Interview Series by Dr. Joel Ying.

“People of passion and purpose, doing interesting things, living their present moment.”

LivingthePresentMoment.com/podcastshow

When people come together as a group and sing, there is something about it that makes people stop to listen.

Dr. Joel Ying interviews Ysaye Barnwell, exploring how she builds vocal community in her workshops, seminars, and group sings. She teaches song in the “oral tradition.” In her workshop, Building a Vocal Community, she teaches the history and the songs of African chants, Spirituals, Gospel, and songs of the Civil Rights movement.

I have personally experienced and witnessed her magical gift of creating community through song. The group divides itself into the parts of a choir: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. With her range, she sings all the parts. Each part of our new choir sings just their part alone back to her. She repeats until the voices come together. Then, she weaves us together in four-part harmony. As a non-singer, I found ease in singing as a group without the need to write anything down, no need to read music. Her workshop truly unleashed my voice in a new way as I became part of this new vocal community.

Visit her online at www.ymbarnwell.com.

In this podcast …

• Learn about the history of singing in the “oral tradition”.
• Meet one of the voices, now retired from Sweet Honey and the Rock.
• Listen to the surprising history of the spiritual, Kumbaya, from its original cultural context.
• Discover the power of song to unite organized movements.

Find her TEDx talk on my prior post, The Power of Vocal Communities.

Recorded: Fri Mar 5, 2017, at 12:30pm ET on LivingthePresentMoment.com/studygroup