VIRGIL, Antha Minerva

Antha Minerva Patchen Virgil Bergman was an American author, composer, and music educator who helped develop and patent the Virgil silent practice keyboard, also known as the Virgil clavier. She used the name "Antha M. Virgil" professionally.

Antha was born in Elmira, New York, to Minerva Ruth Cole and Uriah Patchen. Little is known about her education following her graduation from high school in Burlington, Iowa. She began teaching piano at Almon Kincaid Virgil's music conservatory in Burlington in 1877, then married Almon in 1878. In 1879, they moved to Peoria, Illinois, where they opened a music school which continued for four years.

In addition to Virgil Clavier method books, Antha composed or arranged over 250 graded songs for piano students, using opus numbers ranging up to opus 98. In her articles and lectures about piano pedagogy, Antha advocated using a metronome for practice. She often included metronome markings on her compositions.