Bobby McFerrin Quotes

"I like to use the audience as my color palette, my instrument."
- Bobby McFerrin

"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."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: College, Grammar, School, Singing)

"The true musician is to bring light into people's hearts."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: People, Light)

"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
(Related: Home, Music, Time, Father, African, American, First, Jazz, Opera)

"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."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Children, Order, Parents, Responsibility)

"My father was a very disciplined singer who worked hard at his craft, and I was around that growing up."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Father, Growing up)

"My biggest musical influences are probably my parents."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Parents)

"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
(Related: Love, College, Song, Songs, Want)

"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
(Related: Birthday, Time, Accident, Living, Present)

"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
(Related: Idea, Mind, Obvious, Radical, Singing)

"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
(Related: Jazz, Living, Old, School, Years)

"I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children's stories."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Poetry, Children, Want)

"I played piano as a kid; I still play a little bit."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Play)

"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
(Related: Time, Thought, Now, Orchestras)

"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
(Related: Jazz, May, Quiet, Song)

"I have a lot of albums yet to do."
- Bobby McFerrin

"I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Time, Being, Learning)

"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
(Related: Mind, Singing, Want)

"I do a lot of performing, but don't get a chance to go to the studio and write good music."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Music, Chance)

"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
(Related: Music, People)

"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
(Related: Music, Worry)

"But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Attention, Career, Needs, Writing)

"I prepared five songs, I sang them, and he hired me. I started working about a month later at the piano bar."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Songs)

"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."
- Bobby McFerrin
(Related: Boss, People, Successful, Fact, Joy, Pain, Thinking, Tomorrow, World)