From the newsroom of the Insight News, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Friday, April 22, 2005 .....

Sweet Honey In The Rock

by Lauretta Dawolo

Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell, is a long-time member of the internationally known Black female a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. She has performed with the group since 1979 and is still as lively and motivated as if she had just joined.

Singing with ‘Sweet Honey’ is only one aspect of Dr. Barnwell’s impressive accomplishments. Like her father, she is a violinist and was trained in music from a very young age. Barnwell also studied music in high school, but she developed different plans due to the inspiring performance of The Miracle Worker she witnessed at the age of twelve. “My father played the violin and my mother was a registered nurse. I’m a mixture of both my parents,” she said.

Barnwell became a Speech Pathologist and took especial interest in sign language interpretation. She has also received a Doctor of Philosophy in Cranio-Facial Studies as well as a Master in Science in Public Health. 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.

Her interest in sign language interpretation combined with her formal training in music inspired her to form a choir that sings in sign. She was discovered by the founder of Sweet Honey, Bernice Johnson Reagon at a church performance. “I wasn’t a vocalist, but I agreed to sing that night,” she said. Well, Ms. Reagon liked what she saw and heard and invited Dr. Barnwell to be a part of her group. In her first year with Sweet Honey, Dr. Barnwell provided leadership in making the group's concerts accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing through sign language interpretation. She also introduced another member in 1980, Shirley Childress Saxton who is a professional interpreter. “Sometimes we have to learn to say YES and pay attention to the things going on in our hearts; even if we don’t know where it is headed,” said Dr. Barnwell.

“The meaning behind Sweet Honey isn’t as deep as people think,” said Dr. Barnwell. “People have their own interpretations. We’ve talked about it in terms of how honey flows when it is warm, running smooth and when it is cold, but in both forms still sweet,” she said. She went on to explain that Sweet Honey is the song that the four original singers were singing when they discovered they were a group.

Many times, the group is looked upon as healers or minsters of music, but they don’t profess these titles. “We’re not a gospel group. We invite people to draw their own interpretations and conclusions from our music,” said Dr. Barnwell. Dr. Barnwell went on to express appreciation for peoples’ high regard. “It’s good to know that we [represent] adaptability and passion. We sing from the heart and we are inspired and empowered by what we do...that’s our purpose for being there,” she said.

“We bring traditional African American vocals and music to audiences. Our songs and traditions will die if they are not sung,” said Dr. Barnwell. Sweet Honey embodies true collaborative styles of music. “We also add to the tradition through the written word; we are all writers,” she said. Each member writes down what concerns them just as people did during slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and other historical times in the African American tradition to create the beautiful spirituals, freedom songs, and melodies that we still hear today. “When we sing songs like ‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child’ or ‘In the Upper Room’, people understand it,” she said.

This Master Teacher, singer, and scholar also conducts workshops. Her workshop entitled ‘Singing in the African American Oral Tradition’, exposes people to a variety of music from traditional to modern. “We follow the paths of Blacks from Africa and talk about why Black music is significant, where it came from and who created it,” she said. She will be hosting a workshop Sunday April 24th from 3-5pm at the O’Shaughanessy Educational Center Auditorim of the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul Campus.

Copyright 2005 Insight News, Inc

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