Thread on writing for live virtual choir, based on working with a few ensembles on two weird little Zoom-choir pieces this week:

Obviously lag and choppiness will be an issue. Even with a conductor or click track, don't expect anything to line up. Aleatoricism is your friend here. Expect and allow everyone to go at their own pace.

Zoom will select random solo voices to highlight as everyone is singing. Harmony, when it happens, is a happy accident. One of the two pieces I wrote ends with a two-note chord; somehow, Zoom always allows that harmony to happen. I am pleasantly surprised each time.

Silence is your friend. I've been using rests with fermatas between phrases as a chance for everyone to "catch up" when they're singing at their own pace. The conductor can give a cue when it's time to sing the next phrase / move on another section.

Speaking of conductors: What's the role of a conductor in this music? Because of lag, keeping time no longer has much of a purpose. But conductors can still give cues. They can teach this music to their singers. They can sing with the choir, too.

What's the role of an audience in this music? Maybe there is no audience: maybe the piece is meant to be performed by anyone (everyone) participating in the video call. Or maybe it's recorded, and no one knows exactly how it will sound until they watch that recording back later.

Maybe this kind of music is meant to be more exciting or more meaningful for the performers than the listeners. Maybe an audience doesn't matter at all.

All of that said, if I write another one of these pieces, I would experiment with:

- Even more rests & intentional silence
- More percussive sounds & rhythms
- Assigning solos ahead of time & relying more on individual voices
- Having a conductor mute & unmute singers at will

Why bother writing this kind of music at all, when online video platforms are not made for it? Because being in a chorus (or any ensemble) = being part of a community. Singing together live, in any form, is better than no singing at all.

If you'd like to try writing for live virtual choir, do! Conductors and singers are longing for ways to continue making music. Even a failed attempt at writing for this strange medium is better—in my opinion—than letting singers go months with no repertoire to sing together.

If you do write something for live virtual choir, let me know so I can share it. Good luck!