A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong | Eric Whitacre

譯者: Coco Shen 審譯者: Geoff Chen

I wanted to be a rock star.

我想成為搖滾歌手

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

那曾是我唯一的夢想

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

更準確地說，我想成為一位歌星

This was in the late '80s.

當時是80年代末

And mostly I wanted to be the fifth member

我最想做的就是成為《流行尖端》或《杜蘭杜蘭》

of Depeche Mode or Duran Duran.

這兩個天團的第五個成員

They wouldn't have me.

但他們不要我

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

我不識譜，但我會用合成器和電子鼓

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

我在內華達州北部的一個農業小鎮長大

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

我知道那就是我的人生

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

去拉斯維加斯的內華達大學上學時

when I was 18,

我18歲

I was stunned to find

驚訝地發現

that there was not a Pop Star 101,

通識課程竟然沒有如何成為歌星

or even a degree program for that interest.

也沒有同類型的學位

And the choir conductor there

那兒的合唱團指揮

knew that I sang

知道我會唱歌

and invited me to come and join the choir.

於是邀請我加入合唱團

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

我說“好啊，沒問題，聽上去很棒”

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

離開以後我馬上說“怎麼可能”

The choir people in my high school were pretty geeky,

我高中的合唱團成員都是書呆子

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

我才不要和這些人扯上任何關係

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

一個禮拜後，一個朋友對我說

"Listen, you've got to join choir.

“聽著，你一定要加入合唱團

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

學期末我們要一起去墨西哥

all expenses paid.

全部有人買單

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,

為了墨西哥和辣妹

I could do just about anything.

我什麼都願意做

And I went to my first day in choir,

參加合唱團的第一天

and I sat down with the basses

我坐在男低音部

and sort of looked over my shoulder

仔細觀察

to see what they were doing.

他們在做甚麼

They opened their scores, the conductor gave the downbeat,

他們打開樂譜，指揮一揮指揮棒

and boom, they launched into the Kyrie

轟隆一聲，他們開始演唱

from the "Requiem" by Mozart.

莫扎特“安魂曲”中的求憐經

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.

突然所有的事物都有了顏色

The most transformative experience I've ever had --

這是我人生中改變我最大的一次經歷

in that single moment, hearing dissonance and harmony

在那一刻，聽著和諧的不和諧的歌聲

and people singing, people together,

人們在歌唱，人們擁有

the shared vision.

共同的願景

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.

事實證明，在女高音部有許多可愛的女孩

I decided to write a piece for choir

在一兩年後我決定為

a couple of years later

合唱團做一個曲子

as a gift to this conductor

作為禮物送給

who had changed my life.

這個改變我人生的指揮

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

我在那時學會了閱讀五線譜，或者說慢慢地學會了讀五線譜

And that piece was published,

這個曲子發行了

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

然後我又寫了一個，也發行了

And then I started conducting,

接著我開始指揮

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

然後在茱莉亞音樂學院讀碩士

And I find myself now in the unlikely position

再來我竟然發現

of standing in front of all of you

今日我是以專業古典作曲者和指揮家的身分

as a professional classical composer and conductor.

站在各位面前

Well a couple of years ago,

幾年前

a friend of mine emailed me

我的一個朋友email給我

a link, a YouTube link,

一個鏈接，一個YouTube的鏈接

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

他說“你一定要看看這個”

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

那是名年輕的女性上傳的一段獻給我的視頻

singing the soprano line

演唱的是我的

to a piece of mine called "Sleep."

一部女高音作品，名為“沈睡”

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

（影片）布瑞林·洛西：艾瑞克·惠特克先生你好

My name is Britlin Losee,

我的名字是布瑞林·洛西

and this is a video

這是我為你

that I'd like to make for you.

所錄的一段影片

Here's me singing "Sleep."

是我演唱你的“沈睡”

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

希望你知道，我有些緊張

♫ If there are noises ♫

♫如果有噪音♫

♫ in the night ♫

♫在這個夜晚♫

Eric Whitacre: I was thunderstruck.

艾瑞克·惠特克：我如著電亟

Britlin was so innocent and so sweet,

布瑞林如此純真甜美

and her voice was so pure.

她的聲音是如此的純淨

And I even loved seeing behind her;

我甚至愛上了

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

坐在她身後鋼琴的小熊

Such an intimate video.

多麼親暱的一個影片

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

我突然有個點子：如果我能讓50個人

to all do this same thing,

一起做這件事

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

演唱自己的聲部-- 女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音--

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

無論他們身處何方，再把影片放到YouTube上

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

我們可以剪接在一起，創造一個虛擬合唱團

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

於是我在我的部落格上寫“哦老天 哦老天”

I actually wrote, "OMG,"

我真的寫，“哦老天”

hopefully for the last time in public ever.

希望這是我最後一次在公開場合這麼做

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And I sent out this call to singers.

