Love how Bobby keeps using audience participation. He understands that the audience wants to be part of the presentation. it makes the experience much more meaningful and memorable. I could just listen to him to entire presentation.
About expectations : Bobby guides the audience with his body language. Instead of music surprising you, he leads the audience away from expectation and relies on what people already know (pentanonic scale). It's truly brilliant because he exposes that.
when Bobby mentioned expectations and the comparison of planning to go to a concert and running into music at the park, there are diff parts of the brain involved: the expectation of the concert could be activating the dopaminergic system through the expectation, where running into the music in the park would activate the surprise response (at 28:30) the author captured this aspect a little bit. Surprise emotions and "seeking" emotions have a different system activated. That's a little bit different than how the brain actually processes the music itself. The author (at 30min) captured the surprise and learning aspect well. IDK if people captured the depth and breadth of Bobby's question there. As a musician and humanist I identify with Bobby's perspective and question. As a counselor I can understand how we can get stuck in looking at the textbook explanations and "science" behind function. Bobby was looking outside the box with his question, and I admire his bravery to ask that of all the scientists in the room there. The question may not have been appreciated to its full potential, but I love how they all affirmed him and explored a little with him. I think combining art and science is a wonderful way we can explore the human brain, it's function, and consciousness. What a wonderful presentation this was.
That seems to me to be a feature of language itself rather than music in the sense that if I were to ask you Shai what does rain sound like, you mgiht respond well it sounds like bacon frying. It seems like if you dont want to explain a thing back to itself (hey what do you mean rain sound liek rain and nothing else!) we have to put one things in etrms of another...thats my 2 cents but I'll gladly be contradicted/ proven wrong if there are contrasting or opposing views..
@@harshoranje You can mathematically describe the sound. And you can describe math by words. Which means you can describe sound by words. It takes a detour but its not as far away as expressing architecture with dancing. Oh and ofcourse the person needs to ahve an udnerstanding of sounds. Just like with color, you can't explain the color green to a blind person. But you can express it in terms of wave length. By doing that you dont explain what you perceive. You just explain whats there. And this is also the problem with sound. Even if you express it mathematically you only share the objective part and not the subjective thing you perceive. The later onne can only be shared by reference (while hoping that other seem to see a connection in your reference, which is also not always true)
@@Rithmy Hear you & still...difference in a whole body experience of an exquisite kiss, the bird song of dawn and attempt to describe what's happening physiologicically. One simply stays in the head, or, thinking about it, the other, direct experience...which I find distinctly different than "subjective". The meaning one speaks about (as in the example of the 3 subjects beneath headphones...it's feeble attempt, verbally...the extrordinary musicianship of Bobby....reduced to words....mostly filled in with music, except for the memory evoked by the one piece. The the sct of thinking, stating like or dislike...That is certainly subjective & for the most part seems to come After the direct experiencing of music.
At ca. 1:25:00 or so, BF mentions music and medicine. The Chinese character for medicine includes "grass" (herbs) and music (itself made of radicals that represent silk and wood, common materials used to make musical instruments). I'll have to remember that trick.
So much respect for Bobby. The pentatonic expectation demonstration was really fabulous - his improvisation over the top was crucial in my mind. Highlight for me was was the delightful improvisation at the end for the musical conversations there-in.
As an avid jazz fan, I found myself mentally gravitating to the "whole," while thoroughly enjoying the individual contributions to "IT." The communicative aspects are what drives me towards jazz, and I found myself listening and gravitating to that! ENJOYABLE
As to why the audience knew to sing the pentatonic scale. A pentatonic scale is a chain of 5 notes a perfect 5th a part from one another. The perfect 5th is the most consonant harmonic interval because it's the first occurring overtone beyond the octave in any given naturally produced note. This is why key signatures a 5th apart are only in contrast by one note from each to the next. That is why the pentatonic scale is naturally occurring with us. I'm a little shocked that nobody on the stage communicated that.
...actually...if you take a C pentatonic scale...and spell it out... C, D, E, G and A. A perfect 5th from E is B...which is not a note in the C pentatonic scale. And C is a perfect 5th up from F...which is also not a note in the C pentatonic scale. This is perhaps why noone pointed that observation out. However, the intervals contained in a pentatonic scale are 2 whole steps, a minor 3rd and finally a whole step. This is probably the most naturally and equally balanced collection of intervals -- probably why that scale has such an inherent quality.
What I feel is music is the simplest form of sounds and that Bobby McFerrin understands and we don't because we are so lost in the technicalities and in the race to make the most perfect piece. This is where we go wrong. What Mr.Mcfferin does is he sings his heart out without a fear of failure because he enjoys it to his heart and soul and knows it's going to be great. He is a Sound Wizard.
If you’re including Bobby he doesn’t have to mention it , because he can demonstrate and actually do it.A parent once told me her daughter asked my daughter how does she kick and score so well in soccer (football)my daughter replied “ I don’t know, I just do it, at the time they were both 9 years old. I bet Bobby doesn’t spend much time talking about how he does what he does are trying to understand the theories. That would effect the way he performed, some talk and some do.
