Ysaye Barnwell Ysaye Barnwell was born in New York on February 28, 1946 but now lives in Washington D.C..
Music has always part of her life she has been playing violin since she was two years old. This is due to the fact that her father is a famous violinist. She got her Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Science degree in Speech Pathology. She also has a Master of Science in Public Health. So worked as a college of Dentistry at Howard University for over ten years after that she conducted community projects and administered health programs at Children’s Hospitals in Washington DC. Dr. Barnwell joined Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1979.
At the same time she also started her training as a Sing Language Interpreter. This led her to starting the group’s tradition of including a Sign Language Interpreter in the ensemble. She also put lots of her focus on African American Tradition. She worked at Sweet Honey In The Rock for thirty four years before retiring, to start working on other goals. Dr. Barnwell appears as a vocalist and a instrumentalist on more than thirty recordings with Sweet Honey In The Rock. Ysaye Barnwell is also a famous author of children’s books.
The first book she wrote was “No Mirrors In My Nana’s House” the one thing she did not do was the illustrations which was done by Synthia Saint James. The Second book is call “We Are One” which is illustrated by Brian Pinckney. She has so many talents so in a way it somewhat surprises me that she did not illustrated her own books. She is women of many traits and has so many talents. She has also put all of her talents to very good use. The first song I am going to talk about is Breaths. I picked this song because when I listened to it I enjoyed all the background parts.
It sounds like nature, I water can be heard in the background. What I got from this song is that sometimes it is important just to breath and listen because the answer might be right in front of you. This song has so much going on during the song you could listen to it multiple times and still find something you did not hear before which very adds to the quality of the song. This song is written for SSATB so it is song by both men and women. Breathe is written and arranged by Ysaye Barnwell. The item title is Still I Rise. It was song by Sweet Honey and The Rock which is a group that Ysaye Barnwell was a part of and wrote for and sang with for a very long time. From what I have seen this is one of the more popular songs that she written, arranged, and was a part of.
The second song I am doing is Hope. One of the main line in this song is pray on. This is a very religious song but it seems very modern. “If we want to survive in this world we have to pray on”. It talks about trying to live in our world which is sometimes is hard because there are so many bad things happening but it talks about moving pass them.
This song has a very cool echo happening in the this song. The only thing I do not love is how repetitive this song is it feels as if it goes on a little to. However, the lyrics behind this song have a lot of meaning. This song had a very good upbeat feel to it which made it very enjoyable. I do not think this song is as popular as Breath. This song was written for SSAATTBB.
This song was written by Ysaye Barnwell as well as arranged by her. Ysaye Barnwell is also the artist and the composer of Hope. This song has been song by lots of choirs both school and church choirs, as well as Ysaye Barnwell, this was not done by Sweet Honey and The Rock. This this from the album A Cappella Arrangements Vol 3.
The third song I am doing is Discover. This song was written by Ysaye Barnwell as well as composed. This was not however written for her it was written for the Children’s Choir of Washington. This song was written for children ages nine to seventeen. This is a prime example of what kind of person Ysaye Barnwell is she is willing to take time away from her life to help people and do good in the world. Doing good seems to be a huge theme in her work both in songs, jobs and, childrens books. This song is not as popular like if you youtube it does not come up however I think this is an important song to include because what it says about Ysaye Barnwell. She is willing to do thinks not for the fame but because she cares about the big picture and the rest of the world.
Which the songs I have heard show very well. Which is a pretty amazing quality to have in the songs. So overall I think that Ysaye Barnwell is a lady of many traits.
She pretty much does it all she composes, arranged, sings, and writes her lyrics. She is a very well educated women who is someone that people can look up to. She does everything in her power to let people feel as though they are including and important.
Like when she had a intruperter doing her songs for the deaf. She has written and been a part of so many songs. Not only has she been part of written and composing them she is also part of performing them. Which is crazy that one person can do it all on her own for the most part. I do not know how one person could be so busy and do so much good at the same time.
Lots of her songs are similar themes but they all feel very different and teach us different things. I very liked how lots of the songs were about things like peace, hope, and a better world. I also like how she wrote for different groups from SATB to SSAA. These are songs that can be enjoyed by all people because it is so related to our own lifes. These are just some of the reason why Ysaye Barnwell such an amazing person and well known composer.
