http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgvJg7D6Qck
One of the common themes in our readings and listening has been that everyone can make music and everyone should make music. The link above is from a Bobby McFerrin concert (if you don't know who he is, I highly recommend checking him out - I'm a piano player and I still think the things he does with his voice are phenomenal, and that his music is enjoyable and can teach a lot about improvisation and versatility). In it, he gets the crowd to sing "Ave Maria" while he sings the first Bach Prelude from WTC over it, creating this beautiful final product. What matters more than the product is how he approaches it - he tells the crowd to all sing, and if you don't know the song, just listen to those who do and come in when you feel comfortable. By encouraging this audience participation, he connects everyone to the music. This makes sure no one is left out and results in the strange beauty you always get when you have a large group of people singing, regardless of ability.
Bobby McFerrin is an incredible vocalist. he does some weird stuff, but it's pretty awesome. And its incredible how he just has this crowd participating is just great. I must say this is the best crowd singing I've ever heard.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of engaging the audience the way he did. He was able to not only make them connect with him, but connect with each other. Project Trio tried connecting to their audience by not turning off the house lights so that they could feed off of the energy they got from the audience.
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