A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong | Eric Whitacre

翻译人员: Felix Chen 校对人员: Angelia King

I wanted to be a rock star.

我想成为一名摇滚歌星。

I dreamed of it, and that's all I dreamed of.

这就是我的梦想，我梦想的一切。

To be more accurate, I wanted to be a pop star.

更准确的说，我想成为一名流行歌星。

This was in the late '80s.

那是在八十年代末。

And mostly I wanted to be the fifth member

我主要是想成为

of Depeche Mode or Duran Duran.

流行尖端或杜兰杜兰（两个著名乐队）的第五名成员。

They wouldn't have me.

但没成功。

I didn't read music, but I played synthesizers and drum machines.

我不识谱，但我会用合成器和电子鼓。

And I grew up in this little farming town in northern Nevada.

我在内华达州北部的一个农业小镇长大。

And I was certain that's what my life would be.

我很确定我的生活会是怎样。

And when I went to college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

去拉斯维加斯的内华达大学上学时

when I was 18,

我18岁，

I was stunned to find

我吃惊地发现

that there was not a Pop Star 101,

那儿没有流行歌星基础课程，

or even a degree program for that interest.

甚至也没有与此相关的学位。

And the choir conductor there

那儿的唱诗班指挥

knew that I sang

知道我会唱歌

and invited me to come and join the choir.

并邀请我加入唱诗班。

And I said, "Yes, I would love to do that. It sounds great."

我回答道，“好的，我非常愿意加入。听起来非常不错。”

And I left the room and said, "No way."

接着我离开了房间，说到，“没门。”

The choir people in my high school were pretty geeky,

我高中学校唱诗班里的人都非常怪异，

and there was no way I was going to have anything to do with those people.

我可不想与这种人有任何关联。

And about a week later, a friend of mine came to me and said,

大约一周后，我一位朋友找到我，对我说，

"Listen, you've got to join choir.

“听着，你必须加入唱诗班。

At the end of the semester, we're taking a trip to Mexico,

在这学期末，我们一起去墨西哥旅行，

all expenses paid.

所有费用全免。

And the soprano section is just full of hot girls."

而且女高音部全是辣妹。”

And so I figured for Mexico and babes,

因此因为墨西哥和美女们，我想通了，

I could do just about anything.

我能为此做任何事。

And I went to my first day in choir,

我去唱诗班的第一天，

and I sat down with the basses

与坐在了男低音部

and sort of looked over my shoulder

仔细观察

to see what they were doing.

他们在做什么。

They opened their scores, the conductor gave the downbeat,

他们打开乐谱，指挥一挥指挥棒，

and boom, they launched into the Kyrie

轰隆一声，他们开始演唱

from the "Requiem" by Mozart.

莫扎特“安魂曲”中的求怜经。

In my entire life I had seen in black and white,

在此之前我的世界是黑白的，

and suddenly everything was in shocking Technicolor.

而突然所有的事物都变得绚丽多彩。

The most transformative experience I've ever had --

这是我经历过的最具变革性的经历 --

in that single moment, hearing dissonance and harmony

在那一刻，听着和谐的不和谐的歌声

and people singing, people together,

人们在歌唱，人们拥有

the shared vision.

共同的愿景。

And I felt for the first time in my life

我人生中第一次感受到

that I was part of something bigger than myself.

我是比自身更大的事物的一部分。

And there were a lot of cute girls in the soprano section, as it turns out.

事实证明，在女高音部有许多可爱的女孩儿。

I decided to write a piece for choir

在一两年后我决定为

a couple of years later

唱诗班写一篇作品，

as a gift to this conductor

作为礼物献给这名

who had changed my life.

改变了我人生的指挥。

I had learned to read music by then, or slowly learning to read music.

我在那时学会了阅读五线谱，或者说慢慢地学会了读五线谱。

And that piece was published,

这一作品发行了，

and then I wrote another piece, and that got published.

然后我又写了一个，也发行了。

And then I started conducting,

接着我开始指挥乐队，

and I ended up doing my master's degree at the Juilliard School.

我在茱莉亚音乐学院获得硕士学位。

And I find myself now in the unlikely position

我发现我现在作为一名

of standing in front of all of you

专业古典作曲者和指挥

as a professional classical composer and conductor.

站在各位面前还是让我有些恍惚。

Well a couple of years ago,

几年前，

a friend of mine emailed me

我的一个朋友email给我

a link, a YouTube link,

一个链接，一个YouTube的链接，

and said, "You have got to see this."

说道，“你必须看看这个。”

And it was this young woman who had posted a fan video to me,

那是名年轻的女性上传的一段献给我的视频，

singing the soprano line

演唱的是我的

to a piece of mine called "Sleep."