@@mosijahi3096 Roberto Carlos probably doesn’t know much about aerodynamics but he does know how to swing a football. Knowing or understanding a concept and applying it in real life are quite different things
MFerrin's demonstration is used in musical master classes. To me, the most impressive prediction is when the audience gets the third note-- out of nowhere. The others are actually given in his improvisation. The fifth tone of the pentatonic scale is the third note in his improvised melody. he sings all around the pentatonic scale. I think the neuroscientist speaking afterwards is just blowing smoke.
What’s cool is that even other nations other than English speaking can do the same things. Small villages in Africa and a South America to NYC New York in the US or Spain all get the same result or close to it. It’s engrained
But it isn't "out of nowhere". The interval is established between the first two notes; it hints (if you want to call it that) what interval to apply next.
Bobby hits emotions and the heart, everyone else is trying to hit the left brain (logic side) but music is much much more than that. Very hard to explain things we have done for millennia.
That stuff at the start...I used to do that as a kid. (not as awesome) Everyone thought I was just weird. So to not be weird I stopped. Had I only known of McFerrin and it being a thing.
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Interesting fact, if boys keep singing through puberty when their vocal flaps thicken that causes their voices to crack, they will be able to sing low and high. There's a children's choir in my area that they have 18-year-old guys singing soprano all the way down to base.
Jazz must be a very informative genre to study for neural activities. Based on my personal observation, Jazz perhaps is the most divergent genre and could be used to distinguish various neural activity patterns.
The behavioral scientist seemed to just have buzzwords and almost excuses for why we experience music how we do. Like he didn't want to say, "We don't know"
TRUE !!! what are they talking is not explaining at all,, they just say some word of nothing.... I want to know how the audience which is I sure majority of them is not a singer, so why they can sign the RIGHT note
First time I listened to classical music for 2hrs straight I felt my brain moving . Something changed and that's what bobby was asking @ 29th minute but none of the those damn scientists answered it
Awesome talk! They should do this type of talks with other scientist, for example with physicist, biologist or mathematicians. It would be pretty interesting as well. Thanks!
You probably know this already, but there's a podcast called Radiolab, where they discuss all kinds of topics with experts of the field. The best of all is that the episodes are excellently written, and their style is unique. They're so fun to listen to!
If the room is full of scientists, then I can understand why all the scientific speak, but I would have loved a more laymen's explanation. Also, Bobbi's question at 25ish minutes about how we respond to a prearranged concert as opposed to a happenstance one was very good! So science man is looking at the neuro experience, that's valid, but emotionally speaking, there's an element of surprise and delight in an unplanned, spontaneous discovery. Well, inho, anyway. I'm no neuro scientist. :)
@@nathanielhicks1473 it's amazing how many vocalists eat the mic or have no idea how to modulate based on distance, direction and angle. You are right, he's quite good but the engineers are doing good work here too.
They talk about a lot of good stuff; it's all fascinating; Bobby communicates the best;.......but no one addresses the elephant in the room.............tension.........
@@bautibunge737 In most brains it gives dopamine to itself. It’s that ‘end of the song’ or that ‘beat drop’ note that separates chunks of music or ends the song.
Was it just me or did your soul die a little bit when the western singer used the ray natural in response to the ray flat segment. It just sounded SOOOO off 😖
Now that's some platinum YT-content! Science meets music ❤ If only such experiments continuied with international support around the world instead of trade- and military wars...
Note how Bobby is physically motivated to reduce his exposure to loud noises. This is a musician, he lives with loudness, has to manage SPL and exposure. Now pull those iPod ear-buds out of your hearing hole before you go deaf!
Amazing, that for about 20 years of my life I, and many, many family and friends, were convinced that Bobby McFerrin was dead, by suicide. Don't worry, be happy. Only to find out in the internet era, that he was very alive, and very well! God bless this man.
at 1:00:00 is that a real song he's making noises for or is he just adding that in to fit the tune everyone else is singing?? cause that whole piece sounds amazing and i wanna hear it on repeat
It’s just improvisation over a pentatonic scale. You can look that up and find other beautiful pieces of music, but if you want that one in particular you should play it yourself!
Well ill give you an example. You don't have much love for a certain musical piece But if you had watched movie or series where it played and you were influenced by the movie or the combination of the movie and music then suddenly you feel your views radically changed towards the same piece of music
: At about 27:30 : I just want to back up what the panellist is saying : There is such a thing as an H note, in the true musical scale. It's between a G sharp and A.... But only truly cool people use it, or even know about it. H is my favourite note.
+Jessalyn Small its Cb that the bach motif translated to H. this was just his egotism written as Cb and read as H so he could spell his family name in music. but yes, as there is no semi tone between B and C like you find in the major scale between A and B, Cb is a natural B....you know how rockstars like to feel like they're better than the rest of the minlings of the world. ;)
+Kewl Beans No, it's not "his egotism". In German, the note that's named B in English is named H, and what's called B flat in English is a B. And Bach was German, so there's nothing strange about that.
"If you want to do cross cultural work, and find people who have never been exposed to music outside, you come to the United States." This is the most damning analysis of US cultural isolationism. Soon as I heard the people at Tuff's I knew instantly that they had never heard any music outside their church. Probably think Indians are Muslim.
