Martha H Bixler

1927 - 2020
Martha Harrison Bixler died peacefully on October 7, 2020, after a period of declining health. She was born on August 9, 1927, the third daughter of Julius Seelye Bixler and Mary (Thayer) Bixler. She earned Bachelor's degrees from Smith College and the Yale University School of Music, and a Master's degree from Brooklyn College. While at Yale, she studied with Paul Hindemith, which sparked her lifelong interest in early music.

After Yale, she moved to New York City, where she became a teacher, a student, a mentor, and a friend to dozens, if not hundreds of other musicians. She taught and performed on recorders, piano, harpsichord, sackbut, and viola da gamba, and she continued until age and infirmity made it impossible. Among the groups she performed in are the Manhattan Recorder Consort, New York Pro Musica, Musica Sacra, the Bach Aria Group, the Berkshire Bach Society, and the Viola da Gamba Dojo of New York. She helped organize and run early music workshops around the country and internationally, where she was a sought-after teacher and performer. She was a founding member of Early Music America, and the first Director of Recorder Week and then Early Music Week at Pinewoods for the Country Dance & Song Society. She taught at the Dalton School, and she was a member of the music faculty at Teachers College, Columbia, and Sarah Lawrence College. She recorded for Columbia Records and Decca Gold Label, and she performed on television.

She possessed a rare combination of musical talent, organizational skill, and tireless energy, which were all fully used in her involvement with the American Recorder Society. A member from its early days, she was at various times a Board member, President, and editor of its newsletter. A friend recalled that "she always told me that she liked to feel useful". She was the first editor of American Recorder magazine, and she wrote numerous feature articles, music reviews, and interviews with other musicians. Her pieces on Renaissance Ornamentation were considered "the way to do it". She also edited arrangements for recorders. Her memoir, "The American Recorder Society and Me", tells her story of those years. In 1996 she was the first woman to receive the Society's Distinguished Achievement Award.

Her contributions to the preservation and promotion of early music and musical instruments, especially the recorder, cannot be overstated. She will be remembered as a talented performer, an inspiring teacher, a loving aunt, and a devoted friend.

She was predeceased by her parents and by her three sisters: Mary Harriet Naughton, Elizabeth Berck, and Nancy Isaacs, and her cherished husband Richard Sacksteder. She is survived by eight nieces and nephews (her beloved "niblings"): Katherine Naughton, Michael Naughton (Judy), George Naughton (Cindy), Alexander Naughton (Kathleen), Julia Isaacs (Chuck Schobert), Daniel Isaacs (Sarah), Beata Randall (John), and Emily Isaacs (Paul Modiano), along with several grand-nieces and -nephews, and her "kitties" Julia and Despina.

Donations in her memory may be made to the American Recorder Society and/or St. Regis College.