一部女高音作品，名为“睡眠”。

(Video) Britlin Losee: Hi Mr. Eric Whitacre.

（视频）布瑞林·洛西：你好，埃里克·惠特克先生。

My name is Britlin Losee,

我的名字叫布瑞林·洛西，

and this is a video

这个视频

that I'd like to make for you.

我想献给你。

Here's me singing "Sleep."

由我演唱的“睡眠”。

I'm a little nervous, just to let you know.

我只想告诉你，我有点紧张。

♫ If there are noises ♫

♫如果在夜晚♫

♫ in the night ♫

♫出现噪音♫

Eric Whitacre: I was thunderstruck.

埃里克·惠特克：我震惊了。

Britlin was so innocent and so sweet,

布瑞林是如此的单纯，如此的甜美，

and her voice was so pure.

她的声音是如此的纯净。

And I even loved seeing behind her;

我甚至爱上了在她后面看到的东西。

I could see the little teddy bear sitting on the piano behind her in her room.

我能看到在她房间中在她身后一只小泰迪熊坐在钢琴上。

Such an intimate video.

多么亲切的一个视频啊。

And I had this idea: if I could get 50 people

我有了这样的想法：如果我能让50个人

to all do this same thing,

都做这同一件事，

sing their parts -- soprano, alto, tenor and bass --

演唱自己的声部 -- 女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音 --

wherever they were in the world, post their videos to YouTube,

无论他们身处何方，再把他们的视频放到YouTube上，

we could cut it all together and create a virtual choir.

我们能把这些视频剪辑在一起，变成一个虚拟的唱诗班。

So I wrote on my blog, "OMG OMG."

我在我的博客上写道，“OMG OMG”（天呐！天呐！）

I actually wrote, "OMG,"

我真的写了，“OMG”（天呐！）

hopefully for the last time in public ever.

希望这是我最后一次在公众面前这么做。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And I sent out this call to singers.

我开始招募演唱者。

And I made free the download of the music

我提供了我在2000年创作的

to a piece that I had written in the year 2000

作品的免费下载，

called "Lux Aurumque," which means "light and gold."

作品名为“金色之光”，它表示“光芒和金子。”

And lo and behold, people started uploading their videos.

慢慢引起了注意，人们开始上传他们的视频。

Now I should say, before that,

我得说，在此之前，

what I did is I posted a conductor track

我所做的就是贴出了我自己

of myself conducting.

指挥的一段音频。

And it's in complete silence when I filmed it,

在我录制它的时候，完全沉浸其中，

because I was only hearing the music in my head,

因为我在脑海里仅有听到的音乐，

imagining the choir that would one day come to be.

想象着某天能够成真的唱诗班。

Afterwards, I played a piano track underneath

然后，我在后面演奏了一段钢琴曲，

so that the singers would have something to listen to.

这样演唱者就能够有伴奏可以边听边唱了。

And then as the videos started to come in ...

接着视频开始进入时...

(Singing)

（歌声）

This is Cheryl Ang from Singapore.

这是来自新加坡的谢丽尔·昂。

(Singing)

（歌声）

This is Evangelina Etienne

这是伊万杰里纳·艾蒂安

(Singing)

（歌声）

from Massachusetts.

来自马萨诸塞州。

(Singing)

（歌声）

Stephen Hanson from Sweden.

来自瑞典的斯蒂芬·汉森。

(Singing)

（歌声）

This is Jamal Walker from Dallas, Texas.

来自德克萨斯州达拉斯市的贾马尔·沃克。

(Singing)

（歌声）

There was even a little soprano solo in the piece,

这一作品中甚至还有一小段女高音独唱，

and so I had auditions.

因此我有试镜的程序。

And a number of sopranos uploaded their parts.

不少女高音歌手上传了她们演唱的部分。

I was told later,

后来有人告诉我，

and also by lots of singers who were involved in this,

许多参与这个项目的歌唱者也告诉过我，

that they sometimes recorded 50 or 60 different takes

他们有时会录制50或60个不同的镜头，

until they got just the right take -- they uploaded it.

直到他们满意 -- 然后再上传。

Here's our winner of the soprano solo.

这是我们女高音独唱的优胜者。

This is Melody Myers from Tennessee.

来自田纳西州的梅勒妮·梅尔斯。

(Singing)

（歌声）

I love the little smile she does right over the top of the note --

我喜欢她在上面露出的小笑脸 --

like, "No problem, everything's fine."

就像是在说，“没问题，一切都很好。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And from the crowd

从人群中

emerged this young man, Scott Haines.

