Ysaÿe M. Barnwell catalog now available from E. C. Schirmer Music Company

The Ysaÿe M. Barnwell Collection

ECS Publishing Group is proud to be the new home of the Ysaÿe M. Barnwell collection. Dr. Barnwell spent over thirty years with GRAMMY®-winning ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and has composed and arranged dozens of works for choirs. She has been a leader in building community through singing in the African and African American oral traditions and is highly respected among musicians and music educators.

Meet Ysaÿe M. Barnwell

Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, Ph.D. MSPH, is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble 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. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (Ph.D.), and public health (MSPH).

She was a professor at Howard University College of Dentistry for over a decade, and over the following 8 years developed training programs in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, and administered community-based health programs at Gallaudet University, all in Washington DC. For almost thirty years, and on three continents, Barnwell has led the workshop Building a Vocal Community—Singing In the African American Tradition, which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. Her pedagogy is highly respected among musicians, educators, health workers, activists, organizers, and members of the corporate and non-profit sectors.