caption death_date death_place birth_place image_size background birth_date instrument genre image article_title birth_name occupation
at champlain , new york 18 may 1980 los angeles norwalk , ohio 200px non_vocal_instrumentalist 17 october 1885 guitar , lute , ukelele classical bmg file : vahdah olcott-bickford . jpg vahdah olcott-bickford
 ethel lucretia olcott arranger , astrologer , author , composer , teacher
vahdah olcott-bickford

vahdah olcott-bickford -lrb- 1885-1980 -rrb- was a famous american astrologer and guitarist .
she was born in norwalk , ohio as ethel lucretia olcott and died as vahdah olcott-bickford revere , having married twice .
she was born on 17 october 1885 in norwalk , ohio .
her family moved to socorro and then los angeles when she was an infant .
she started guitar lessons at the age of eight and then , by chance , met the classical guitarist george c. lindsay and played for him when she was still just nine .
this was the start of a lifelong friendship in which lindsay first tutored her and then introduced her to the famous guitarist , manuel y. ferrer .
ferrer invited her to stay with his family in berkeley where he gave her daily lessons for a year until he died suddenly in 1904 .
she then returned to her family and published her first major work , `` theme for variations on nel cor più non mi sento '' .
ron purcell was taught by her from 1955 when he was a student at the los angeles conservatory of music and arts .
he and other pupils were taught guitar playing in the music room at her house in the hollywood hills where she taught a technique of playing with the right hand using the pads of the fingers to pluck the strings , rather than the fingernails .
she amassed a large library of music , journals and correspondence about the guitar and other similar instruments .
her house in the hollywood hills was damaged by the 1971 san fernando earthquake and this threatened the collection .
the house was condemned and moving the huge collection then took 15 men over 17 days .
on her death , the collection was bequeathed to the california state university , northridge where it formed the foundation of its international guitar research archive .
