What are Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs? What is a Community Sing?
Basically, it’s a crossover of the broader concepts of community singing (pre-composed/arranged songs with or without harmony with or without accompaniment sung in large groups of amateurs) and improvisational group singing.
So if you wanted to learn CircleSongs, you could transcribe or learn his parts by ear. However the spirit of the events is for each song to be different and unique to the audience in each performance.
Jacob Collier has been getting into similar concepts recently as well with pretty solid success. My experience is more on the “community sing” side than the “improvisational singing” side. While I’ve really worked to expand my improvisational vocabulary over the years, I’ll always be more of a Classical/Musical Theater guy than a jazz guy, so if you develop your improvisational Jazz skills it will serve you well..
Here’s a few links to Bobby McFerrin’s CircleSongs in sheet music form:
Si Le Le Sheet Music — VOCES8 Foundation
https://www.jellynote.com/en/piano-sheet-music/bobby-mcferrin/circlesong-three
Bobby McFerrin does run a training program that’s worth lookng into:
Here is some of Jacob Collier’s work turning his audiences into choirs:
My Mentors on “Community Sing” events were Ysaye Barnwell from Sweet Honey in the Rock and Nick Page who’s big in the children’s music and folk music world, particularly in New England:
Here is a live demonstration with dozens of music educators on how to lead a Community Sing:
And finally this is the McFerrin video that got me hooked on the concept, pretty simple, definitely simpler than the circle songs, but indicative of his teaching style and philosophy
Want to schedule a one-on-one Mentor Session with me?
Contact Page