would have never done that. I would have said, 'I wrecked it at the end.' With this, it was 'No, it's an OK recording'. I think I was much more forgiving with those kinds of things the second time around, knowing that a lot the little tiny things don't matter.” Turning reflective, she said, “But you do want to bring honour to the whole project and you want to bring honour to yourself in submitting the best possible production.”

Julie Souin on DCINY's Sing with Eric

In 2011, Julie's daughter auditioned and was selected to sing at Sing with Eric. This annual workshop is presented by Distinguished Concerts International – New York. “At the parent meeting,” she recalled, “I kind of jokingly said, 'Do you take parent singers?' The guy said, 'See me afterwards. I actually have a spot for you.' ” With a laugh, she added, “I was freaking out. Not only do I get to go hear this music live but now, my daughter's participating; and now I'm participating. It was a dream come true.”

Julie enjoyed herself so much that she participated again in Sing with Eric 2012, which was held March 30 – April 1, 2012 in New York, NY. Three days of intensive rehearsals with Eric Whitacre culminated with a performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. “To sing with the composer and to sing the music as closely as it's intended to be sung – to the best of your ability – is really a dream come true.”

Julie Souin on The Virtual Choir's Online Community

“So much of this is hard to put into words,” Julie said. After some thought, she elaborated, “The relationships that have blossomed out of this are, I feel, as real as the people I have met in real life. The people that I haven't – that I only know virtually, whether it's Google Hangouts or Skype or typing – they're like, real friendships and I would have never expected that. It was a very unexpected perk.”

Julie is full of admiration for her Virtual Choir friends. “These friends are artistic, very open people. Open to share of themselves. To give of themselves...They're very loving people.”

In addition to singing in Virtual Choir, Julie is a member of the Virtual Choir Army, a small group of singers who helped fellow VC members as they prepared their submissions. “My son is on his first deployment in Afghanistan,” she shared. “Helping people gather the courage to learn “Water Night” for VC 3.0, record and upload videos was extra rewarding. I really needed a healthy distraction from thinking about my son and his safety. Reaching out to others as well as learning and memorizing the music for our Carnegie Hall concert was just the thing. I am so grateful.”

The Water Night Premiere and Meeting Virtual Choir Members in New York

The world premiere of Virtual Choir 3.0: “Water Night” took place on Monday, April 2, 2012. It was fast on the heels behind Sing with Eric as well as the release of Eric Whitacre's latest CD, also entitled Water Night. Julie Souin attended both events.

“I'm sitting with all these people who have this vested interest,” she recalled. “A lot of them sang in the Virtual Choir. Everybody is heavily anticipating this moment and to watch it in the same room with all of them was really special.”

Another highlight for Julie was the opportunity to meet fellow Virtual Choir members in person. “Oh my gosh!” she gushed. “That was a cool thing itself. I spent a lot of time with Jack [Rowland] because we're really good friends. I picked him up at the airport. It was like we have known each other our whole lives from the get-go. From the second I saw him, there was this comfort level like a brother and sister.

“It wasn't until after the concert at Carnegie Hall and there was the rest of the gang all waiting. I met up with them and that moment was completely unreal. I saw Jack, Lynna [Schaefer] and Kevin [Callahan] and Jen [Christensen]. Then Dennis [Scannell] and Maria [Petrova].

“There were other people that joined us that I didn't know as well or I haven't known as long. The entire gang, no matter who showed up, whenever we went out or we were together, everybody was like one big happy family. It was almost like we had known each other since high school and we were having a high school reunion.”

Julie Souin on Meeting and Working with Grammy Winning Composer Eric Whitacre

When Suite101 asked “What is Eric like in person?” Julie quickly replied, “Special. Really, he's special. Not just the music he creates, but as a person. He really is super-grounded, down-to-earth, very genuine. Everything that you see in interviews? It's real.

“He's very respectful to each person he meets. He gives each person as much time as he can possibly give, in whatever situation they are approaching him.”

Julie firmly believes that Eric Whitacre's personal qualities come through in his music. “You feel that sincerity when you hear his music.”

Julie Souin on Eric Whitacre's CD Water Night

One of Julie's favourite tracks is “When David Heard”. “I can't imagine that you can make a piece that long out of so few words and it remains interesting; and you feel what the parent would feel if you were in that situation. It makes you feel something deep down. It really reaches the soul.”

When asked about the CD, Julie answered in revered tones. “I love it. It's everything I hoped it would be and thought it would be. Probably more.”

Originally published on Suite101.com on May 26, 2012. All rights reserved by Rhona-Mae Arca.