Marbled murrelet: Quaker Higher Education ~ How to apply this thinking, or these discernments, about Friends' Education - to World Univ & Sch in the PhD programs, Law Schools, and Medical Schools, in addition to The College at WUaS online (and eventually IB or similar diplomas), for free to students' CC-4 ocw.mit.edu -centric degrees at WUaS and in each of all ~200 countries and in their main languages? * * * With World Univ & Sch's long time interest in facilitating real-real time music making, for virtual choir - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Virtual_Choir - (and for all instruments in the WUaS Music School, in all 200 countries' major WUaS universities, and in their main languages - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/World_University_Music_School) * How to apply this thinking, or these discernments, about Friends' Education * to World Univ & Sch in the PhD programs, Law Schools, and Medical Schools, in addition to the College at WUaS online (and eventually IB or similar diplomas), for free to students' CC-4 ocw.mit.edu -centric degrees at WUaS and in each of all ~200 countries and in their main languages? * On-line singing * * * And thanks for your email, Mwende, and regarding your interest in "Lego Spike Prime Robotics' Kit" ... and for learning the Python Programming language, after learning the Scratch Programming language in the CC-4 licensed free "CS First with Google at World Univ & Sch" course. Am seeking for you, and 100 other Cameroonian students interested in a 4 year online free Bachelor Degree * * * Yoga meditation in half lotus, or on back (easing) * * Beautiful amazing Marin county in the vicinity of Mt Tamalpais, with a surprisingly super trail Buckeye, Yolanda and Deer Park Fire Road on AllTrails * * World of Warcraft! ? Wow! #InteractiveFiction? in a #DungeonsAndDragons' adventure: ~ To Gaming - Digital @WorldUnivAndSch and /Science_Fiction * * Sunrise in #Canyon94516 up on the ridge 13 years' ago * * * Good #British #RoboticsBooks' novels: Nobel #KazuoIshiguro's #KlaraAndTheSun (2021) Klara is a B2 model & #IanMcEwan's #MachinesLikeMe (2019) Robot has off switch, a mole on the nape of his neck ~ Into a #RealisticVirtualEarthForRobotics for #WUaSRobotics (and Sophie Hanson conversational robot in art gallery too!))

On-line singing
Larry Viehland
Sat, Jan 15, 7:15 PM (14 hours ago)
to me

The article I remembered at the last minute today was by Esther M. Morgan-Ellis in American Scientist, Vol. 110, Number 1, 2022, pp. 28-35.


And here it is - 

Scott MacLeod <sgkmacleod@gmail.com>
Sat, Jan 15, 7:17 PM (14 hours ago)
to Larry

Thanks, I'll check it out, Larry -

 https://www.americanscientist.org/magazine/issues/2022

Sincerely, Scott



I opted out of singing in the Fettes College (a high school I attended for year in Edinburgh, Scotland), recently, partly for abolition (see below) reasons, in some of these regards too. But this Fettes virtual choir, some meeting in person in London, would have allowed all of us to sing together in real real time (albeit not for recording) ... and it would have been very difficult to hear each other across the internet and between Scotland and the SF Bay AREA, in a sense, or respond in a timely way to the musical conductor. 

Am curious at World Univ & Sch how further to develop online virtual choirs, and perhaps this article offers a viable approach until Google or WUaS develops real-real time music-making (coding for latency).

How can I Keep from Singing?
Silver linings and barriers to choral music
during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Wendy Looker

Early on in the pandemic, we learned that singing can
be a superspreading activity. Leaders in music
education raced to fund aerosol studies and uncover
technologies that would allow us to continue
providing meaningful musical experiences for our
beloved singers. We also worried about the looming
potential for job loss for musicians and teachers. I
spent the summer of 2020 on Zoom, conferencing
with colleagues across the country to learn as much as
I could about emerging best practices the new reality
of online rehearsals and virtual performances.