+What I learnt today I know this is an old comment and you may not be interested in discussing this further, but do you think this was a fair assessment by him really? Most singers that have any musical education would at least have been exposed to the other scales. And Indian music CAN be found in American pop culture, Slumdog Millionaire and Monsoon Wedding were well known movies and most streaming video services have big Bollywood catalogs. Indian music is also frequently sampled in various popular music genres. I grew up listening to world music on NPR, and I doubt I'm the only one. Also the two singers, at least in the videos shown, were given entirely different sets of instructions. The singer in India was simply told to complete the song, but the one in the U.S. was told told to elaborate on it for a few notes and end on a place they felt was a good resting place. If they had said "Please elaborate an ending using the notes you heard in the clip I just played." it might affect the outcome further. Differing the instructions for the two groups seems like a big variable to be introducing.
+illfayted Did you come from a similarly conservative environment? Yeah did notice the different instructions at the time. Think using the same scale a song uses should be fairly universal when asked to improvise an ending though. The Western singer simply didn't have the same harmonic context and exposure to these kinds of scales so didn't know what was available to be sung. "The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin'; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty. The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of shit, have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like." -- Frank Zappa Sounds like you avoided that fate. Have little exposure to NPR myself, but PBS news is pretty damn good.
I actually did come from quite a conservative background. My parents were (are) both Christian fundamentalists, and I lived in a small rural area in the middle of the country, which is actually why I listened to NPR, public radio was the only station that came in clearly, that didn't play Country or Talk Radio. I wasn't really supposed to listen to secular music, so I'd listen to the classical and then keep listening when it switched to world or indie music and hope they didn't notice. Just personally, the notes the American singers chose sounded really odd to me, so I guess that little early introduction to other scales did alter my expectations. I was a little offended I guess because it seemed like he was making a blanket statement about all Americans. I love PBS, we were too poor for cable or satellite, and again not many other stations came in where we lived, so we got most of our entertainment from there or the public library.
the subtle way's that science and spirituality collide in this talk are pretty interesting. anyone got any recommendations for talks/performances where something similar is actually explored? or awkwardly brought up and lolfully overlooked again? Love ya Bobby
Bobby McFerrin uses the body and emotion directly while the other panelists somewhat tortuously filter these ideas through reason and conceptualization. Would be interesting to see a panel on that dichotomy.
Sound is vibrations through the air. Saying that falling tree wouldn't make a noise if no one was around to hear it is like saying the sun wouldn't rise if everyone stayed in their basements.
Actaully not, since the experience of sound is created by the brain's interpreting of the sound WAVES hitting the eardrum. Without the eardrum, there is no sound, just silent waves in the air. So it's not comparable to the sun coming up :)
yes it is because by this logic, nothing exists without a biological organ interacting with it. if you dropped a tape recorder in the forest on accident and it recorded the sound of a falling tree, this would be proof.
+Maxfield Sohn We are both right, of course, depending on the definition of sound, and on the viewpoint (scientifical of philosophical) ☺ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest?wprov=sfla1
well it actually is comparable to the sunrising. light also just is a wave collected by our eyes and interpreted by our brain. so without any eyes watching, the light from the sun would be just invisible waves.
At about 1:00:00, Bobby claims that people tend to follow the pentatonic scale. However, he didn't let the audience choose the next note for themselves. So I don't think it's necessarily true, unless there's another video where he does that without telling the audience what the next note will be.
You also have to realize that he also chose the interval, which might have influenced how the audience chose the next note. I mean, maybe he's right. But in scientific terms, what I'm saying, is that the control variables are not being held constant.
He can not let the audience device the scale, some would go major or minor or even dorian or other scales, the pentatonic its easier to get to someone not involve in music because of the tritone that would bother some people with no experience singing, try it, try to make an audience sing a scale, first try a minor armonic and then a minor pentatonic and they will get easier and be more confident and sing better the pentatonic, what bobby is trying to point out is that without knowledge of music people are able to sing some scales and are able to know intervals without him singing those intervals first, and he has to give the audience minimal 2 notes, what the hell would the audience react if he says "ok nor everyone sing the same scale" or worst if he says "ok, know sing a Db major pentatonic scale"...
@@xydex99 But Zoshi is perhaps saying "the particular musical phrase they played in the video, which the experimenters labelled, for reasons of elucidation, the 'Indian scale' (see 47:55)", and perhaps Zoshi is not saying "the Indian scale in general, of which I believe there is only one kind, which I am calling the Indian scale." Sung at 46:30
#34:00 * Northern African drumming is different to southern, dialects, snappy short vrs pitch variation slow, matches language. * A happy baby does Major triads, a sad baby does minor triads.
The awkwardness of multiple drug related quips directed at the only black man on stage. This is why Alan Alda teaches communication to the science community.
+Ben Pranke he's just making music man, doesn't have to be anything more than that. If he can get a whole room of people to feel a musical energy, then he did what he set out to do.
The ability to listen to Chinese Opera is a superpower I just don't have. I found it even more irritating than the one before it. I actually had to take my headphones off.
They have singers trying to emulate scales. Are the singers songwriters and musicians too? It's not clear why a singer would necessarily "know", or be inclined, to insert unfamiliar pitches, just because they hear them one time. If you gave such a scale to a songwriter/singer/musician, he/she might be more inclined to slip the unfamiliar pitches into his/her melody. Ultimately though, they would need to become acclimated to the new scale to become proficient in the pitches and intervals, as the panelists said.
