After you feel comfortable with your part, make a video of yourself singing while
listening to the SATB track. Everyone must record their singing while listening to
this same SATB track so we can line up all of the videos!
You must use headphones/earbuds so that only you can hear the SATB track. Your video will contain just your voice. This is the most important thing to understand: You will be listening to the SATB track on your headphones/earbuds, but your video
will only contain your voice. The SATB track must NOT be heard on your video recording!
You will need one device to listen to the SATB track on your headphones/earbuds.
It could be a laptop, desktop computer, tablet (iPad), etc. You can then have someone
else video record you using a second phone or tablet (iPad), or do it yourself putting that second device on a tripod. For those of you familiar with Quick Time or similar software,
you can also make your own video while singing using the camera on your desktop or
laptop computer.
Note: If you have trouble accurately singing your part to the SATB track, you may
record your video while listening to your individual voice part practice track. Do not, however, record your video while watching and listening to the practice video! The
tempos are not identical.
In order to sync all of the videos, we will need to see each singer clap on camera (please clap quickly in front of your face) at a specific point at the beginning of the video recording (see the PDF of the printed music and the video to see where you need to clap). We
will edit out the clap so it will not be seen on the video. This is very important! Please refer to number 9 above for video submission example.
A few musical notes:
- Put your hands back down at your side after "the clap".
- Try to breathe only when there is a rest. If you can't sing the full 4 measure phrases,
be careful not to breathe in the middle of the phrase especially when there is a consonant
( i.e. "daughters" in bar 2 and 18, “summits” in bar 14, “waters” in bar 22, “cherish”
in bar 26, and "merit" in m. 30).
- Be sure to practice the ritard (slowing) in measure 24 which is a 5/4 bar, and near
the end in measures 32-33.
- In measure 29, the word Christus is pronounced Kree-stoos.
- In the last measure, Soprano II and Tenor II should sing the middle Bb note.
- The last chord in measure 34 should be held for 4 beats--stopping on the 5th beat/click
(the rest).
- You can practice these things with the SATB track before you make your video.
Some other things to remember:
- Please wear purple and gold!
- If using printed music, be sure it is located off-camera.
- Please turn the device HORIZONTALLY (Landscape) and record at eye level so the video
matches the width of those who might make their videos using computers.
-
Try to sing in front of a plain background with plenty of light on your face, so that
you can be clearly seen.
-
Clean the lens of your recording device and center yourself in the frame (close-up).
Fill the frame with your head and shoulders.
-
For better tuning when recording, you may wish to listen to SATB track in one ear
only so you can better hear your own voice when singing.
-
Start your video recording a few seconds before the SATB track starts and continue
recording a few seconds after the end. We want to see your beautiful smiling faces
at the end! We will trim the videos when we do the editing.
-
Be sure to turn on Airplane Mode to avoid incoming calls and other noises interrupting
your recording. Turn off all nearby humming and beeping devices.
-
Make sure you are in a space without a lot of reverberation.
-
Don't over sing.
-
If using smartphone to record, take a minute to be sure it is set to record in High-Definition
(HD):
For Android:
- Open the Camera App
- Open Settings
- Choose either Video Size or Video Quality
- Select HD 1920x1080 (if you don't have this setting, HD 1280X720)
- Close Settings and Camera App
For iPhone:
- In your iPhone settings, select Camera
- Tap Record Video
- Select 1080p HD at 30fps