於是我開始招募演唱者

And I made free the download of the music

我把2000年我做的一個叫“Lux Aurumque“

to a piece that I had written in the year 2000

的曲子放在網路上供人免費下載

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

曲名的意思是“光芒與金子”

And lo and behold, people started uploading their videos.

慢慢地，人們開始上傳影片

Now I should say, before that,

我得說，在此之前，

what I did is I posted a conductor track

我所做的就是貼出了我自己

of myself conducting.

指揮的一段影片。

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

在我錄製它的時候是完全無聲的

because I was only hearing the music in my head,

我只聽得到我腦中的音樂

imagining the choir that would one day come to be.

想像某天會出現的那個合唱團

Afterwards, I played a piano track underneath

之後，我加入了鋼琴聲

so that the singers would have something to listen to.

這樣演唱者就能夠有伴奏可以邊聽邊唱了

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

於是影片開始出現...

(Singing)

（歌聲）

This is Cheryl Ang from Singapore.

這是來自新加坡的謝麗爾·昂

(Singing)

（歌聲）

This is Evangelina Etienne

這是艾文傑里納·艾蒂安

(Singing)

（歌聲）

from Massachusetts.

來自馬薩諸塞州

(Singing)

（歌聲）

Stephen Hanson from Sweden.

來自瑞典的斯蒂芬·漢森

(Singing)

（歌聲）

This is Jamal Walker from Dallas, Texas.

來自德州的賈馬爾·沃克

(Singing)

（歌聲）

There was even a little soprano solo in the piece,

這一作品中甚至還有一小段女高音獨唱

and so I had auditions.

於是我開始試鏡

And a number of sopranos uploaded their parts.

不少女高音歌手上傳了她們演唱的部分

I was told later,

後來有人告訴我，

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

許多參與這個項目的歌唱者也告訴過我

that they sometimes recorded 50 or 60 different takes

他們有時會錄製50或60個不同的版本

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

直到他們滿意 -- 然後再上傳

Here's our winner of the soprano solo.

這是我們女高音獨唱的優勝者

This is Melody Myers from Tennessee.

來自田納西州的梅勒妮·梅爾斯

(Singing)

（歌聲）

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

我喜歡她在最高音時露出的那個微笑

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

像在說“沒問題，一切都好”

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And from the crowd

從人海中

emerged this young man, Scott Haines.

出現了這樣一個年輕人，史考特·海恩斯

And he said, "Listen, this is the project

他說“聽著，這就是我一直在尋找的

I've been looking for my whole life.

一個案子

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

我希望我可以成為剪接這個影片的人。”

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

我說“謝謝你，史考特。你能找到我真是太好了。”

And Scott aggregated all of the videos.

於是他把所有影片剪接在一起

He scrubbed the audio.

整理了音頻

He made sure that everything lined up.

確保一切沒問題

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

然後我們在一年半前把這個影片放上 YouTube

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

這便是虛擬合唱團所演唱的“Lux Aurumque"

(Singing)

（歌聲）

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

因為時間的關係，我們就聽到這裡

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you. Thank you.

謝謝各位，謝謝各位

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you.

謝謝各位

So there's more. There's more.

還有更多，還有

Thank you so much.

非常謝謝各位

And I had the same reaction you did.

我和各位有一樣的反應

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

第一次看的時候，我感動落淚

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

我幾乎無法承受這其中的詩意

these souls all on their own desert island,

這些靈魂從他們的孤島上

sending electronic messages in bottles to each other.

把電子信件放進瓶子裡面，彼此傳送

And the video went viral.

這個影片馬上就被瘋傳

We had a million hits in the first month

第一個月就有百萬點閱

and got a lot of attention for it.

收到了極大的關注

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

正因如此，許多歌唱者開始說，

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

“很好，再來虛擬唱詩班2.0該做甚麼？”

And so I decided for Virtual Choir 2.0

於是我決定這次虛擬唱詩班

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

應該唱布瑞林唱的那首

"Sleep," which is another work

“沈睡” 那也是我在

that I wrote in the year 2000 --

2000年所譜

poetry by my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri.

由我親愛的朋友查爾斯·安東尼·維斯特里創作詩詞

And again, I posted a conductor video,

於是我再次貼上我的指揮影片

and we started accepting submissions.

開始接受作品

This time we got some more mature members.

這次我們有了更年長的成員

(Singing)

（歌聲）

And some younger members.

和更年輕的成員

(Video) Soprano: ♫ Upon my pillow ♫

（影片）女高音♫在我枕上♫

♫ Safe in bed ♫

♫安眠在床♫

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

艾瑞克：這是來自英格蘭的喬吉。她只有九歲

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

這難道不是你看過最可愛的事物嗎？

Someone did all eight videos --

有些人錄了八段影片

a bass even singing the soprano parts.

一個男低音甚至演唱了女高音的部分

This is Beau Awtin.

