Bobby Mcferrin on expectations:
Prof. Lawrence Parsons explains what happens:
“He [Bobby Mcferrin] takes a spatial metaphor which is essentially the keyboard.
Then he builds it up.
Notice he starts in a small interval and slowly expands it out.
The audience builds their expectation about what they’re going to sing. Then Bobby plays with that and expands it out.
He builds a melody, harmonizes, and improvises on top of it.
It starts with some shared knowledge, some shared expectations, then it’s improvised collectively.
There are elements of joint action and shared cognition.”
When was the last time you witnessed a presentation that involved joint action [working together] and shared cognition [thinking together]?
Here’s another example of Mcferrin working with an audience to make something beautiful: Unlike the first video (musicians & intellectuals) this audience is made up of everyday people who just enjoy music. They don’t understand how to engage with Mcferrin at first. He doesn’t grumble, insult, or yell at them. He simply explains the process another time and shows them how to participate. The final result is quite winsome:
Notice how the audience really, REALLY enjoys being a part of the final product?
There’s a lesson to be learned here. I’ll skip the bulleted list and take-away on this. I’d rather you sounded in. Readers, what do YOU think?
If you’d like to share a link to a favorite presentation or some thoughts on how a presenter might better engage you as part of an audience, I’d be grateful for your contribution!