脱颖而出一个年轻人，斯科特·海恩斯。

And he said, "Listen, this is the project

他说道，“听，这就是

I've been looking for my whole life.

我一生都在寻找的。

I'd like to be the person to edit this all together."

我非常荣幸成为这些视频的剪辑者。”

I said, "Thank you, Scott. I'm so glad that you found me."

我说道，“谢谢你，斯科特。我很高兴你找到了我。”

And Scott aggregated all of the videos.

斯科特把所有视频聚集在一起。

He scrubbed the audio.

他整理了音频。

He made sure that everything lined up.

他确保一切井井有条。

And then we posted this video to YouTube about a year and a half ago.

接着一年半之前我们把这段视频放在了YouTube上。

This is "Lux Aurumque" sung by the Virtual Choir.

这是由虚拟唱诗班演唱的“金色之光”。

(Singing)

（歌声）

I'll stop it there in the interest of time.

时间有限，就放到这里吧。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you. Thank you.

谢谢。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

So there's more. There's more.

还有更多，更多。

Thank you so much.

非常感谢。

And I had the same reaction you did.

我也有与各位同样的反应。

I actually was moved to tears when I first saw it.

我第一次听的时候，感动的泪流满面。

I just couldn't believe the poetry of all of it --

我简直不敢相信其中蕴含的诗意 --

these souls all on their own desert island,

这些灵魂都在自己的荒岛上，

sending electronic messages in bottles to each other.

相互用瓶子发送电子信息。

And the video went viral.

这个视频迅速传播开来。

We had a million hits in the first month

第一个月就有一百万次点击，

and got a lot of attention for it.

它受到了极大的关注。

And because of that, then a lot of singers started saying,

正因如此，许多歌唱者开始说，

"All right, what's Virtual Choir 2.0?"

“不错，虚拟唱诗班2.0呢？”

And so I decided for Virtual Choir 2.0

因此，我决定开始制作虚拟唱诗班2.0，

that I would choose the same piece that Britlin was singing,

其中我会选择一些与布瑞林所演唱的相同的片段。

"Sleep," which is another work

“睡眠”，这是另一个我在

that I wrote in the year 2000 --

2000年创作的作品 --

poetry by my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri.

由我亲爱的朋友查尔斯·安东尼·维斯特里创作诗词。

And again, I posted a conductor video,

再一次的，我贴出了指挥视频，

and we started accepting submissions.

接着开始接收提交的作品。

This time we got some more mature members.

这次我们发现了有些更年长的参与者。

(Singing)

（歌声）

And some younger members.

一些更年轻的参与者。

(Video) Soprano: ♫ Upon my pillow ♫

（视频）女高音：♫在我的枕头之上♫

♫ Safe in bed ♫

♫安睡在床上♫

EW: That's Georgie from England. She's only nine.

埃里克：这是来自英格兰的乔吉。她只有九岁。

Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

这难道不是各位曾看到过的最甜美的事物么？

Someone did all eight videos --

有人完成了所有八个视频 --

a bass even singing the soprano parts.

一个男低音甚至演唱了女高音的部分。

This is Beau Awtin.

这是柏·安汀。

(Video) Beau Awtin: ♫ Safe in bed ♫

（视频）柏·安汀：♫安睡在床上♫

EW: And our goal -- it was sort of an arbitrary goal --

埃里克：我们的目标是 -- 这是个有点随意的目标 --

there was an MTV video where they all sang "Lollipop"

有一个音乐电视中大家都在唱“棒棒糖”，

and they got people from all over the world to just sing that little melody.

他们让来自世界各地的人演唱那一小段曲调。

And there were 900 people involved in that.

有超过900人参与其中。

So I told the singers, "That's our goal.

因此我告诉演唱者，“这就是我们的目标。

That's the number for us to beat."

这就是我们要超越的数字。”

And we just closed submissions January 10th,

我们在一月十号停止接收作品，

and our final tally was 2,051 videos

我们最终收到了2,051个视频

from 58 different countries.

来自58个不同的国家。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

From Malta, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam,

来自马耳他、马达加斯加、泰国、越南、

Jordan, Egypt, Israel,

约旦、埃及、以色列，

as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Zealand.

最北端来自阿拉斯加，最南端来自新西兰。

And we also put a page on Facebook

我们在Facebook也有一个页面

for the singers to upload their testimonials,

让歌唱者可以上传他们的推荐作品，

what it was like for them, their experience singing it.

他们喜欢什么样的作品，他们演唱时的经历。

And I've just chosen a few of them here.

