A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and send their digital recordings, sometimes including video, to be collated into a choral performance. There may be a series of rehearsals which singers can watch online, and their performance recordings may be made while watching a video of the conductor and in some cases listening to a backing track, to ensure unanimity of timing. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inspired a large growth in the number of virtual choirs, although the idea was not new.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre has led six iterations of his Virtual Choir, starting in 2009. He was inspired by a young singer Britlin Losee who contacted him after posting a YouTube recording of herself singing the soprano part of his work 'Sleep. In his first version, 185 singers from 12 countries sang his Lux Aurumque, watching a video of him conducting. By 2020, over 20,000 singers from 124 countries had participated in the choir, and Whitacre launched his Virtual Choir 6 to sing a new work "Sing Gently". 17,572 people in 129 countries had contributed their recordings by the closing date in May 2020.
Virtual choirs during COVID-19 "lockdown"
Many virtual choirs were set up during the "lockdown" caused by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when people could not meet to sing together. In Australia Couch Choir evolved from the pre-existing face-to-face Pub Choir with an "ongoing mission to bring strangers together for a sing-song": since inception in March 2020, Couch Choir chalked up millions of views with over 10,000 singers lending their voices to songs by Stevie Wonder, The Carpenters and David Bowie. Their July 2020 video of The Killers "All These Things That I've Done" included 1,534 contributions from people in 40 countries.. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's virtual choir recorded "Waltzing Matilda" for the annual ANZAC Day commemoration at which the MSO Chorus would normally have performed. In the UK, Gareth Malone launched The Great British Home Chorus on Monday 23 March 2020 and conducted 50 half-hour rehearsals up to Friday 12 June, moving thereafter to weekly rehearsals. He worked from his garden studio, with technical assistance from Decca Record. The choir produced a CD including the voices of 11,000 singers, featuring the songs "You Are My Sunshine", "Ordinary Day", Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" and Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", accompanied by members of the London Symphony Orchestra. The Self-Isolation Choir was launched by Mark Strachan with conductor Ben England and initially worked towards a performance of Handel's Messiah, with rehearsals streamed live on YouTube and available for later watching, and rehearsal recordings of individual voice parts. The production included 3,600 voices, four soloists, and a nine-member baroque orchestra, all recorded in isolation, and was broadcast on Sunday 31 May 2020. The choir then held three weeks of "Summer School" sessions, with plans for further major works in the Autumn and Winter. The Stay at Home Choir records pieces along with professional musicians including The Swingle Singers, and holds interactive "webinars" over Zoom. Software was developed aimed specifically at school choirs, so that pupils isolated at home could sing together.
Researchers from University College London investigated the effect of virtual choirs on mental health and it is reported that "participants not only felt happier and experienced a noticeable boost in their self-esteem, but also reduced feelings of social isolation".
