Grammy Award Winner Bobby McFerrin: Tech Is Making Us 'Impatient' Listeners

Ten-time Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin is a renowned musician, singer, and conductor who has collaborated with music greats such as Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock. He has also performed at orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic. McFerrin was one of the speakers that took the stage at the 2011 TED conference in Long Beach, California. HuffPost Tech editor Bianca Bosker caught up with McFerrin after his performance.
HP: How is technology changing the way we listen to music?
BM: "I think we're losing our patience with listening. I know that when I'm listening on my iPod, I do a lot of searching--I'll play twelve bars of a piece then say, 'no, I don't want to listen to that,' then I go on to something else."

"When I was a kid growing up and we bought albums, we treated them with such reverence, we would listen to every single cut, first to last, whether we liked the pieces or not, we were patient enough to at least give the [pieces] a chance. I'm finding that in today's technological world we've become more and more impatient, and that we don't take time to let things soak or steep."

What inspires your music?
"I like the mystery of creativity, not kowing where I'm going, or what's going to happen when I get to wherever I'm going--that to me is incredibly beautiful. I grew up in a musical family and I learned all the theory of music. I went to music school, I was a composition major, I wrote everything down on the page, and now I'm doing the complete opposite--I'm simply walking on stage with wonder, wondering what's going to come out."

What artists inspire you?
"When I was very young, when I was about ten, eleven, twelve years-old, my biggest influences then were Fred Astair, Bach. When I got a little older, Picasso and Charlie Chaplin."

"I found Fred Astaire's dancing just so full of joy, that's what struck me the most. And then Bach is so mathematically generated. So we have freedom, we have form, we have discipline, we have mystery, we have curiosity, we have experimentation...Those four individuals, I got a lot out of them."

Is there a new artist today you find inspiring?
"I haven't heard anyone that I've found really genuine and I'm looking for that."

Do you use Twitter? Facebook?
I don't do any of that. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

And what do you think of these technologies?
"I always marvel that people are willing to share intimate secrets with people they barely even know. I keep my opinions to myself, they're mine. I don't feel like I need to share everything with other people. That's one thing about technology--we almost feel like we're obligated to talk about ourselves. Why? I don't understand."

"[It's almost as though] if you're not talking about yourself, you're not being honest...I just don't want to because I don't think it's important. People can be thinking about other things a lot more important than me."

Get the latest news from TED 2011 here. See our complete coverage of TED 2011 here.

Comments

[dwill123]

04:45 PM on 03/02/2011

Bobby McFerrin: Tech Is Making Us 'Impatient' Listeners

Bobby I disagree. I believe it's gar bage, cr ap like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. You can't listen to that (so-called) music for 5 minutes without laughing. What ever happen to good listening music like early Genesis (circa Peter Gabriel) or The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

[irisisland]

02:57 PM on 03/02/2011

Live music is where it's at...people don't frequent quality live performance anymore; that is a great loss.

[makebofapay]

02:13 PM on 03/02/2011

Bobby McFerren is a national treasure and so humble. I will never forget the one and only time I saw him perform. The audience gave him a 10 minute standing ovation. He's an original and just brilliant. Every young artist working today could learn a lot from him like humility, patience and introspection to start.

[Guy Incognito]

12:50 PM on 03/02/2011

Technology has made us impatatient listeners, but it also has made us impatient creators.

Musicians fought against sound-on-film, robbing them of the ability to accompany silent films

Musicians fought against the Mellotron, which reproduced instruments on magnetic tape

Musicians fought against samplers, which robbed them of work live and in the recording studios

The arrival of personal multitrack made amateur recordings quicker, easier and affordable.

The arrival of personal digital multitracks and computer recording software led to the decline and/or disappearance of many legendary recording studios, as everyone could make their own recordings without the assistance of a professional 'set of ears' - lower quality in far less time.

'Sampling' and 'looping' other professionals' work allowed less talented artists (and I use the term loosely) to stand on the shoulders of these greats without learning anything from them.

Technolgy in music not only makes people impatient, it makes them lazy.

[plazma]

12:55 PM on 03/02/2011

I think sampling when done right can be a great thing.. look at Pauls Boutique from the Beastie Boys.. that is so sample heavy, but its a brilliant album.. they did it once, but you know the guys can write and play their own instruments.
Sometimes sampling a little thing can be a good thing, but if you do it like an MC Hammer who basically took the whole song of Rick James and made it his own.. then its a different story, thats just lazy.

[DaneAZ]

11:35 PM on 03/03/2011

Paul's Boutique. Yes. You are so on the money. Best piece ever created using sampling - certainly the most complex and far reaching example of the craft at least - even if you don't care for the compositions they created.
But - do you notice how it was created in the very early years of sampling technology? And how it has really never even been equaled ever since? Despite the huge leaps in sampling technology?
The absence of equals causes me to agree with the assessment: LAZINESS.

[mlowe0286]

03:49 PM on 03/03/2011

I was a pro for 20 years. I loved the Mellotron King Crimson anyone. I loved it when yyou could finally play more than one note at a time on a synth, I love personal recording because for the 1st time could actually hear my compositions while not playing & I can endlessly work on something because it doesn't cost anything to do so. I use loops because I don't have other musicans to work with all the time. It also means my arranging skills had to get better. I work on my music more now that I did when I had to wait for others to play with. So yeah there are lots of lazy musicians but there always have been. There's nothing wrong with the tech (except maybe auto-tune) it all in how it's used.

