This is what I want everyone to experience when at the end of my concert is everyone has this sense of rejoicing.

I don't want them to be blown away by what I do. I want them to have this sense of real, real joy from the depths of their being.

Because I think when you take them to that place, then you open up a place where grace can come in.

Who better to contemplate the human voice?

It's the lights, it's revelations, and it's mystery than Bobby McFarron.

He's won 10 Grammys and is as comfortable with Chick Korea as with Mozart.

He's also known for drawing thousands of strangers into singing the Ave Maria beautifully to their own deep surprise.

I'm Christa Tippett and this is on being.

I sat down with Bobby McFarron at Orchestra Holland Minneapolis in April 2011 and experienced the reflective side of this famously hyper-canetic performer.

So where I want to start is where I start with everybody.

I just want to hear about the religious or spiritual background of your childhood. Was there one?

I attended an Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. I sang in the children's choir. I was an altar boy.

I loved the service. I loved the music. We had a wonderful choir director.

Did you have an Anglican Boyz Choir?

It wasn't a Boyz Choir, no, it was a children's choir.

Around the age of 16, I remember that I thought that I wanted to join a monastic order.

And I thought about that for maybe a couple of years. And then I thought about the priesthood when I was about 24.

But music had always been a part of my life and singing at 27 just took over.

The monastic impulse. What was that about?

My love of quiet. That was a big part of it.

And I also liked the discipline of the hours. You get up early in the morning, you have a service.

A few hours later, around nine, you have a service, and then at noon you stop.

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