It’s a bit of being prepared for different music pieces or in some cases singers will test their slinging capabilities in order to improve their vocal chord elasticity. In orchestra we will sometimes test our finger placements on different and unfamiliar scales in order to ensure our fingers are ‘in tune’ with the chord and to improve our muscle memory on finger placements. I would imagine same for vocalists.
Adrian A its the other way around, the scale actually goes a to g, but some composers had such a bad handwriting that the small b was recognized as an h, because the lower part of the b arch was left open, so it was mistakenly recognized for an h.
Me interesa muchísimo los temas que trata este video. Cómo... dónde puedo coseguir los subtítulos en Español ?? alguien puede ayudarme con esto ? Gracias.
I have to say that tis is first time in a long time that someone has made neuroscience seem boring. McFerrin is the highlight of this program. I can't believe no one stopped them using those slides. The first was a complete eye chart. It probably succeeded in making the audience think this stuff is way over their heads, which is probably what the speaker wanted. Rattling off areas of the brain, and connections was just to wow the audience, not educate them. And they missed some pretty fundamental things. Altogether, pretty unimpressive-- except for McFerrin's delightful demonstration, which was pretty joyful, and insightful.
Props to the sound guy, you unsung hero.
dude i gotta say ya got 1 of the best online names fucking ever... sorry for the "year later" bother... and yes props to the sound guy most def!!
As someone who's been stuck in the "emergency sound guy" roll I've got so much respect for *good* sound engineers!
True that
This has nothing to do with the 'Sound Guy'(unless you are referring to Bobby)! Anyone can use a limiter/compressor, etc.
This man just spoke every language on the face of the planet using music. My mind melted
MELDED with humanity. THIS is beautiful.
Love how Bobby keeps using audience participation. He understands that the audience wants to be part of the presentation. it makes the experience much more meaningful and memorable. I could just listen to him to entire presentation.
About expectations : Bobby guides the audience with his body language. Instead of music surprising you, he leads the audience away from expectation and relies on what people already know (pentanonic scale). It's truly brilliant because he exposes that.
58:55 is the best part of the conversation.
Haha I watch it on repeat because I love it so much!
do u know the song name?
It's not a song, it the pentatonic scale with him adding his own melody to it.
SplitSniper7 its improvised??? bobby very talented guy
Yes improvised.
when Bobby mentioned expectations and the comparison of planning to go to a concert and running into music at the park, there are diff parts of the brain involved: the expectation of the concert could be activating the dopaminergic system through the expectation, where running into the music in the park would activate the surprise response (at 28:30) the author captured this aspect a little bit. Surprise emotions and "seeking" emotions have a different system activated.
That's a little bit different than how the brain actually processes the music itself. The author (at 30min) captured the surprise and learning aspect well.
IDK if people captured the depth and breadth of Bobby's question there. As a musician and humanist I identify with Bobby's perspective and question. As a counselor I can understand how we can get stuck in looking at the textbook explanations and "science" behind function. Bobby was looking outside the box with his question, and I admire his bravery to ask that of all the scientists in the room there. The question may not have been appreciated to its full potential, but I love how they all affirmed him and explored a little with him.
I think combining art and science is a wonderful way we can explore the human brain, it's function, and consciousness. What a wonderful presentation this was.
Thank you.
I agree that is was not thoroughly heard.
This introduced me to Bobby McFerrin and his music
GeorgeP Don't stop here! Woohoo! A treasure!
This whole talk about music reminds me of the following metaphor: Talking about music is like dancing to architecture.
That seems to me to be a feature of language itself rather than music in the sense that if I were to ask you Shai what does rain sound like, you mgiht respond well it sounds like bacon frying. It seems like if you dont want to explain a thing back to itself (hey what do you mean rain sound liek rain and nothing else!) we have to put one things in etrms of another...thats my 2 cents but I'll gladly be contradicted/ proven wrong if there are contrasting or opposing views..
@@harshoranje You can mathematically describe the sound. And you can describe math by words. Which means you can describe sound by words. It takes a detour but its not as far away as expressing architecture with dancing.
Oh and ofcourse the person needs to ahve an udnerstanding of sounds. Just like with color, you can't explain the color green to a blind person. But you can express it in terms of wave length. By doing that you dont explain what you perceive. You just explain whats there.
And this is also the problem with sound. Even if you express it mathematically you only share the objective part and not the subjective thing you perceive. The later onne can only be shared by reference (while hoping that other seem to see a connection in your reference, which is also not always true)
I'm with you there...Reminds me of Thomas bagels famous paper on consciousness...What is it like to be a bat?
@@Rithmy Hear you & still...difference in a whole body experience of an exquisite kiss, the bird song of dawn and attempt to describe what's happening physiologicically. One simply stays in the head, or, thinking about it, the other, direct experience...which I find distinctly different than "subjective". The meaning one speaks about (as in the example of the 3 subjects beneath headphones...it's feeble attempt, verbally...the extrordinary musicianship of Bobby....reduced to words....mostly filled in with music, except for the memory evoked by the one piece. The the sct of thinking, stating like or dislike...That is certainly subjective & for the most part seems to come After the direct experiencing of music.
