Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell is a native of New York,
now living in Washington, DC where since 1979, she has performed with the internationally
acclaimed a cappella quintet, SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK. She is a vocalist with
a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings
with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. In her first year with Sweet Honey,
she provided leadership in making the group's concerts accessible to the Deaf
and hard-of-hearing through Sign Language interpretation.
The daughter of a violinist, Dr. Barnwell began her 15 year study of the violin
with her father at the age of 2 ½. She holds the Bachelor and Master of Science
degrees in Speech Pathology (1967, 1968 SUNY, Geneseo), the Doctor of Philosophy
in cranio-Facial Studies (1975 Univ. of Pittsburgh) and the Master of Science
in Public Health (1981 Howard University, Washington, DC) and the (Honorary)
Doctor of Humane Letters (1998 SUNY, Geneseo). She has been a professor at the
College of Dentistry at Howard University, and in addition to conducting community
based projects in computer technology and in the arts, she has administered
and implemented health programs at Children's Hospital National Medical Center
and at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
After coming to Washington, DC, Dr. Barnwell founded and for three years directed
the All Souls Jubilee Singers where she began composing and arranging music
for vocal ensembles. Barnwell composed and arranged music on more than 14 recordings
on labels including Flying Fish, EarthBeat!/Warner, Music For Little People
and Rykodisc/Palm Pictures, Sony Classical. She has worked as a commissioned
composer on numerous and varied projects including Sesame Street, Dance Alloy
of Pittsburgh, David Rousseve's Reality Dance Company, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange,
Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, Redwood Cultural Work, The New Spirituals
Project , The Steel Festival of Bethlehem, PA, The Plymouth Music Series and
numerous choirs - all outgrowths of her combined understanding of creative arts
inextricably bound to society. For twenty
years now, Barnwell has conducted THE WORKSHOP: Building a Vocal Community -
Singing In the African American Tradition where throughout the United States,
Canada, Great Britain and Australia she has utilized African and African American
history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to worked with singers and non-singers
alike.
Barnwell is an actress whose credits include voice-overs, documentary film narration,
a principle role in an episode of the TV show 'A Man Called Hawk', and an appearance
in the film BELOVED directed by Jonathan Demme.
Professional association memberships include, NARAS (National Association of
Recording Arts and Sciences), SAG (Screen Actors Guild), AFTRA (American Federation
of Television and Radio Artists), Local 1000 of the North American Traveling
Musicians Union, SAW (Songwriters' Association of Washington).
to contact
Dr. Barnwell
Barnwell's Notes Publishing
P.O. Box 32164 Washington, DC 20007
Tel: 202-625-7870 Fax: 301-560-6600
(Co-leader of THE (5-day) WORKSHOP)
Dr. George Brandon, (co-leader of the 5-day
Workshop with Dr. Y. M. BARNWELL) born in 1947 in Newark, NJ, is the son of
a steel worker who was also an amateur guitarist and painter. He started music
lessons on guitar with his father, then switched to trombone in junior high
school. He began playing professionally while in high school, in local swing
bands, rhythm and blues, gospel and classical ensembles. His brass teachers
include Samuel Lillienstein, Robert Nagel, Curtis Fuller, Grachen Moncur III,
David Baker and Dick Griffin. He has performed or jammed with Frank Foster's
Loud Minority Big Band, Jimmy McGriff's Big Band, the Rene McLean Sextet,
Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Charles Earland, The Mighty Sparrow, and the jazz
Mobile Workshop Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster, Earnie Wilkins
and Jimmie Heath.
George Brandon received his B.A. from Reed College in Literature and Anthropology;
M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Anthropology; and the Certificate
of African Studies from the University of Ghana at Legon. In 1977 he received
a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to study theory and composition
with George Russell of the New England Conservatory's Department of Afro-American
Music.
From 1982 to 1989Brandon was Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County Campus. Currently, he is Director of Sociomedical Sciences
at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City University of New
York.
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