Bobby McFerrin breezes through the door of Rollins Chapel's Green Room, quietly practicing delicate strains of arpeggios to himself as he makes his way towards me. He compliments our "quaint" little campus and our friendly student body. The ten-time Grammy Award winner -- perhaps best known as the composer of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" -- speaks in a smooth, vanilla voice that betrays his four-octave singing range and limitless improvisational techniques. The New York native, in residence as a Montgomery Fellow on Sunday and Monday, will perform in Spaulding Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Dartmouth: You started out as an aspiring clarinetist. What motivated your switch to vocals?
Bobby McFerrin: That's right. I took up the clarinet when I was 10, and I had always played the piano. I actually switched to flute, but not by choice. I didn't want to play the flute, but I had to get braces, and the orthodontist told me I could no longer play the clarinet. But it was probably for the better. If I had continued with the clarinet, I would have ended up playing clarinet in an orchestra somewhere.
TD: In addition to performing and conducting, you are also a prominent advocate of music education. Can you say a word or two about your philosophy regarding music education for the youth?
BM: Orchestras all over the United States are struggling to ensure that they're even going to have an audience in 10 or 15 years. The way you address that is to get kids interested in classical music as early as possible. The orchestras can only do so much, so a big part needs to be handled by the teachers in the classrooms. It's not up to the public school system -- or even private schools -- to wait for money to come and descend upon the school so that they can start a music program. What the individual teachers need to do is take it upon themselves to introduce music into the classrooms.
TD: The sooner, the better?
BM: The sooner, the better. Kindergarten, pre-kindergarten. Get them started young. And the way to start them young is to expose them to it. Let them hear it.
I think it's better when an orchestra actually goes to a school to perform rather than when the school buses kids to a concert hall. There's a place for both, but I don't want one to be neglected in favor of the other. An orchestra as small as a chamber ensemble can go to a school and create a close, personal connection with the students. Concert halls can be a bit intimidating for kids who are very, very young. If orchestras choose to bring kids to the concert halls, they should also have a supplementary program where musicians go to schools to perform.
TD: You've collaborated with the likes of Chick Corea, Yo-Yo-Ma and several of the world's most celebrated orchestras. Is there any particular artist that you enjoyed working with the most?
BM: Oh gosh, I can't decide that. There are too many great ones and they each offer something different.
TD: How about Hollywood icons? You've done pieces with Jack Nicholson, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams.
BM: Well, a record company called Rabbit Ears did the project with Jack Nicholson. He actually recorded his narration first, and I came into the studio afterwards and added the music. The whole idea was to get musicians and actors together to tell stories.
TD: Why use the medium of music to tell stories?
BM: It's the best medium. Music is a great way to tell a story, actually. Just including music in a story is a great method as well. All I can say is that it's a mystery. The impact that music has is mysterious.
TD: In past interviews, you've referred to music as an "infinite language." What do you mean by that?
BM: I've been told many times that when I'm improvising onstage and singing by myself, it sounds like I'm speaking or singing in a language. When people want to know why it sounds that way, all I can say is that I don't really know. I have no name for the language; it's just the way something sounds. Music itself is a language that speaks to people. It's amazing. You travel all around the globe, and you sing in different countries and in different languages, and music seems to cut right through all of that because it speaks to the emotions more than anything else.
TD: Is there something unique about the voice in particular?
BM: Yes! The voice comes from a living, breathing instrument. It comes from a human being. There's no medium. It's not like musicians who play through something else. The voice has an immediate effect. That's not to say that instrumentalists like Yo-Yo Ma aren't brilliant. Their instrument is their voice. But there is something particularly unique about the human voice. I feel that the father of all instruments is the drum, and the mother of instruments is the voice. So it's a very primal instrument. It's the first instrument. And when a person opens up their mouth to sing, the echo of that primal force comes through and goes directly to a person, unfiltered.
