Zarh Myron Bickford: The Work Behind a Guitar Community
Zarh Myron Bickford’s place in guitar history cannot be explained by a single instrument. A multi-instrumentalist associated especially with the mandolin, he also composed, arranged, performed and helped sustain the American Guitar Society. His partnership with Vahdah Olcott-Bickford connected concert-making with the practical work of publishing and organizing. CSUN collection biography; Soundboard institutional history
He appears in Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar in East Tennessee as part of that collaborative history. His career makes the labor behind a musical community visible.
A partnership across instruments
Myron Bickford and Ethel Olcott married in 1915 and became known as Zarh and Vahdah. CSUN’s account identifies him as an established mandolinist; their interests brought several instruments into their work together. Their shared career included performing, preparing music and developing publishing and recording activities. CSUN biography; Kathy Acosta Zavala, Soundboard 49, no. 4, p. 31
A surviving 1926 program, reproduced in a University of Florida dissertation, shows the range. The couple performed a suite for mandocello and guitar; he played the mandocello and she the guitar. Elsewhere on the program, he appeared as a mandolin soloist and joined her at the piano in a sonata for guitar and piano. The program also included separate mandolin and guitar ensembles. University of Florida dissertation, reproduced concert program, p. 42
The mandocello belongs to the mandolin family but occupies a lower register. Paired with guitar, it creates a different balance from two identical instruments: the players negotiate contrasting timbres and ranges. Bickford’s work illustrates a musical culture in which the guitar belonged both to its own solo tradition and to ensembles of related instruments.
His guitar participation was also explicit. A Crescendo program identifies him as guitarist and pianist assisting an American Guitar Society presentation on Carulli. Guitar was one part of a musical life encompassing several instruments. Crescendo, vol. 21, no. 3
Supplying music, sustaining meetings
The Bickfords’ organizational activity made room for music beyond their own appearances. The Soundboard retrospective describes years of leadership and volunteer service, including hosting society meetings during the Depression. Their publishing efforts helped connect the music they valued with people who could play it. Soundboard history
One surviving example is Bickford’s Sacred Collection for Guitar. CSUN’s catalog dates the item to 1937 and credits Zarh Myron Bickford as arranger of music for two guitars. A duet collection supports a different kind of participation from the celebrated solo recital: two players share the rhythmic and expressive work. Arranging such music adds usable material to a community’s daily musical life. CSUN catalog record
A useful comparison for Knoxville
No direct Knoxville connection is established by these sources. Bickford’s relevance is the broader relationship between artistic work and organizational work. A society needs performers, but it also needs repertoire, officers, meeting places and people willing to sustain the effort over time.
That makes his story a productive companion to Larry Long’s Knoxville career. The comparison concerns the kind of work each helped do, not a documented personal relationship. It also belongs beside George C. Lindsey, another participant in the American Guitar Society’s early community, and the fuller account of Vahdah Olcott-Bickford.
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