Murl Sickbert

Dr. Murl Sickbert, Hardin-Simmons’ Music Librarian, has served since 1993. He has a B.Mus. from Oklahoma City University, a M.Mus. in Composition and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a M.L.S from Emporia State University. Dr. Sickbert is a member of the Texas Library Association (TLA), the Music Library Association, The American Musicological Society (AMS), and a charter member of the Mozart Society of America. He is program annotator and pre-concert lecturer for the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra since 1994, and is Director of the Parish Choir at Holy Family Catholic Church. Dr. Sickbert’s article “Go Tell Aunt Rhody She’s Rousseau’s Dream” appeared in the 1999 William Kearns Festschrift, “Vistas of American Music.” On Summer Sabbatical in 2000, Dr. Sickbert traveled to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for preliminary work on his book, “The Chaconne in the Late Eighteenth Century.” In April of 2002, Dr. Sickbert read his paper, “Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’: A Memorial for Leopold,” at the University of Houston during a meeting of the Southwest Chapter of the AMS. This year, his article on the great soprano Jessye Norman appeared in the prize-winning two-volume “Encyclopedia of Women and Music in America Since 1900.” In April of 2003 he will be attending a TLA workshop and the annual conference. He is making final adjustments to a modern edition of Herbert F. Clarke’s unpublished “Cowboy Band March,” which will be played by the Cowboy Band this spring. A performing edition of Mozart’s Credo-fragment for the Mass in C K. 337 has been prepared by Dr. Sickbert for its world premier next fall. He will supervise the move back into the newly refurbished Smith Music Library this coming August.