Bobby McFerrin Quotes, Sayings, Remarks, Thoughts and Speeches
Bobby McFerrin Quotes and Sayings
- 1
But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 2
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.
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- 3
I do a lot of performing, but don't get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 4
I don't want anything to get in the way of me and my singing. I want my mind as clear as possible.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 5
I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
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- 6
I have a lot of albums yet to do.
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- 7
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. One song may be Bach, the next blues, a song from TV, or a nursery rhyme or jazz piece.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 8
I like to use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
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- 9
I played piano as a kid; I still play a little bit.
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- 10
I prepared five songs, I sang them, and he hired me. I started working about a month later at the piano bar.
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- 11
I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children's stories.
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- 12
I'd actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 13
If I can bring joy into the world, if I can get people to stop thinking about their pain for a moment, or the fact the tomorrow morning they're going to get up and tell their boss off... then I'll be successful.
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- 14
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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- 15
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.
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- 16
My biggest musical influences are probably my parents.
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- 17
My father was a very disciplined singer who worked hard at his craft, and I was around that growing up.
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- 18
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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- 19
Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 20
The true musician is to bring light into people's hearts.
Bobby McFerrin | Refcard PDF ↑
- 21
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 22
Then I left that school and I went to Cerritos College, which was in southern California; they had one of the best big band programs in the country at the time.
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- 23
Then when I was in grammar school I played the clarinet, and then, after clarinet I played the flute in college orchestra - besides singing in the college chorus and things like that.
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- 24
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 25
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