With funding from a teaching grant, I learned to use
Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro via Zoom lessons
with a colleague who is well-versed in the production
of virtual choir projects. Throughout the fall of 2020,
I never met nor heard the singers in my choir in
person. Instead, we created a series of virtual choir
videos that were edited together to create a virtual
concert event on Facebook Live. The preparation for
this virtual event was challenging, and both the singers
and I learned valuable lessons about recording and
storytelling through video.
Before the semester commenced, I designed a Canvas
course shell for the College Choir, assigning each song
a module containing all the materials and assessments
necessary to learn that piece. After obtaining licensing
rights from the composers or publishers of each piece,
I posted PDF scores in each module. I also included
video performances, recordings and audio tracks for
practicing, rehearsing synchronously, and finally, for
recording. Preparing practice tracks involves
recording a click track on Logic Pro X using either a
midi keyboard, an acoustic piano, or my own voice.
Tempo is predetermined when using a practice track;
and, while this makes audio mixing infinitely easier, it
robs one of some artistic control and the spontaneity
of a live performance.
With all the necessary materials posted, we began
rehearsing on Zoom.Singers have to remain on mute
while singing along on Zoom. For a number of
reasons, there is no way to sing synchronously, so I
relied on students asking to review parts as they
learned. Occasionally a brave singer would volunteer
to sing alone – a rare opportunity to assess learning in
real time. Asynchronously, students uploaded
assessment recordings made on their smartphones to
which I provided feedback via Canvas. The focus of
our time together in “Zoom rehearsal” often shifted to
discussing the meaning of the song text in breakout
rooms, looking at imagery and sharing design ideas
and creating a storyboard for our video project.
In November, students recorded their videos -- a
process that is much more complicated than it sounds.
With a camera set in the appropriate position, the
singer watches the music on another device, listens to
the audio track in one ear only , and sings to the click
track. (It is difficult to hear yourself sing with earbuds
in both ears),This process was frustrating for many
and certainly not as rewarding as communal singing in
person. I have however no doubt that each singer

learned something about themselves as musicians, and
I was moved by the amount of expressivness I saw in
their faces.
The next step in the process is lonely. After importing
videos into Logic Pro X, I stripped the audio from the
video and edited each vocal track for intonation and
rhythmic alignment. Tuning and correcting pitches
was fascinating, but lining up details like consonants
and cutoffs is something I much prefer doing with a

wave of my hand. Singers make all sorts of micro-
adjustments in intonation, vowel shape, articulation

and dynamics when they are together. It was both
surreal and tedious to simulate this by manipulating a
series of digital squares on the screen.
After balancing voices within and across sections and
selecting the right reverb, the final mp3 file becomes
the audio track for the video designed in Final Cut
Pro. I imported each singer’s video and synched each
person’s lips with the audio track. After cropping and
sizing each singer’s face into a grid, I added images,
backgrounds, transitions, subtitles and a title pages.
Aligning the video production with the audio was an
intriguing, creative process for me as I sought to make
the visual elements enhance the meaning and
expressive elements of the music. Our virtual concert
was a success, and I learned a number of new skills;
but it wasn’t an experience the singers wanted to
repeat in the spring semester.
In January 2021, we took the utmost precautions to
mitigate the spread COVID-19. I provided each singer
with a special mask designed for singing (specifically
RESONANCE Singer’s Mask) we observed social
distancing, opened windows and doors, and rehearsed
in a large auditorium. We even rehearsed in small
sections – only ten singers at a time – rotating every

20 minutes. It was that meaningful to our singers to be
together. As spring approached, we moved outdoors
where we could all gather together and conform to
Guilford College’s COVID-19 restrictions. We battled
wind, lawnmowers, sirens and motorcycles. The
repertoire we learned was simpler and more
conductive to singing outdoors under these less than
ideal circumstances. In lieu of a concert, we filmed
our program outdoors in various formations and
locations on our beautiful campus. The video is lovely,
but the sound quality was a challenge.
We tackled one virtual project: The Bless You and
Keep You by Peter C. Lutkin, which aired during our
virtual commencement ceremony.1

Perhaps the best
benefit of the virtual choir genre is the ability to
engage just about anyone in a project. Many Guilford
College Choir alumni were eager to contribute to the
project. The connection with alumni through the
power of a beloved song is something I will treasure
from this challenging time. This musical offering can
be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15KRrTg3Mwd73FjuRTTpZ
c5k1O3UskCtg/view
The happy ending to this story is that we have been
singing on the auditorium stage together for the
entirety of the fall 2021 semester, still masked and
nearly all vaccinated. On December 5 we performed a
joyous program titled We Gather Together. The
concert was live streamed to Guilfordians far and wide
on Facebook Live, and we hosted a healthy-sized live
audience. I have never been more grateful for the
choral arts.