Frank zappa?
I never finished Daniel Levitin's book "This Is Your Brain on Music". This was a greater reminder to reread and finish it
At ca. 1:25:00 or so, BF mentions music and medicine. The Chinese character for medicine includes "grass" (herbs) and music (itself made of radicals that represent silk and wood, common materials used to make musical instruments). I'll have to remember that trick.
So much respect for Bobby. The pentatonic expectation demonstration was really fabulous - his improvisation over the top was crucial in my mind. Highlight for me was was the delightful improvisation at the end for the musical conversations there-in.
As a physics student and a musician. We are all born with a beat some just have to find it. "Heart" :)
+Orlando Tongue niceeeeeeeeeeee
+Orlando Tongue
Mine stopped one time those few first weeks. Could say it was the silence between the build up and the drop.
What a genius Bobby McFerrin is and this fine discourse of culture and sound
I can picture the sign language guy just shrugging for the first 12 minutes.
The Relic WHY DO I LOVE THIS COMMENT
I just UGLY-SNORTED a laugh!!! BWAAAAAHAHA!!!
I'm usually more interested in talks about theoretical physics, but this was probably one of the most fascinating things I've seen in a while.
As an avid jazz fan, I found myself mentally gravitating to the "whole," while thoroughly enjoying the individual contributions to "IT." The communicative aspects are what drives me towards jazz, and I found myself listening and gravitating to that! ENJOYABLE
unbelievable performance on a totally improvised pentatonic collaboration from bobby and the rest of the musicians!!!
awesome stuff!!!!
I found it fascinating when several of the musicians suddenly synched together for some time and then fell apart just to resync again.
How many came here to hear Bobby Mcferrin?
I came to see him fall off the stairs again.
Gold49ersFan I came for no particular reason.
I'd go anywhere I have the money to travel to to listen to Bobby Mc Mcferin
Iam so glad that i can watch this for free. Thank you
As to why the audience knew to sing the pentatonic scale. A pentatonic scale is a chain of 5 notes a perfect 5th a part from one another. The perfect 5th is the most consonant harmonic interval because it's the first occurring overtone beyond the octave in any given naturally produced note. This is why key signatures a 5th apart are only in contrast by one note from each to the next. That is why the pentatonic scale is naturally occurring with us. I'm a little shocked that nobody on the stage communicated that.
...actually...if you take a C pentatonic scale...and spell it out... C, D, E, G and A. A perfect 5th from E is B...which is not a note in the C pentatonic scale. And C is a perfect 5th up from F...which is also not a note in the C pentatonic scale. This is perhaps why noone pointed that observation out. However, the intervals contained in a pentatonic scale are 2 whole steps, a minor 3rd and finally a whole step. This is probably the most naturally and equally balanced collection of intervals -- probably why that scale has such an inherent quality.
im not sure what you communicated, just because it is naturally occurring doesn't mean that we would know it.
What I feel is music is the simplest form of sounds and that Bobby McFerrin understands and we don't because we are so lost in the technicalities and in the race to make the most perfect piece. This is where we go wrong. What Mr.Mcfferin does is he sings his heart out without a fear of failure because he enjoys it to his heart and soul and knows it's going to be great. He is a Sound Wizard.
If you’re including Bobby he doesn’t have to mention it , because he can demonstrate and actually do it.A parent once told me her daughter asked my daughter how does she kick and score so well in soccer (football)my daughter replied “ I don’t know, I just do it, at the time they were both 9 years old. I bet Bobby doesn’t spend much time talking about how he does what he does are trying to understand the theories. That would effect the way he performed, some talk and some do.
@@mosijahi3096 Roberto Carlos probably doesn’t know much about aerodynamics but he does know how to swing a football. Knowing or understanding a concept and applying it in real life are quite different things
MFerrin's demonstration is used in musical master classes. To me, the most impressive prediction is when the audience gets the third note-- out of nowhere. The others are actually given in his improvisation. The fifth tone of the pentatonic scale is the third note in his improvised melody. he sings all around the pentatonic scale. I think the neuroscientist speaking afterwards is just blowing smoke.
What’s cool is that even other nations other than English speaking can do the same things. Small villages in Africa and a South America to NYC New York in the US or Spain all get the same result or close to it. It’s engrained
But it isn't "out of nowhere". The interval is established between the first two notes; it hints (if you want to call it that) what interval to apply next.
This is truly inspirational...real improvisation and skill!
Bobby seems like a nice fella to me and the crowd is amazing
WOW! A genius! Bravo! I love Bobby Mc Ferrin!
It looks like everyone of them is lost, and Bobby knows what he's doing.
Bobby hits emotions and the heart, everyone else is trying to hit the left brain (logic side) but music is much much more than that. Very hard to explain things we have done for millennia.
Superb, superb video - well worth the time to watch the entire 1.45 hours.
That stuff at the start...I used to do that as a kid. (not as awesome) Everyone thought I was just weird. So to not be weird I stopped.
Had I only known of McFerrin and it being a thing.
