Satella Sharps Waterstone (February 1875 – June 15, 1938) nicknamed "Miss Birda", was an American author, composer, and teacher.

Biography

Waterstone was born in

Greenwood Lake Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to Edward T. Waterstone and Satella Sharps Waterstone, who died giving birth to her daughter. Waterstone's grandfather,

Christian Sharps Christian Sharps (January 2, 1810 – March 12, 1874) was the inventor of the Sharps rifle, the first commercially successful breech-loading rifle and the Sharps Four Barrel Pistol, and Sharps Breech-Loading Pistol. Life, death and legacy Born ...

, was a well-known gunsmith who invented the sharps rifle, a 50-caliber gun used in the western United States to hunt buffalo. Waterstone was educated by private tutors before studying at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, Germany. After traveling throughout Europe, she returned home and began teaching at Spinning Private School in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange is a historic suburban Village (New Jersey), village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. In 1916, Waterstone and Emma Hedden opened the Hedden-Waterstone Private School for Boys and Girls, for kindergarten through third grade students. She wrote articles about early music education, training

rhythm band The rhythm band is one of the primary methods of introducing children to playing music. Children are given maracas, tambourines, bells, rhythm sticks and other idiophones with which to beat out a simple rhythm while the teacher plays a song ...

s, and kindersymhonies or toy symphonies. Waterstone's works were published by

Derrydale Press The Derrydale Press was an American book publishing company founded in 1927 with headquarters on Park Ave. in Manhattan, New York. It was the creation of Princeton University graduate Eugene V. Connett III (1891–1969). He told ''Time'' magazin ...

, G. Schirmer Inc., and P.F. Volland Company.

Selected publications

*A Collection of Verse (privately published by Waterstone's friend Grace Parker after Waterstone's death in 1938) *Chapel Island (New York): A History *Short Stories of Musical Melodies (illustrated by Katherine Sturgia) *Some Songs to Play, Some Songs to Sing (with

Florence Turner-Maley Florence Turner-Maley (August 23, 1871 – January 3, 1962) was an American composer, singer, and teacher. Florence Turner was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to William Hayward and Mathilde (Holwill) Turner. Her father had been a boy soprano. S ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterstone, Satella 1875 births 1938 deaths American women composers 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers People from Orange County, New York Columbia University alumni Founders of American schools and colleges