Ellis, Merrill, 1916-1981

ELLIS, MERRILL (1916–1981).Composer, performer, and researcher Merrill Ellis was born in Cleburne, Texas, on December 9, 1916. He studied clarinet as a child and received bachelor of arts and master of music degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He later taught at the University of Missouri. Ellis appeared throughout the central and southwestern United States in numerous performances of electronic and intermedia compositions, and he lectured at different colleges and universities. He was interested in the advancement of new music and carried out research in new compositional techniques, development of new instruments, and exploration of new notation techniques for scoring and performance.

He began exploring electro-acoustic music when he arrived at North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) at Denton in 1962. He founded the university's Computer Music Center in 1963 and was a professor of composition. That same year he established and was director of the Electronic Music Center, the precursor to the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia. He intended the center to be an important part of the Division of Composition, where professors and students could employ experimental technologies to produce art.

During the center's first ten years, participating composers centered their work on the prominent electronic music forms of the time––magnetic tape and live performances using analog synthesizers. Ellis induced Robert Moog, who invented the synthesizer, to make a second one for him and his students. Between 1973 and 1983 these composers also integrated elements from other artistic disciplines, such as theater, painting, and dance, to create intermedia compositions.

Some of his instrumental works listed by ASCAP include Kaleidoscope (for mezzo-soprano, electronic synthesizer, and orchestra), A Dream Fantasy (tape, clarinet, percussion, 16mm film, and slides), Nostalgia (orchestra, film, and theatrical events), Mutations (brass choir, film tape, and slides), Scintillation (solo piano), Celebration (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, tape, lasers, and "visual events"), and Dream of the Rode (tape and 16 mm film). ASCAP also lists among his scores the opera The Sorcerer (solo baritone, tape, film, slides, and chorus) and the television film The Choice is Ours (intermedia work for two films, slides, tape, and audience participation). Ellis was a member of many professional organizations, including the Music Teachers National Association. He received several commissions and research grants and won an ASCAP award in 1979.

Ellis died in Denton on July 21, 1981, after a short illness. His body was cremated at the Roselawn Cemetery in Denton. Instead of funeral services, a concert was held in his honor at the UNT Intermedia School of Music. Ellis bequeathed a fund to commission yearly student concerts of new music, which took place five successive years after his death. He was survived by his wife, Naomi, three sons, and two daughters, as well as nine grandchildren. In 1981, when Phil Winsor joined the North Texas faculty, the Electronic Music Center became the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia. The Merrill Ellis Memorial Composition Scholarship was established in his honor.

Merrill Leroy Ellis (9 December 1916 Cleburne, Texas – 12 July 1981 Denton, Texas) was an American composer, performer, and experimental music researcher. He is most known for his work with electronic (analog) and intermedia compositions, new compositional techniques, development of new instruments, and exploration of new notation techniques for scoring and performance.[1][2]

Education
1939 – Bachelor of Music, University of Oklahoma
1940 – Master of Music Education, University of Oklahoma
Graduate studies, University of Missouri
Ellis studied privately with Roy Harris, Spencer Norton (1909–1978), and Charles Garland (University of Missouri).

Career
Merrill Ellis taught music theory and composition during the 1950s at the Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State University) in Joplin Missouri.

Ellis founded the electronic music program at the University of North Texas College of Music shortly after he began teaching there in 1962. North Texas acquired its first Moog Machine for use in Merrill Ellis' studio, late 1965.[3] Ellis was a pioneer in composing and performing live multimedia music on Moogs from the mid to late 1960s. He worked with Robert Moog to design the second Moog synthesizer ever made to be portable for him and his doctoral students to use during performances. Robert Moog gave a nod to Ellis by naming this second model the E-II. It was Moog's second synthesizer and Ellis' second Moog. In March 1970, a Tucson newspaper (Tucson Daily Citizen) mentioned that he had brought a Moog (smaller than the North Texas studio model) for a live performance of "Kaleidoscope."

The electronic music center at North Texas was one of the few in the southwest in the early 1960s. According to Ellis in a 1970 interview, Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (in New York City) was the largest and oldest. Yale University, University of Toronto, and University of Illinois had prolific computer music labs, too.[4]

The Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia[5] (CEMI) at North Texas is an outgrowth of his accomplishments. When the College of Music designed and erected a new music complex in the late 1970s, a "new music" theater was designed and named "The Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater" or "MEIT."

Merrill Ellis’ story at North Texas echoes many recurring themes in the 125-year history of the university: humble beginnings, ingenuity, and innovation. The Electronic Music Center (EMC) he founded in a house at 1721 Mulberry Street in 1963 (near Avenue D) laid the foundation for what is now the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI) in the UNT College of Music’s Division of Composition Studies. The Merrill Ellis Music Collection (1960-1981) is held by UNT Music Special Collections and is available for use by special arrangement.

Born 99 years ago in Cleburne, TX, Ellis studied clarinet as a child, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1939, and a Master of Music in 1941. He also studied composition privately with Roy Harris, Spencer Norton, Charles Garland, and Darius Milhaud. He joined the faculty of what was then North Texas State University in 1962, after teaching band, orchestra, and choir in high schools in Texas and Missouri, and a variety of subjects including music education and music theory at several colleges in Missouri. At North Texas, Ellis taught music theory and composition in addition to directing the Electronic Music Center. During the 1960s, Ellis persuaded Robert Moog to build a synthesizer — the second “Moog” ever made — for North Texas.

The Electronic Music Center grew in stature under Ellis; a new Intermedia Theater was established in 1979, and now bears his name. Ellis, who died in 1981, was succeeded as director by Larry Austin and Phil Winsor, who continued to raise the profile of the EMC, particularly in the 1981 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), which hosted 400 scientists and composers of computer music at North Texas, including guest composers John Cage and Lejaren Hiller.

The EMC was renamed the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia in 1983, reflecting the expanded scope of activities which was a legacy of Ellis’ leadership. Martin Mailman, a fellow composer and longtime member of the College of Music faculty said in 1986: “Merrill was a valued colleague and friend who was a true pioneer in electronic and multimedia music. His works express, far more eloquently than any words of mine could, his unique contribution to the music of our time. Indeed, his creative vision was a cornerstone in the establishment of CEMI. It has been a privilege to have an opportunity to celebrate his memory in this environment that he inspired with his work and spirit.”