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Not even 3 experts could explian in one hour what Bobby explain in 3 minutes. Nothing else to say.
Diego Hernandez do you mean 3 OTHER experts? Isn’t Bobby an expert?
@@Kherudjhuti Arent we all the experts of our own lifes?
@@Rithmy actually NO! stop shit talking and covering it with philosophy
@@ergunkurt3555 actually YES! If you want to refute me you have to form an argument .
@@Rithmy there are tons of people just copying others and even living that life without realizing it. So NO!
I have a chest pain just by the sheer empathy from seeing him hit his chest over and over.
Do you have a time stamp?
Genius of Bobby McFerrin!
The Tuff's one really does put that instruction in the most convoluted way possible.
The performance by Bobby gives me such strong asmr every time.
Actually his heart is just broken and he must beat manually. Literally.
He has incredible voice range!
Interesting fact, if boys keep singing through puberty when their vocal flaps thicken that causes their voices to crack, they will be able to sing low and high. There's a children's choir in my area that they have 18-year-old guys singing soprano all the way down to base.
Jazz must be a very informative genre to study for neural activities. Based on my personal observation, Jazz perhaps is the most divergent genre and could be used to distinguish various neural activity patterns.
I fell in love with this man's voice and personality when I first heard him years ago.
I was not worried, and I was happy during those first few minutes.
Bobby has always been amazing 🤩 We are only limited by effort & belief . So cool 😎
The behavioral scientist seemed to just have buzzwords and almost excuses for why we experience music how we do. Like he didn't want to say, "We don't know"
TRUE !!! what are they talking is not explaining at all,, they just say some word of nothing.... I want to know how the audience which is I sure majority of them is not a singer, so why they can sign the RIGHT note
First time I listened to classical music for 2hrs straight I felt my brain moving . Something changed and that's what bobby was asking @ 29th minute but none of the those damn scientists answered it
A GENIUS!!!!! THAT'S ALL!!!!
Awesome talk! They should do this type of talks with other scientist, for example with physicist, biologist or mathematicians. It would be pretty interesting as well. Thanks!
neuroscience is part of biology.. and statistics are used always in biology anyway
masse pellos? So?
I don't get your point.
You probably know this already, but there's a podcast called Radiolab, where they discuss all kinds of topics with experts of the field. The best of all is that the episodes are excellently written, and their style is unique. They're so fun to listen to!
Sebastián Narváez thanks I’ll give it a listen
I don't know but I love that spooky thing, with that I can imagine where I'm going whether getting in to surface or going in to deep etc...
If the room is full of scientists, then I can understand why all the scientific speak, but I would have loved a more laymen's explanation. Also, Bobbi's question at 25ish minutes about how we respond to a prearranged concert as opposed to a happenstance one was very good! So science man is looking at the neuro experience, that's valid, but emotionally speaking, there's an element of surprise and delight in an unplanned, spontaneous discovery. Well, inho, anyway. I'm no neuro scientist. :)
Running the sound board for this man must be a nightmare...
He's His own sound board
His mic technique is quite good, actually.
@@nathanielhicks1473 it's amazing how many vocalists eat the mic or have no idea how to modulate based on distance, direction and angle. You are right, he's quite good but the engineers are doing good work here too.
Nah it’s easy! Just not put the one mic too loud and a 40Hz cutoff that it. There’s nothing to do with a man hitting the mic.
Bobby McFerrin is a genius.
They talk about a lot of good stuff; it's all fascinating; Bobby communicates the best;.......but no one addresses the elephant in the room.............tension.........
Alan Hill ....or release.
I was expecting to someone to comment it
billbradleymusic why release?
@@bautibunge737
In most brains it gives dopamine to itself. It’s that ‘end of the song’ or that ‘beat drop’ note that separates chunks of music or ends the song.
31:59 I've wondered about this question so many times in the past decade... especially this past year
Good to see genius still happens. My hat is off. Very nice, thanks very much for all of this.
Was it just me or did your soul die a little bit when the western singer used the ray natural in response to the ray flat segment. It just sounded SOOOO off 😖
Re natural, re flat.
This has enlightened me. Thank you..
Now that's some platinum YT-content! Science meets music ❤ If only such experiments continuied with international support around the world instead of trade- and military wars...
Note how Bobby is physically motivated to reduce his exposure to loud noises. This is a musician, he lives with loudness, has to manage SPL and exposure. Now pull those iPod ear-buds out of your hearing hole before you go deaf!
Dan, your sax, and (?) the violin, and Bobby... the Bobby.
Loved that noise sample. My one-word description would be "interesting".
AMAAAAAZING
Amazing, that for about 20 years of my life I, and many, many family and friends, were convinced that Bobby McFerrin was dead, by suicide. Don't worry, be happy. Only to find out in the internet era, that he was very alive, and very well! God bless this man.
at 1:00:00 is that a real song he's making noises for or is he just adding that in to fit the tune everyone else is singing?? cause that whole piece sounds amazing and i wanna hear it on repeat
I wanna know that so badly as well!!
That gave me goosebumps 😶😶😶
It’s just improvisation over a pentatonic scale. You can look that up and find other beautiful pieces of music, but if you want that one in particular you should play it yourself!
It is such a beautiful piece! This man is a genius.
