The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.
BOBBY MCFERRINImprovisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
More Bobby McFerrin Quotes
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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.
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
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When I was figuring out how to perform solo, I wanted to move back and forth between bass riffs, melody, and harmony, so I often used sounds instead of — or alongside — the words of a song.
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Remembering that life can be full of surprises is useful in any part of your life.
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I bury my mind in my book, the Bible. Every morning it’s the first thing that I do. I’ve been doing it for years and years.
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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.
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The audience is like my instrument. It’s not just me up there, it’s collaborative.
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I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children’s stories.
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If I stand there, appreciating the world around me as full of amazing sounds and the possibility of new ones,
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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
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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.
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I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be.
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The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.
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So I want to come back here [to Israel] to see the places that I read about every day. It’s very important to my faith to feed [my] spirit in Israel.
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Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It’s open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.
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When we listen to improvisational jazz, or solo classical violinists, the way they phrase and inflect melodies feels vocal, like they’re talking to us.
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I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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If I sing “you broke my heart, you left me flat,” everyone knows exactly what that means – they know the story. But if I sing a line that’s plaintive or wailing, people can experience their own set of emotions and their own story.
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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.
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I want them to have this sense of real, real joy from the depths of their being. Because I think when you take them to that place, then you open up a place where grace can come in.
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Part of our responsibility as parents, as adults, is to set examples for children. But we have to like children in order to be really happy fulfilled adults
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Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.
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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