My Redneck Past

Ok, the performance with Bobby McFerrin on Saturday night rocked. He is truly amazing. Singing with him definitely was a high-point, if not *the* high point of my music "career" so far. Definitely the most unique experience I've had. We only rehearsed with him for about 20 minutes where he sort of explained how it will work and how he will develop some music ideas on stage and then bring us in on the ideas. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous as I am not used to the improv thing... So the first half of the show was him conducting and performing with the North Carolina Symphony. He actually performed a duet for cello where he performed one of the cello parts with his voice. Extremely athletic piece and he was dead-on run after run... amazing. He also conducted Mozart's 38th Symphony in its entirety. The 2nd half of the show was all a cappella. The 20 or so of us singers backing him up sat in chairs in semi-circle behind him while he started to improv melodies and rhythms alone. Occassionally, when he settled on a vibe he liked he would turn to us and build his backing vocals... sometimes turning to the basses first and giving them their parts... we'd slowly take it over from him... then he'd pass the tenors their part... then altos... then sopranos... then as we continued the sounds, he would solo over us... So incredibly cool. He did do one of his songs that is more well known, "Drive," where he makes two pitches at once by humming and buzzing his lips. Crazy stuff. We also did an impromptu peformance of the Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria" in which he sang the appregiation and we all sang the melody. He finished the set with a manic, Cliff's Notes rendition of the "Wizard of Oz" that was hysterical. Mix in a bunch of random, crazy, fun stuff and it was an hour of pure joy. The 7,000 or so people in attendance loved it and he received the standing ovation he deserved. He was exhausted by the end of the show and could only manage a sing-along of the Mickey Mouse Club song for his encore. He's a true musican who gives everything to his performance. For me the singing was fun, but really I just had the best seat in the house to watch him perform. I wasn't necessarily a fan before but I definitely am now. Below I've posted a couple of fun links. Some of the stuff Bobby had us sing reminded me of my days with the Virginia Gentlemen at the University of Virginia. The good ol' days. I recently did a search on a cappella music in Rhapsody and was surprised to find one of the "Best of College A Cappella" CDs out there. This is a compilation CD that is released every now and then. We were included on the very first BOCA cd back in 1994 or so. Unfortunately, that one isn't on Rhapsody. But, I was surprised to find it out on Amazon now, rereleased as a double CD along with the 2nd BOCA. Below I've included a Rhapsody link to BOCA 2K... and an Amazon link to the BOCA release I am included on (I'm even mentioned in the liner notes as I arranged the song of ours they included). Enjoy!

BOCA 2K - Best of College A Cappella