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I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.

Bobby McFerrin

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Bobby McFerrin
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: March 11
Beatboxer
Conductor
Jazz Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Songwriter
Vocalist
Manhattan borough
New York City
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr.
Robert Keith McFerrin
Jr.
Robert McFerrin
Jr.
Instrument
Instruments
Jazz
Color
Audience
Use
Music
Palette

More quotes by Bobby McFerrin

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It's not that I don't love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.
Bobby McFerrin
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My father was a very disciplined singer who worked hard at his craft, and I was around that growing up.
Bobby McFerrin
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I played piano as a kid I still play a little bit.
Bobby McFerrin
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I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.
Bobby McFerrin
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I couldn't do anything without faith. I couldn't open up my eyes, I couldn't walk, I couldn't speak, I couldn't sing.
Bobby McFerrin
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I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
Bobby McFerrin
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In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy.
Bobby McFerrin
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If I stand there, appreciating the world around me as full of amazing sounds and the possibility of new ones, I think that invites other people to see the world that way, too. I love sharing the experience of singing with people, and I love sharing my stories. But when it comes to teaching, I have a lot of help.
Bobby McFerrin
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I think we listen to music because we want to be changed. Music is not solely for our entertainment. Music has such tremendous power to bring joy. To me, that's our job as artists. Not happiness, not a groove, whatever. You must bring joy. I think that's the assignment. I have no doubt about it.
Bobby McFerrin
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When you worry your face will frown, that will bring everybody down, so don't worry BE HAPPY!:)
Bobby McFerrin
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I try not to perform. I try to come on stage and be myself, to sing the way I would in a room by myself, to interact with the audience the way I would relate to them if we were in my kitchen drinking tea and making up silly songs. Maybe the way to get past the fear of being ourselves is simply to try it more often.
Bobby McFerrin
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Whenever I'm onstage, I try my best not to think that I'm performing. It's simply another part of my day.
Bobby McFerrin
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Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.
Bobby McFerrin
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Sometimes mistakes are the best thing that can happen, because they might lift you...out of your complacency, and open your mind up to a whole other area that you wouldn't have gone to intentionally.
Bobby McFerrin
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When I'm on stage by myself, I don't have to think about anything. I don't have to worry about anything because I'm not responsible for anything except just opening my mouth and making sure music comes out.
Bobby McFerrin
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I have a lot of albums yet to do.
Bobby McFerrin
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
Bobby McFerrin
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I think play and joy and feeling good deserve more of our time. I don't see why adults are supposed to grow out of those things. If I have a mission it's to make everyone who comes to my concerts leave feeling a heightened sense of freedom to play, sing, and enjoy themselves.
Bobby McFerrin
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Then I came up with this crazy idea just to walk out on the stage with no band at all and just start singing whatever came to mind. I actually fought the idea for a while because it seemed almost too radical, but it became obvious what I was supposed to be doing.
Bobby McFerrin
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But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing.
Bobby McFerrin