This is so awesome!!!!! Thanks for posting this. Incredible discussions :D
Well ill give you an example.
You don't have much love for a certain musical piece
But if you had watched movie or series where it played and you were influenced by the movie or the combination of the movie and music then suddenly you feel your views radically changed towards the same piece of music
If you don't have a constant smile watching Bobby perform you are a troglodyte.
:
At about 27:30 : I just want to back up what the panellist is saying : There is such a thing as an H note, in the true musical scale. It's between a G sharp and A.... But only truly cool people use it, or even know about it.
H is my favourite note.
+SixSixSix Isn't H just a B natural? For example, The Bach Motif? B(b) A C H, or B natural.
+Jessalyn Small its Cb that the bach motif translated to H. this was just his egotism written as Cb and read as H so he could spell his family name in music. but yes, as there is no semi tone between B and C like you find in the major scale between A and B, Cb is a natural B....you know how rockstars like to feel like they're better than the rest of the minlings of the world. ;)
+Kewl Beans No, it's not "his egotism". In German, the note that's named B in English is named H, and what's called B flat in English is a B. And Bach was German, so there's nothing strange about that.
Rikard Peterson
oh ok. i don't speak german so i didn't know that. i just figured he wanted to be a punk n screw with people lol.
although i actually heard somewhere that he changed it to H to match his name.
Amber playing the Tamber really washed the name Amber clean again in my world
@57:20 that was pretty spot on.
"If you want to do cross cultural work, and find people who have never been exposed to music outside, you come to the United States."
This is the most damning analysis of US cultural isolationism.
Soon as I heard the people at Tuff's I knew instantly that they had never heard any music outside their church. Probably think Indians are Muslim.
Some Indians are muslim
Elbownian Some are Sikh too, think you just demonstrated my point.
+What I learnt today
I know this is an old comment and you may not be interested in discussing this further, but do you think this was a fair assessment by him really? Most singers that have any musical education would at least have been exposed to the other scales. And Indian music CAN be found in American pop culture, Slumdog Millionaire and Monsoon Wedding were well known movies and most streaming video services have big Bollywood catalogs. Indian music is also frequently sampled in various popular music genres. I grew up listening to world music on NPR, and I doubt I'm the only one.
Also the two singers, at least in the videos shown, were given entirely different sets of instructions. The singer in India was simply told to complete the song, but the one in the U.S. was told told to elaborate on it for a few notes and end on a place they felt was a good resting place. If they had said "Please elaborate an ending using the notes you heard in the clip I just played." it might affect the outcome further. Differing the instructions for the two groups seems like a big variable to be introducing.
+illfayted Did you come from a similarly conservative environment? Yeah did notice the different instructions at the time. Think using the same scale a song uses should be fairly universal when asked to improvise an ending though. The Western singer simply didn't have the same harmonic context and exposure to these kinds of scales so didn't know what was available to be sung.
"The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin'; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty. The more your musical experience, the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like. American radio listeners, raised on a diet of shit, have experienced a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like." -- Frank Zappa
Sounds like you avoided that fate. Have little exposure to NPR myself, but PBS news is pretty damn good.
I actually did come from quite a conservative background. My parents were (are) both Christian fundamentalists, and I lived in a small rural area in the middle of the country, which is actually why I listened to NPR, public radio was the only station that came in clearly, that didn't play Country or Talk Radio. I wasn't really supposed to listen to secular music, so I'd listen to the classical and then keep listening when it switched to world or indie music and hope they didn't notice. Just personally, the notes the American singers chose sounded really odd to me, so I guess that little early introduction to other scales did alter my expectations. I was a little offended I guess because it seemed like he was making a blanket statement about all Americans.
I love PBS, we were too poor for cable or satellite, and again not many other stations came in where we lived, so we got most of our entertainment from there or the public library.
the subtle way's that science and spirituality collide in this talk are pretty interesting. anyone got any recommendations for talks/performances where something similar is actually explored? or awkwardly brought up and lolfully overlooked again? Love ya Bobby
There’s another video on this channel that’s kind of a combination of your two examples, about the concept of infinity
ese bobby McFerryn es un genio, les dá una catedra de neurociencia a estos cientificos...!!
Bobby McFerrin uses the body and emotion directly while the other panelists somewhat tortuously filter these ideas through reason and conceptualization. Would be interesting to see a panel on that dichotomy.
Sound is vibrations through the air. Saying that falling tree wouldn't make a noise if no one was around to hear it is like saying the sun wouldn't rise if everyone stayed in their basements.
Actaully not, since the experience of sound is created by the brain's interpreting of the sound WAVES hitting the eardrum. Without the eardrum, there is no sound, just silent waves in the air. So it's not comparable to the sun coming up :)
yes it is because by this logic, nothing exists without a biological organ interacting with it. if you dropped a tape recorder in the forest on accident and it recorded the sound of a falling tree, this would be proof.
+Maxfield Sohn We are both right, of course, depending on the definition of sound, and on the viewpoint (scientifical of philosophical) ☺ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest?wprov=sfla1
+Kristin Halaas ( correction: OR not of)
well it actually is comparable to the sunrising.
light also just is a wave collected by our eyes and interpreted by our brain. so without any eyes watching, the light from the sun would be just invisible waves.
