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Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin

The universality and innate nature of music, and the pentatonic scale, as demonstrated by singer Bobby McFerrin.
© World Science Festival (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Related Articles: zheng , African music , whole-tone scale , octave , a cappella , tonality , scale , musical sound , timbre , hexatonic scale , Bobby McFerrin , diatonic , note , pentatonic scale , mode , major scale , music , interval , musical expression , church mode , chromaticism , pitch , Western music , heptatonic scale , wagon , musical performance

Transcript

BOBBY McFERRIN: Talking about expectations. Expectations, watch. Bah--

SPEAKERS COMBINED: --bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

BOBBY McFERRIN: Bah--

SPEAKERS COMBINED: --bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

BOBBY McFERRIN: OK.

[LAUGHTER]

SPEAKERS COMBINED: Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah

[LAUGHTER]

BOBBY McFERRIN: Bah, bah--

SPEAKERS COMBINED: --bah. bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. dah, dum, doo, doo, doo, doo, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah bah, dah, dah, dah, bah, dah, dah. Bah, bah, dah, dah, dah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah--

[LAUGHTER]

--bah, bah, bah, bah, bah--

[LAUGHTER]

--bah bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

BOBBY McFERRIN: Yeah.

[APPLAUSE]

BOBBY McFERRIN: Now what's interesting to me about that is, regardless of where I am, anywhere, every audience gets that. But it doesn't matter, it's just the pentatonic scale for some reason.

SPEAKER 3: If you're looking for a job in neuroscience, I think--

[LAUGHTER]