Introduction

The first time I heard Sweet Honey in the Rock I was an impressionable young freshman going to school in NYC. Previously my experience with a cappella was limited to the madrigals I sang in high school and the doo-wop I'd heard done by college groups; my young mind was unprepared for the strong, soulful, improvisational, spiritual, activist explosion that is Sweet Honey live on stage. My tiny brain would never be the same, and how grateful I was for the experience....it lead directly to my starting my own groups, and developing my own skills as songwriter and arranger. I have since heard so many female voices raised in harmony in so many different ways; from the tight barbershop of the Sweet Adelines to the incredibly complex hybrid sounds of Zap Mama. I've participated in discussion groups, chat, and email lists with other performers and so I know I'm not alone in my interest. There are so many different voices to be heard; thanks to the efforts of John Neal at Primarily A Cappella (John worked up all his contacts to get essays and input from successful women artists, I just worked up the html/images/cgi) we now have this new website exploring those sounds and voices, where we can exchange ideas and thoughts by leading artists and successful women who have made the women's harmony movement the powerful presence it is today. So read, listen, and get motivated to lift your own voice. Until we have heard it, we cannot know you.

Cynsa Bonorris
Musical Director
Mary Schmary

Essays

Millennium Women
   by Morgan Ames

Skills for Harmony Singers
   by Sandy Cressman

Women in Harmony
   by Amy Bob Engelhardt

"Welcome Aboard, Aspiring Writers"
   by Yumiko Matsuoka

Women in A Cappella
   by Rhiannon