To World Science Fest ... is it possible to obtain a copy of the slides? So fascinating!
Excellent use of what the Creator has given us......Our Voice! To lift up our voice in praise and the making of a joyful noise.
+Tim Owens
Yes. Praise Odin, Vile and ve. :D
There where three of them.
56:52 I bet Bobby was tempted to repeat "In a world..." in the trailer guy voice
What did he say? I can’t figure it out: ,,In a world where scientist..?”
At about 1:00:00, Bobby claims that people tend to follow the pentatonic scale. However, he didn't let the audience choose the next note for themselves. So I don't think it's necessarily true, unless there's another video where he does that without telling the audience what the next note will be.
*****
No... Look at 59:10. He clearly said "bah" in the next note before the audience did.
You also have to realize that he also chose the interval, which might have influenced how the audience chose the next note.
I mean, maybe he's right. But in scientific terms, what I'm saying, is that the control variables are not being held constant.
He can not let the audience device the scale, some would go major or minor or even dorian or other scales, the pentatonic its easier to get to someone not involve in music because of the tritone that would bother some people with no experience singing, try it, try to make an audience sing a scale, first try a minor armonic and then a minor pentatonic and they will get easier and be more confident and sing better the pentatonic, what bobby is trying to point out is that without knowledge of music people are able to sing some scales and are able to know intervals without him singing those intervals first, and he has to give the audience minimal 2 notes, what the hell would the audience react if he says "ok nor everyone sing the same scale" or worst if he says "ok, know sing a Db major pentatonic scale"...
You should re-watch that part..
There's one in every crowd...
I've been absently warbling in the Indian scale for half an hour now. Make it stop.
he does that to you!
What’s the Indian scale?
hultonclint
...The musical scale they demonstrated in this video?
@@CathodeRayKobold hate to be that dude but there's a lot of Indian scales
@@xydex99 But Zoshi is perhaps saying "the particular musical phrase they played in the video, which the experimenters labelled, for reasons of elucidation, the 'Indian scale' (see 47:55)", and perhaps Zoshi is not saying "the Indian scale in general, of which I believe there is only one kind, which I am calling the Indian scale." Sung at 46:30
Bless Bobby McFerrin!
#34:00
* Northern African drumming is different to southern, dialects, snappy short vrs pitch variation slow, matches language.
* A happy baby does Major triads, a sad baby does minor triads.
The awkwardness of multiple drug related quips directed at the only black man on stage. This is why Alan Alda teaches communication to the science community.
I keep coming back to this video to watch Bobby play “Audience” as an instrument😂
58:54 the best part 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Amazing discussion. Thanks all ❤
Bobby the music Genius!💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
Awesome crowd
This is wonderful. Anyone here because of Joe Scott?
+Ben Pranke he's just making music man, doesn't have to be anything more than that. If he can get a whole room of people to feel a musical energy, then he did what he set out to do.
The ability to listen to Chinese Opera is a superpower I just don't have. I found it even more irritating than the one before it. I actually had to take my headphones off.
They have singers trying to emulate scales. Are the singers songwriters and musicians too? It's not clear why a singer would necessarily "know", or be inclined, to insert unfamiliar pitches, just because they hear them one time. If you gave such a scale to a songwriter/singer/musician, he/she might be more inclined to slip the unfamiliar pitches into his/her melody. Ultimately though, they would need to become acclimated to the new scale to become proficient in the pitches and intervals, as the panelists said.
It’s a bit of being prepared for different music pieces or in some cases singers will test their slinging capabilities in order to improve their vocal chord elasticity.
In orchestra we will sometimes test our finger placements on different and unfamiliar scales in order to ensure our fingers are ‘in tune’ with the chord and to improve our muscle memory on finger placements. I would imagine same for vocalists.
Najlepszzy film, którą oglądam.
The note "B" is named "H" in some European country's :D 27:30
H is the old name for B if i remember correctly
Adrian A its the other way around, the scale actually goes a to g, but some composers had such a bad handwriting that the small b was recognized as an h, because the lower part of the b arch was left open, so it was mistakenly recognized for an h.
There was a clip from this that was posted 5 years before this video...
Great video. Thank you
Bharucha's comment at 57:18 hits different
9:24
a message, a reminder
Engraçado , divertido , interessante e vai fluindo aquela vontade de fazer, . Olha a , fantástico!
Me interesa muchísimo los temas que trata este video. Cómo... dónde puedo coseguir los subtítulos en Español ?? alguien puede ayudarme con esto ? Gracias.
Truely mediating for a future account. W/Salutations.
Vibrations are universal: it goes all the way to planets galaxies and our misunderstanding of reality.
Simply FABULOUS!
I have to say that tis is first time in a long time that someone has made neuroscience seem boring. McFerrin is the highlight of this program. I can't believe no one stopped them using those slides. The first was a complete eye chart. It probably succeeded in making the audience think this stuff is way over their heads, which is probably what the speaker wanted. Rattling off areas of the brain, and connections was just to wow the audience, not educate them. And they missed some pretty fundamental things. Altogether, pretty unimpressive-- except for McFerrin's delightful demonstration, which was pretty joyful, and insightful.