The Amazing Morning Star Band provides us with live music every Sunday morning. It is pure joy. Many songs are original works by a band member. The Band includes six men who have been playing together for many years, yet each one is a musician in his own right. Below are biographies for each Band member. We are so grateful for this awesome music every week!
Left to right: Ken Nicholas, Darrel Clark, Ian Bittle, Bob Schlegel, Frank Lawrence, Geoffrey Burch
Ken Nicholas
For me, music is the most joyful, meaningful, spiritual, and emotional activity for communicating and outreach. I began playing at age 10, specifically the mellophone (French horn). Into my teen years I taught myself guitar and played in two dance bands. We played ‘old folks’ music from the 1930-40’s and rock and roll cover songs. As I moved into my 20’s, and later, I moved to folk music and light contemporary music with solo and small group playing in Austin, Boston, and Norman. I’ve played at Catholic church services, weddings, and at the Norman Depot annual Hootenanny. More recently, I’ve taken up bass guitar and singing with the Morning Star Awesome Band. I learned about Morning Star over 20 years ago from my wife, Sacra, who is a founding member. My favorite musicians are the Beatles, John Denver, and Jackson Browne.
Outside of music I am a Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at OU and am still active in laboratory and theoretical research. I also enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction, golf, travel, grandparenting, and household projects.
Darrel Clark
Few things have been more constant in my life than music. I think I was about 10 years old when I started taking accordion lessons. My teacher was a Marine WWII veteran. He loved the accordion and a good polka, but we played modern music as well. In junior high I played coronet and French horn in band. During my high school days, I started learning to play guitar on a $7 Silvertone (Sears) guitar. My instruction consisted of a chord chart, a Beatles Complete songbook, and Beatles records. Years later I found that guitar and I’ve always been amazed that I didn’t quit in frustration trying to play that cheap guitar. Eventually, I got a real guitar and found a friend who also loved to sing, and we entertained our friends harmonizing on Everly Brothers, Beatles, and the like.
Since those early days I’ve played in several bands, duets, and trios, and in a lot of different settings. I’ve come to understand that playing music has always been a type of meditation for me. It takes me out of my thinking and into active listening and a world of harmony, rhythm, and resonance. I started playing at Morning Star in 1999 when we were meeting at the Sooner Theatre. It had always been my dream to be part of a band playing uplifting and inspiring music because music has always been such a meaningful and positive influence for me. Morning Star has been that outlet and I am truly grateful and privileged to be here and to play with the band.
Ian Bittle
I have lived in Norman my whole life, traveling quite a bit but always ending up back here. To me music IS life. I have listened to music as long as I can remember but did not actually start playing it until I finished college. I play mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar, tin whistle, and button accordion. I play Old Time American and Irish music, as well as writing my own songs. I heard about Morning Star by word of mouth many years ago. I have been playing with the Awesome Morning Star Band since 2012. I am recently retired and when not at Morning Star, I play music with several Old Time and Irish dance bands in the OKC area. My main band, Random Notes, has a very sleepy Facebook page. We play regularly for Contra dances in OKC and Norman in association with the Scissortail Dance Society.
Bob Schlegel
For as long as I can remember, music has been a significant part of my life. I still recall the toy piano and small four-chord child’s organ that I had at an early age. Growing up I also learned to play a home spinet organ following a total of ten introductory lessons. Everything else has been self-taught. I got my first guitar from Montgomery Ward (the Sears competitor) when I was a sophomore in high school and learned how to play using Mel Bay books and Play Guitar with the Ventures albums. I also sang in choirs in high school. Guitar is my main instrument although I have played bass from time to time. It wasn’t until I was almost 30 that I broke out of my shell and started playing and singing in public, primarily in church choir/band. It was at that time that I met Frank Lawrence and we formed Flawrence & Bégel. Frank has kept my musical experiences fresh throughout my life and we are still performing together after 42 years. For several summers in the 1990’s I also performed in Cimarron Circuit Opera Company Gilbert & Sullivan productions.
I heard about Morning Star many years ago from Sacra and Ken Nicholas, having sang with them in choirs at St. Thomas More and St. Mark the Evangelist, where I was the choir director for 10 years. As an aside, Ken and I were part of the band for a production of Godspell in the late 1980’s. I became an occasional participant at Morning Star as Frank’s guest several years ago at the Senior Center when my travel schedule permitted and became a more regular participant with the return to in-person gatherings at the Depot. I truly enjoy making music with this group of individuals. The level of professionalism helps push me to continuing improvement, not to mention what great people they all are.
Outside of my musical activities, I am a Professor Emeritus of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma and continue to work full-time for a company that supports cognitive performance assessment for the Department of Defense worldwide. In that role, I serve as their subject matter expert with activities that include software testing and integration, training development and delivery, logistics, and database management (and a lot of travel, both domestic and international).
Frank Lawrence
One of my favorite things in life is to be a part of making music in the company of good people – singers, players, and listeners. I grew up in a home where music was always playing or being played. Between Dad’s guitars, Mom’s drumsticks and her autoharp, a Hammond chord organ, and some random percussion instruments around, there were plenty of opportunities to explore music. My first formal lessons were on violin at school, maybe 3rd grade? I eventually talked my way into playing drums/percussion in school. In high school I picked up the guitar and started to teach myself – with a few things I picked up from my dad. Like many, my musicianship (how to play with others) grew from my experience in church choirs/bands.
I had heard about Morning Star from different friends over the years. Spiritually, it sounded wonderful but as a classroom teacher, my weekends were sacred. Oddly, it was when I started teaching at the Catholic school that I stopped playing at Sunday Masses. In 2011, I got a formal invite to come and play a song at Morning Star and that was that.
In addition to playing weekly at Morning Star, I play regularly with a group called Flawrence & Bégel (vocals, 6 & 12 string guitars, mandolin) – an acoustic folk/rock kind of thing. I also play with the group Brother Heywood (mandolin, harmony vocals) – more of an alt/outlaw/red dirt country rock band. Finally, around the time that I started with Morning Star, I started diving a little deeper into songwriting and doing some solo performances.
Below is listed where you can find me online, but maintaining a strong presence has not been a high priority for me! Proceed with low expectations! https://franklawrence.bandcamp.com/album/demos https://www.youtube.com/@franklawrence534 https://www.facebook.com/BrotherHeywood/ https://www.facebook.com/FlawrenceandBegel/
Geoffrey Burch
For nearly all my adult life I have been a musician by profession. As a child I wanted to be a musician and as a teenager I studied classical bassoon. After graduating with a degree in music composition, I toured with a rock-n-roll band playing keyboards, including piano and organ. In 2011 I began playing with Morning Star from the suggestion of Tom Massey, who at the time, also played with Morning Star.
Currently I am a professional composer of music for independent film and visual media. As a result, I spend a great deal of time inside the studio and my opportunity to play live with other musicians is limited, so playing with the Morning Star band is a great outlet, a lot of fun, and it keeps my playing on point. One can find links to music I have produced and the cinematic projects with which I have been involved at www.geoffreyburch.com.