這是柏·安汀

(Video) Beau Awtin: ♫ Safe in bed ♫

（影片）柏·安汀：♫安眠在床♫

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

艾瑞克：我們的目標是-- 是個隨性的目標--

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

有一個MTV是大家合唱“棒棒糖”，

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

他們讓來自世界各地的人演唱那一小段曲調

And there were 900 people involved in that.

有超過900人參與

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

因此我告訴演唱者，“這就是我們的目標

That's the number for us to beat."

這就是我們要超越的數字。 ”

And we just closed submissions January 10th,

我們在一月十號停止接受作品，

and our final tally was 2,051 videos

我們最終收到了2,051個視頻

from 58 different countries.

來自58個不同國家

Thank you.

謝謝各位。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

From Malta, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam,

來自馬爾他、馬達加斯加、泰國、越南、

Jordan, Egypt, Israel,

約旦、埃及、以​​色列，

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

最北端來自阿拉斯加，最南端來自紐西蘭。

And we also put a page on Facebook

我們在臉書有自己的網頁

for the singers to upload their testimonials,

讓歌唱者可以上傳他們的證言

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

他們唱歌的時候經歷了甚麼，有甚麼樣的感覺

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

我也從中選出了一部分。

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

“我姐姐和我過去時常一起在合唱團中唱歌

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

現在她是一名不斷旅行的空軍飛行員

It's so wonderful to sing together again!"

能再次一起演唱實在是太棒了！ ”

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

我喜歡她和姊姊一起合唱的想法

"Aside from the beautiful music,

“除了美妙的音樂以外，

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

知道我是這個世界社群的一分子

but who are connected anyway."

和我從未蒙面的人們緊緊相連的感覺真好。“

And my personal favorite,

我個人最喜歡的

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

“當我告訴我丈夫我打算參與時，

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

他對我說，你沒有唱這些歌的嗓子。 ”

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

是的，我保證各位中許多人都曾聽到過這些

Me too.

我也是。

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

“這太傷人了，我的眼淚噴湧而出，

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

儘管他這樣說，我還是想參與

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

成為合唱團的一部分就像美夢成真

as I've never been part of one.

因為我從沒有參加過合唱團

When I placed a marker on the Google Earth Map,

當我在Google Earth Map上做上標記時

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

我不得不標示最近的城市，離我生活的地方大約有400英里遠。

As I am in the Great Alaskan Bush,

由於我生活在大阿拉斯加小鎮

satellite is my connection to the world."

衛星是我與世界的唯一連接途徑。 ”

So two things struck me deeply about this.

這中間有兩件事感動我

The first is that human beings

第一是，人類

will go to any lengths necessary

將跨越任何距離

to find and connect with each other.

去相互尋找和聯繫。

It doesn't matter the technology.

這與科技無關。

And the second is

第二件是，

that people seem to be experiencing an actual connection.

人們似乎正在經歷的是一個真實的聯繫。

It wasn't a virtual choir.

這不是個虛擬合唱團

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

這其中的從未蒙面的某些人現在成了網友

But, I know myself too, I feel

我自己也感覺的到

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

這些參與著的虛擬團隊精神

I feel a closeness to this choir --

這個合唱團親密的

almost like a family.

就像是個大家庭

What I'd like to close with then today

今日我想給大家看的是

is the first look

虛擬合唱團所演唱的

at "Sleep" by Virtual Choir 2.0.

“沈睡”

This will be a premiere today.

今日將會是首映

We're not finished with the video yet.

我們還沒有完全完成

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

你可以想像要把2000個YouTube影片同步

the render time is just atrocious.

製作的時間就夠驚人的了

But we do have the first three minutes.

但我們已經做好前三分鐘

And it's a tremendous honor

我感到極其榮幸，

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

能在各位面前播放這影片

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.

由虛擬合唱團所演唱的“沈睡”

(Video) Virtual Choir: ♫ The evening hangs ♫

（影片）虛擬合唱團：♫夜色低垂♫

♫ beneath the moon ♫

♫在月亮下♫

♫ A silver thread on darkened dune ♫

♫道銀絲在黑暗的沙丘之上♫

♫ With closing eyes and resting head ♫

♫緊閉的雙眼和休息的臉龐♫

♫ I know that sleep is coming soon ♫

♫我即將沈睡♫

♫ Upon my pillow, ♫

♫在我枕上♫

♫ safe in bed, ♫

♫安眠在床♫

♫ a thousand pictures fill my head ♫

♫腦中出現無數影像♫

♫ I cannot sleep ♫

♫我無法入眠♫

♫ my mind's aflight ♫

♫我心潮澎湃♫

♫ and yet my limbs seem made of lead ♫

♫但我的四肢像是鉛做的♫

♫ If there are noises in the night ♫

♫如果噪音出現在夜晚♫

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

非常謝謝各位，謝謝，謝謝各位

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

謝謝各位，謝謝，謝謝

(Applause)

（掌聲）