Sourcesevery number points here

Peabody, May 23, 2002

1. Johns Hopkins University news release, “NBC’s Tom Brokaw to Speak at Hopkins Commencement,” May 6, 2002
   Lists the Peabody Conservatory Diploma Award Ceremony, Thursday, May 23, 8 p.m., Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall; speaker Bobby McFerrin, who also receives the George Peabody Medal.
2. The Johns Hopkins University, 2002 Commencement program (Internet Archive)
   May 23, 2002; names Bobby McFerrin as speaker at the Peabody Institute Diploma Award Ceremony.
3. Peabody Institute, George Peabody Medal recipients
   2002: Richard Goode and Bobby McFerrin.

Sean’s own account and records

4. Sean Fenlon, first-hand account (my account)
   The turned podium, the language I couldn’t follow, my dad’s photo offer. No published description of the address has been found.
5. Sean Fenlon’s Amazon order, placed Nov 24, 2008: 20 copies of Try This at Home (from my own records)
   Order # 002-9581301-1942658: 20 × Try This at Home at $14.49, grand total $289.80. Screenshot shown in full on the My story page. Handed out at the DoublePositive holiday party at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, December 2008 (my account).
6. Domain registration record (RDAP) for bobbymcferrinmusic.com: registered Dec 2, 2008, 07:04 UTC (2:04 a.m. ET)
   Eight days after the Nov 24, 2008 DVD order.

Life, honors and records

7. BobbyMcFerrin.com, “Bobby’s Biography” (official site)
8. BobbyMcFerrin.com, Discography and select videography (official site)
9. BobbyMcFerrin.com, “Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award 2023” (official site)
10. National Endowment for the Arts, Bobby McFerrin, 2020 NEA Jazz Master
    Born March 11, 1950, New York, New York.
11. National Endowment for the Arts, press release announcing the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters, May 21, 2019
12. GRAMMY.com, Bobby McFerrin artist page (10 wins, 18 nominations)
13. GRAMMY.com, John Murph, “Bobby McFerrin Honored With Recording Academy Special Merit Award,” Feb 27, 2023
14. Wikipedia, “Bobby McFerrin” (cross-check only)
15. Alexander Ullman, “Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Circlesongs’ and the Politics of Play,” KQED Arts, May 2022 (reposted on the official site)
16. World Science Festival, “Notes and Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus,” program of June 12, 2009 (video and transcript)
    The pentatonic demonstration is at 58:54. McFerrin afterward: “regardless of where I am anywhere, every audience gets that … the pentatonic scale.”
17. Lori Dorn, “Bobby McFerrin Jumps Along the Stage to Create a Song With the Audience Using the Pentatonic Scale,” Laughing Squid, May 4, 2018
    The audience “even going as far as to anticipate a note he hadn’t shown them yet.”
18. The Real Bobby McFerrin (YouTube), “Sing! Day of song – Improvisation (June 5, 2010)” (video description)
    “Spontaneously inventing parts for 60,000 choral singers in the Veltins Arena in Ruhr, Germany.”

Try This at Home

19. New York Public Library catalog, Try This at Home [videorecording], EuroArts, 2005
    Directed by Joe Brandmeier; produced by Brandmeier, Craig McKay and Linda Goldstein; 42 min; recorded at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2001; track list; EuroArts 2051397.
20. Blu-ray.com, Bobby McFerrin: Try This At Home DVD
    EuroArts, 43 min, released Apr 19, 2005.
21. Amazon.com, Bobby McFerrin: Try This at Home [DVD], ASIN B0007XHKSU (plain link, no affiliate tag)

Duets and collaborations

22. PatMetheny.com, Question & Answer, “Bobby McFerrin & Pat Metheny???”, Oct 18, 2006
    Pat: Bobby sat in with the trio of Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez and Pat “a couple of summers ago” and did a version of “Better Days Ahead.”
23. Jacob Collier, “Bobby McFerrin conducts Mozart No. 29 at Jacob Collier’s Audience Symphony Orchestra Soundcheck” (YouTube description)

VOCAbuLarieS and the DC night

24. AR Stash, “Bobby McFerrin Headlines 2011 DC Jazz Festival” (festival press release), June 7, 2011
    Saturday, June 11, Warner Theatre, VOCAbuLarieS with Howard University’s Afro Blue Reunion Choir.
25. Washington City Paper, “DC Jazz Festival: Bobby McFerrin at the Warner, Reviewed,” June 2011
    Roger Treece conducted a 26-voice Afro Blue; “Messages” and “Wailers.”
26. Wikipedia, “The Sing-Off season 3” (NBC, 2011)
    Afro Blue (Howard University) finished fourth of 16.
27. Chamber Choir of Europe (YouTube), “Soundcheck with Bobby McFerrin, Roger Treece & Chamber Choir of Europe” (video description: VOCAbuLarieS tour, Munich Philharmonic hall, 2011)
28. The Real Bobby McFerrin (YouTube), VOCAbuLarieS live in Gdansk, Solidarity of Arts Festival, Aug 17, 2013 (video descriptions)

Where the sources disagree

• When Try This at Home was filmed. The NYPL catalog says “Recorded at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2001.” The official site’s videography lists it as “Try This at Home (1999).” This site says only that it was released in 2005. (NYPL; official discography; Blu-ray.com)
• Its running time. NYPL lists 42 minutes; Blu-ray.com lists 43. This site says “about 42 minutes.”
• The Lifetime Achievement year. Wikipedia says 2022. GRAMMY.com and the official site say 2023, announced as part of the 2023 Special Merit Awards. This site uses 2023. (Wikipedia; GRAMMY.com; official site)
• The size of Voicestra. The official biography says 12 singers; Wikipedia says a 10-person group formed in 1989. This site gives no number.
• The Day of Song date. The full improvisation’s description says June 5, 2010; the circlesong excerpt’s description says June 6. This site uses June 5. (video description)
• The DC night’s date. The date is inferred, not confirmed. The DC Jazz Festival show with Afro Blue at the Warner Theatre on June 11, 2011, is the match found for the concert Terri and I attended, so the site says “very likely.” (press release; review)