Virtual Children’s Choir

The virtual choir or virtual chorus was a musical video phenomenon that emerged during the early months of the COVID pandemic. In this new artform  singers or musicians would video record their individual segment of a musical composition by playing along to a prerecorded click track or backtrack accompaniment. Each of the musician’s or singer’s part would then be overlayed and combined with the others to form a completed composition.

This is a particularly tricky and challenging assignment for the video editor responsible for assembling the finished product.

In the video below (beginning at 42:43) are two original compositions, “Journey” and “Things Change (1:39:18)” by Chicago composer Regina Harris-Baiocchi performed by the ATS Children’s Choir in Arlington, Virginia.

The feat was accomplished by having each of the 50 (4th and 5th grade) children submit their prerecorded segment to me. I then edited the video by essentially placing each of the children on a separate track then combining their voices (as close as possible) to give the illusion that they are all singing together at the same time.  The challenge is not only the synchronization but also getting each of the kids represented on screen while also acting as sound producer to blend their voices to the overall presentation’s best advantage. It’s important to note that these children are part of a general music class and not a children’s choir, meaning they have a wide range of ability and competency.

The video was presented as part of the 6 Degrees Women’s Heritage Month Concert online featuring a number of video performances. For the record  – –  another video I produced called “War Chant” by composer Janice Misurell-Mitchell is also included in this concert (at 1:14:25). If you want to learn more about Regina Harris-Baiocchi consider listening to our podcast discussion at Chicago Broadcasting Network.