我也从中选出了一部分。

"My sister and I used to sing in choirs together constantly.

“我姐姐和我过去时常一起在唱诗班中唱歌。

Now she's an airman in the air force constantly traveling.

现在她是一名不断旅行的空军飞行员。

It's so wonderful to sing together again!"

能再次一起演唱实在是太棒了！”

I love the idea that she's singing with her sister.

我喜欢她与她姐姐一起唱歌的看法。

"Aside from the beautiful music,

“除了美妙的音乐以外，

it's great just to know I'm part of a worldwide community of people I never met before,

这是一个我之前从未遇到的世界范围的社区，其中的人们联系在一起，

but who are connected anyway."

知道自己是其中的一份子真是太好了。”

And my personal favorite,

我个人最喜欢的一段，

"When I told my husband that I was going to be a part of this,

“当我告诉我丈夫我打算参与其中时，

he told me that I did not have the voice for it."

他对我说，你没有唱这些歌的嗓子。”

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of you have heard that too.

是的，我保证各位中许多人都曾听到过这些。

Me too.

我也是。

"It hurt so much, and I shed some tears,

“这太伤人了，我的眼泪喷涌而出，

but something inside of me wanted to do this despite his words.

但尽管他说了这些伤人的话，我内心深处还是想参与其中。

It is a dream come true to be part of this choir,

参与这个唱诗班能让梦想成真，

as I've never been part of one.

我从未参与过唱诗班。

When I placed a marker on the Google Earth Map,

当我在Google Earth Map上做上标记时，

I had to go with the nearest city, which is about 400 miles away from where I live.

我不得不去最近的城市，离我生活的地方大约有400英里远。

As I am in the Great Alaskan Bush,

由于我生活在大阿拉斯加小镇，

satellite is my connection to the world."

卫星是我与世界的唯一连接途径。”

So two things struck me deeply about this.

有两件事让我深有感触。

The first is that human beings

第一件是，人类

will go to any lengths necessary

将跨越任何距离

to find and connect with each other.

去相互寻找和联系。

It doesn't matter the technology.

这与科技无关。

And the second is

第二件是，

that people seem to be experiencing an actual connection.

人们似乎正在经历的是一个真实的联系。

It wasn't a virtual choir.

这不是个虚拟唱诗班。

There are people now online that are friends; they've never met.

这些在线的人们是朋友；他们从未见过。

But, I know myself too, I feel

但我也了解我自己，我感觉得到

this virtual esprit de corps, if you will, with all of them.

所有参与者的这一虚拟团队精神。

I feel a closeness to this choir --

我感觉到这一唱诗班的亲密 --

almost like a family.

几乎像个大家庭。

What I'd like to close with then today

我想用来结束今天的演讲的是

is the first look

由虚拟唱诗班2.0

at "Sleep" by Virtual Choir 2.0.

演唱的“睡眠”的首映。

This will be a premiere today.

这是初次亮相。

We're not finished with the video yet.

我们还没完成这一视频。

You can imagine, with 2,000 synchronized YouTube videos,

各位能想象一下，2,000个同步的YouTube视频，

the render time is just atrocious.

光是渲染的时间就够骇人听闻的了。

But we do have the first three minutes.

但我们完成了头三分钟。

And it's a tremendous honor

我感到极其荣幸，

for me to be able to show it to you here first.

能够在这儿向各位首次展示这一视频。

You're the very first people to see this.

各位是最先看到它的人。

This is "Sleep," the Virtual Choir.

这就是虚拟唱诗班歌唱的“睡眠”。

(Video) Virtual Choir: ♫ The evening hangs ♫

（视频）虚拟唱诗班：♫夜晚悬挂在♫

♫ beneath the moon ♫

♫月亮之下♫

♫ A silver thread on darkened dune ♫

♫一道银丝在黑暗的沙丘之上♫

♫ With closing eyes and resting head ♫

♫紧闭的双眼和放松的头部♫

♫ I know that sleep is coming soon ♫

♫我知道睡眠就要来临♫

♫ Upon my pillow, ♫

♫在我的枕头之上♫

♫ safe in bed, ♫

♫安睡在床上♫

♫ a thousand pictures fill my head ♫

♫脑海中充满了无数画面♫

♫ I cannot sleep ♫

♫我无法入睡♫

♫ my mind's aflight ♫

♫我心潮澎湃♫

♫ and yet my limbs seem made of lead ♫

♫而我的四肢像是灌满了铅♫

♫ If there are noises in the night ♫

♫如果在夜晚出现噪音♫

Eric Whitacre: Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

埃里克·惠特克：非常非常感谢。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

非常感谢。谢谢。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）