Friday, April 3, Carleton's convocation series returns with a special presentation by Sweet Honey in the Rock’s Ysaye Maria Barnwell. From 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, Barnwell will present “Building Vocal Communities,” a lecture that traces the evolution of African American communal vocal music from Africa through Spirituals and work songs to the music of the Civil Rights Movement. And later that evening at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall, Dr. Barnwell will conduct a Community Sing, bringing together voices of all ages from across the campus and greater communities.
Both events are free and open the public. Convocations are also recorded and archived online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
Barnwell was a member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock from 1979 to 2013 and is a renowned female bass singer. A prolific composer, she wrote many of the group’s songs, as well as being commissioned to create music for dance, choral, film, and stage productions.
Barnwell also holds degrees in speech pathology, cranio-facial studies, and public health. She has been a professor, researcher, and author in addition to her career as musician and choral clinician, successfully demonstrating a relationship between music, the arts, and health.
Barnwell is the recipient of multiple honorary doctorate degrees. Barnwell has been building vocal communities on three continents for over thirty years. Immersed in an African worldview of music, she has traced the evolution of African American communal vocal music from Africa through Spirituals and work songs to the music of the Civil Rights Movement. Barnwell believes this tradition is being eroded by the evolution of technology, and she is on a mission to keep it alive.
In addition to her convocation presentation, Barnwell will lead a Community Sing. Conducted in the “oral tradition,” members of the audience do not need to have any musical training or be able to read music. The time will begin in a fun and easy way, and ultimately the audience will become a choir of uncommon voices raising the roof in 4-to-6 part harmony.
Barnwell’s appearance is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee and the Department of Music, with funding from the Laudie D. Porter Memorial Fund. For more information, including disability accommodations, please call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street, between College and Winona Streets; the Concert Hall is one block east, on First Street between Winona and Nevada Streets.
