Quote

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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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.
Sure
Making
Mouth
Comes
Opening
Anything
Mouths
Music
Responsible
Think
Except
Thinking
Worry
Stage

More quotes by Bobby McFerrin

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Music is still part of my spiritual life. Sometimes I sing my prayers. When I get audiences singing, I hope I'm helping them feel connected to something beyond themselves.
Bobby McFerrin
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
Bobby McFerrin
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Here's a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry, be happy.
Bobby McFerrin
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Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn't there to entertain he was all about the music. I kind of do that.
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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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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I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
Bobby McFerrin
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Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.
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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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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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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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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Remembering that life can be full of surprises is useful in any part of your life. You can try a new way of singing a song you’ve performed for years, a new way of showing your family your love for them, or a new recipe. Don’t just play the licks you know. We’re all improvising all the time — it’s good to recognize that and embrace it.
Bobby McFerrin
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Here's a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now
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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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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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
Bobby McFerrin
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Well, I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday, and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.
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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I do a lot of performing, but don't get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.
Bobby McFerrin