Players all over the world will learn with sorrow that Zayrh Myron Bickford died on March 22nd last after a short but painful illness. No writer on fretted instrument matters contributed more instructive and entertaining articles than Mr. Bickford, for he wrote regular columns for The Cadenza," "Crescendo" and most of the other fretted instrument magazines published in America during his lifetime and he was a contributor to the pages of "B.M.G." for over fifty years.
One of the founders and a former President of the American Guild and Vice-President of the American Banjo Fraternity, Z. M. Bickford was born in Whitingham, Vermont, U.S.A., on December 11th, 1876 and started a study of music at the age of 10, his first instrument being the melodeon.
His professional musical career began at the age of eleven when he was appointed church organist at the little church of Bernardston, New Hampshire, receiving one dollar a week for his services. When he was fourteen years of age he started playing the piano and a little later added the violin to his studies, with his father (a noted violinist) as his teacher.
At the age of 15, at a small county town in Vermont, he heard William A. Cole (leader of an organisation known as "The Imperial Quartet" and later to be famous as a banjo maker) play "Old Black Joe" with variations on the finger-style banjo and forthwith he decided he wanted to play the banjo. He first studied under the veteran banjoist Ike Brown, who lived at North Adams, Massachusetts, some twenty miles from his home, but he journeyed there twice a week for some time learning the rudiments of banjo technique.
When he moved to Greenfield, Mass., his thorough musical training, coupled with his intense application to study, enabled him to open a studio for the teaching of piano, banjo, mandolin and guitar and throughout his long life Mr. Bickford remained one of America's most dedicated teachers. His next move was to Springfield, Mass., where he found a larger field for his teaching activities.
During the summer months, when pupils were away on vacation, Mr. Bickford furthered his studies of the banjo under Alfred A. Farland, the mandolin under Valentine Abt, the guitar with Charles J. Dorn, and harmony with Dr. H. R. Palmer-the finest teachers of their day. While living in Springfield, he was leading viola player in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and played this instrument with the Janser String Quartet.
In 1909, he moved to New York City where his pupils quickly numbered hundreds and where he became director of the National Institute of Music. While in New York, he taught the fretted instruments in numerous preparatory schools, including the Stevens and Chautauqua Institutes and the Taft School at Watertown. He also found time to be coach of the Columbia B. M. & G. Club.