Deeann D. Mathews is an African American composer, arranger, pianist and author living in San Francisco, California. She is very active in arranging Spirituals for a variety of uses, and also in composing hymns, larger choral pieces, art songs, and gospel songs, many of which have been premiered at El Bethel Baptist Church of San Francisco, where Ms. Mathews worships and serves as assistant choir director. Ms. Mathews has also recently published The Freedom Guide for Music Creators, a book on the fundamentals of the music business. Ms. Mathews also is creative director of Praising Pilgrims Music, a music publishing company, and has enjoyed success in getting one of her Christmas carols on ERMMedia’s “Holidays of the New Era,” which sold out 20 days after its November 2006 release. In 2007 she was honored at The Ascending Voice, a symposium hosted at Pepperdine University with a focus on a cappella choral and communal music, for her hymn “God’s Excellence.” Ms. Mathews most recently lent her skills as pianist and arranger to “Praising My Lord In Song,” an excellent legacy album of hymns, gospel and Black Spirituals by two prominent singers in El Bethel Baptist Church. She also directed the CCSF Gospel Ensemble at Juneteenth festivities at City College of San Francisco. Ms. Mathews’ projects for 2010 include broadening work on helping musicians with music business issues, particularly in the area of copyright.