Perched on the edge of a chair, a man bathed in a harsh spotlight brusquely reaches back to tie his long dreadlocks into a simple knot and begins to beat his chest.

Alternating beats, the man taps his chest and clicks his tongue to form an unguided rhythm. Suddenly, a voice peals out from behind the beat, oscillating between notes, forming a melody completely unique and synchronized with the beat.

Bobby McFerrin, 10-time Grammy Award winner, performed at the Memorial Auditorium at 8:00p.m. on Wednesday, May 18 at a sold out show. McFerrin, who is renowned as one of the world’s best vocal innovators and improvisers, sang the popular song "Don’t Worry, Be Happy," and has a musical style that is completely his own. By blending jazz, folk, classical, and world music with styles such as a cappella, percussion, and choral, McFerrin creates a style that is as individual as he is. McFerrin uses his whole body as a musical instrument, including percussion, melodies, and harmonies. McFerrin began his performance with a 10-minute session of freestyle, where he beat a rhythm on his chest and coordinated a newly created tune.

In this particular show, the Stanford Choir performed alongside McFerrin, singing harmonies on certain songs. McFerrin would play around a bit, searching for a melody he liked, then signal for the choir to jump in. McFerrin enjoys involving the audience in his performances; having them sing along with him, sing background tunes, or sing harmonies. McFerrin sang recognizable tunes such as "Blackbird" by The Beatles, the theme to "Beverly Hillbillies," and "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," complete with hand motions, to get the audience familiar with his style. Once the audience was comfortable, he urged everyone to join in his performance. McFerrin instructed the audience to sing "Ave Maria" while he harmonized with the song "Solfeggio in D", combining the arrangements beautifully.

McFerrin then engaged the audience with a series of ‘repeat after me’ games, using as little explanation as possible to get his point across. By jumping on different places on the stage, McFerrin got the audience to hum a different note for each step. By hopping in a pattern, McFerrin was able to make the audience form a tune.

To further include the audience, McFerrin invited two Stanford students to freestyle dance while he sang. The first of the two dancers, and unnamed woman, moved to McFerrin’s song in a ballet-inspired dance. The dancing and singing became intertwined as the two were almost feeding off of each other.
The second volunteer danced to an appropriately lower and more rhythm-centered song as he break-danced and tumbled to McFerrin’s singing. The dancer indulged in a flip or two as McFerrin could almost sense what the dancer was going to do next.

For the next portion of the performance, McFerrin chose four members of the choir to come forward and sing some jazz and blues music. The four free styled together and dabbled in a little scat, which is jazz singing in which improvised, meaningless syllables are sung to a melody.

Nearing the end of his performance, McFerrin sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," in his distinctive and unique style, and followed with several songs from the musical, "The Wizard of Oz," sending the audience into hysterics at his dead-on impressions of the characters. McFerrin finished his depiction of the musical complete with dumping his water bottle over his head amidst cries of "I’m melting!"

McFerrin had everyone sing the Mickey Mouse club theme song as they were beginning to exit the theatre as a Grande finale, leaving the audience in high spirits as a perfect end to the highly entertaining performance.