A close personal friend, in fact the bishop who ordained me in a previous century, had a sister who briefly dated a young man named Johann Peter Schickele, or just Peter Schickele for short. This young man wasted no time in endearing himself to the whole family by oiling round metal doorknobs so that no one could use them to open doors. Such was his sense of humor before becoming a famous man. In this article we shall look at what made Schickele uniquely qualified to be the world’s only known Professor of Musical Pathology, holding that chair at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. It has been rumored that sometimes he even sat in that chair. He said he did not mind having to fulfill his tenure in the Pathology Department, but he would rather have been allowed into the Music Department because it was nearer the cafeteria; and, as he revealed, “That’s where the piano is.”
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