Introduction

Biography

Sharp was the son of George Tho­mas Mc­Niel and Su­san Fran­ces Wall­ace, bro­ther of Tho­mas Mc­Ni­el, and hus­band of Net­tie Lee Ir­by.

He was edu­cat­ed in the pub­lic schools, and be­gan stu­dy­ing mu­sic at an ear­ly age, un­der his bro­ther Tho­mas. Note: Sho­wal­ter, page 291, in­cor­rect­ly gives Tho­mas’ ini­tials as L. L.

Sharp’s next teach­ers were J. B. Mar­tin and Miss Mar­ga­rite Wood.

In 1898, he at­tend­ed his first ses­sion of the Sou­thern Nor­mal Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute (SNMI) in Mans­field, Tex­as, con­duct­ed by An­th­ony Sho­wal­ter and Ed­win Moore. He re­ceived his di­plo­ma from the SNMI at Child­ress, Tex­as, in 1901.

He lat­er taught at a num­ber of nor­mals and oth­er schools, and, with Ber­nard N. Ri­chards, formed the Mc­Niel-Richards Mu­sic Com­pa­ny in Cus­hing, Tex­as.

Works

• Soul Songs and Son­nets (Cush­ing, Texas: Mc­Niel-Ri­chards Mu­sic, 1909)
• Sunbeam Songs (Cush­ing, Texas: Mc­Niel-Ri­chards Mu­sic, 1910)

In his books, Mc­Niel some­times used the # symbol (a mu­sic­al sharp) for his first name.