[omobob]

12:19 PM on 03/02/2011

> we would listen to every single cut, first to last, whether we liked the pieces or not, we were patient enough to at least give the [pieces] a chance.

Because we HAD to. We also HAD to get out of our chairs too change the channel. To me, Bobby McFerrin is making an observation not giving a critique. Why would we listen to something we don’t like? Now the penchant to always having to be occupied with no down time from tech, is a different story.

[ChrisR]

12:49 PM on 03/02/2011

Because it sometimes takes a COMPLETE LISTEN to realize you DO enjoy it, or a SECOND LISTEN to understand what you DIDN'T GET the first time. Sometimes there is a moment towards the END of the song which knocks you out and hooks you, but of course if you just click "next track" right at the beginning you will have missed it, and missed it FOREVER.

McFerrin is making both a critique AND an observation - he is discussing something you just did not comprehend at the moment, just as there are great songs you've missed out on because you could not "comprehend" it within the first 10 seconds.

Do you blow people off the same way after you've just met them? Spit out food you're not used to?

The tech innovations in music are wonderful, but the concept of "pandering" is the downside, and it's just SO EASY to listen to or read about only the things you ALREADY like. Whew, lot of CAPITAL LETTERS here so that hopefully you'll read more than the FIRST TWO WORDS. :o)

[omobob]

11:24 PM on 03/02/2011

> just as there are great songs you've missed out on because you could not "comprehend" it within the first 10 seconds. Prove it.

[naggingtree]

11:49 AM on 03/02/2011

Good sir, if your opinions are "your own", then why not keep them to yourself? How on earth can you condemn people for talking about themselves when all you want is a bit of extra fame? Greedy thing.

[plazma]

12:48 PM on 03/02/2011

Hello?!? He was being interviewed for one thing.. they asked him questions. he gave answers.. thats how it works.
I know what he was talking about.. As a kid, I listened to vinyl, laying on my bed reading the actual album cover and inside sheet that had lyrics or whatever on it. With MP3s and such.. all we have to do is click a button for the next thing, not get up and move the needle to the next empty groove.
But you gave your opinions also, so why didnt you keep them to yourself also? Its a bit of hypocrisy if you think about what you just said.

[ChrisR]

12:55 PM on 03/02/2011

Ummm, he was being interviewed.
I didn't catch any condemnation of anyone in the article.
Extra fame? Where'd THAT come from?
Brutal comments, and you kind of prove his point.

[Danek Greori]

09:18 AM on 03/02/2011

Technology changing the way we listen to music, eh? Maybe tomorrow's "news" story could be "Technology changing the way we generate electricity" or "Technology changing the way we service medical needs"

This is nothing more than another cliche non-story; Just because it came out of the mouth of someone who won an award once (or a few times) does not make news or exciting or new.

[plazma]

12:49 PM on 03/02/2011

I guess you are too ignorant to understand what he was saying.. since you are probably young and have had everything given to you instantly, not having to work for it or put any effort into anything.

[Danek Greori]

07:13 PM on 03/02/2011

I'll ignore your blind assumptions and address your first (and only coherent) statement. I understood very well what he was saying; however it didn't change the fact that what he had to say is not only general knowledge in the most extreme sense, but also a part of trend that has persisted for decades.

[dino213aa]

08:57 AM on 03/02/2011

The irony is, for all of our critical lack of patience, the compression of digital music is making us less discerning when it comes to actual sound quality. It's a tragic trade-off for instant gratification.

[dreday1]

09:18 AM on 03/02/2011

speak for yourself i only listen to flac/lossless

[wetdentist]

11:32 AM on 03/02/2011

but .flac doesn't play on ipod!!! so much conversion time to have 320kbs mp3 on ipod, and .flac on home system

[plazma]

12:52 PM on 03/02/2011

FLAC is only as good at the source file it comes from

[UberdanSounds]

10:34 AM on 03/02/2011

Couldn't agree more! That's why I made a pledge to mix & master my music with the Dynamic Range Meter Standard. I find that I can blast my stuff & not hurt my ears, unlike the music that's being pumped out today. There was a news story a few months back on how kids today are losing their hearing because of ipods & earbuds. I'm so glad I grew up in the 90's, I had tapes which sounded awesome! (until they wore out of course) Then they went to CD's which were convenient, but lacked character in the sound. A lotta people are moving back to Vinyl as well, I've always like the sound of it.

http://www.turnmeup.org/
http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/
http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/en/our-aim

[NHBill]

11:10 AM on 03/02/2011

what?

[wetdentist]

11:34 AM on 03/02/2011

yeah i like vinyl, and especially like it when bands offer new releases on vinyl that also come with 320kbs mp3s compliments of the chef!

[eric14]

08:52 AM on 03/02/2011

Don't worry. Technology has been changing the way we listen to music for over one hundred years.;

[JScott]

10:52 AM on 03/02/2011

Actually you are probably correct and I'd say longer that 100 years.
In Bach's day you usually heard music live, at court, in a theater type venue, or troubadors, or in the family-no radio, recordings etc.

[NHBill]

11:12 AM on 03/02/2011

The said thing is how few live productions offer live music these days.
In Las Vegas where tickets are $150 and up there is practically no live music for any of the shows.