Secrist Schmedes, Barbera 1952–

PERSONAL: Born August 2, 1952, in Sparta, TN; daughter of Philip Lee (an historian and teacher) and Katherine (a teacher; maiden name, Kimsey) Secrist; married John Bernard Schmedes, Jr.; children: Eron Alexander. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Georgia State University, B.Mus., 1975; Florida State University, M.A. (arts administration), 1997. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Unity.

ADDRESSES: Home—292 Granville Ct., Marietta, GA 30064. Office—585 Cobb Parkway S., Ste. A4, Marietta, GA 30060. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Professional oboist, 1975–, including solo appearances and performances with Washington Festival Orchestra, Lyric Theater of New York, Wolf Trap Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, National Symphony, American Chamber Orchestra, and at the White House; Pandean Players (chamber music ensemble), artistic and executive director, 1980–, music teacher, 1996–; Thomas Stacy English Horn Seminar, project coordinator, 1994–2000; Cobb Symphony Orchestra, member of advisory board, 1990–95. Harlequin Theater, assistant manager of box office, 1975–76; Igor Stravinsky Estate, research and administrative assistant, 1979–80; Audrey Michaels Public Relations, publicity assistant, 1980; New York Times, advertising representative, 1980–85; JB Productions, artist manager and performing arts consultant, 1982–95; Atlanta Center for Arts and History, business manager, 1996–. Mercer University, instructor, 1995; Morris Brown College, instructor, 1999–2001; Agnes Scott College, oboe artist affiliate, 2000–01. Sunday Serenade Concert Series, cofounder and director, 1985–92; Downtown Marietta Development Authority, festival director, 1986; Jubilee Arts Festival, performing arts director, 1986; Partnersfund, Inc., chair of music panel, 1987; Cobb Arts Council, vice president, 1988–90; Georgia Council for the Arts, coordinator of Grassroots Project, 1993–96, consultant, 1994–2000.

WRITINGS:

Wind Chamber Music: An Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), Volume 1, 1996, Volume 2, 2002.

Author of study guides for Internet music education site Finermusic.com.

SIDELIGHTS: Barbera Secrist Schmedes told CA: "I have been the artistic director of a professional chamber music ensemble for nearly twenty-five years. In that role I must select the music that we will perform each season. After about the first ten years with this group, I realized that all the music research I did to find new music each season would be very useful to other people in the chamber-music field, as well as to band directors and students, so I began compiling the information in a usable format. I approached three publishers of similar types of books and within a month was offered contracts with two different publishers. I selected Scarecrow Press because I was familiar with their publications. It all came about very easily, and I know that's not the norm for writers. I think my books were simply the right idea at the right time to make them attractive to music resource book publishers.

"The first book came out in 1996, and most of the research was done 'the old-fashioned way' by visiting libraries in Atlanta, Washington, DC, and New York City, collecting publication catalogs from publishers around the world, and requesting hundreds of inter-library loans of musical scores. The second book really took me into the Internet world, where I was able to find many of the catalogs available online. Much of the music in the Library of Congress is now listed online, and there are several good Internet sites with information about chamber music. All of these made my research much easier to compile. Nevertheless, each book took about six years from beginning work to publication. A total of twelve years on these two books … perhaps worth it from a research and artistic point of view, but it certainly hasn't been a financial success—at least not yet!"