Merrill Leroy Ellis

• 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) and Darius Milhaud (1957)

Ellis was married to Willa Naomi Ellis (née Wiggins), who held a BFA in Music Education and taught piano from their home. Together they raised five children, teaching each one to play two instruments.

In 1974 Ellis travelled by train across the southwest from Texas to California with his wife, children and grandchildren while filming footage for his intermedia composition "Trains - Used to Run Late."

Merrill Ellis taught band, orchestra, music theory, and composition in Texas and Missouri at the high school (Hickman High School and Lefors Independent School District), junior college (Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State University and Moberly Junior College)and college level (Christian College now Columbia College (Missouri) from 1943 until 1962.

In in 1962, Ellis founded the electronic music program at the University of North Texas College of Music shortly after he began teaching there. North Texas acquired its first Moog Machine for use in Merrill Ellis' studio, late 1965. 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.

The Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia{{cite web|url=http://cemi.music.unt.edu/|title=Homepage - Center for Experimental Music & Intermedia, UNT|work=unt.edu}} (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."

; Instrumental works

{{refbegin|50em}}

• "And Ruth Said," sacred songs (medium voice) with piano (Aug. 15, 1947); {{oclc|42755062}}
• "Brass Quartet," for 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, bass trombone (manuscript dated 1951)
• "Bridge Game," for string quartet; {{oclc|48546112|28445907}}
• "Cape "G" Melody," for oboe, viola, cello, with optional part for double bass (manuscript dated 1951)
• "Classical Combo," a septet + one; {{oclc|27956521}}
• Dizzy Kate Piano Suite, (Sept. 19, 1947); {{oclc|42755031}}

:# "Introducing Kate"

:# "Kate Was Very Modal"

:# "She Sas Long and Slim and Loved to Dance"

:# "Kate Lived at the Corner of 4th and 5th"

:# "My, My, Dizzy Kate"

• "A Dream Fantasy," an intermedia piece; may use dancers if desired; for clarinet (some passages may be performed on saxophone), percussion, tape, and 2 reels of 16 mm. film; 35 mm. slides optional, C. Fischer (1976); {{oclc|3308993|869657148}}
• "Duets," for flute & piano (1969)
• "Ecce homo," for cello & piano (1970); {{oclc|51169319}}
• "Einyah [Festival]," for piano, trumpet, and percussion;
• Etudes for Piano, ("to Sis, Jan 5, 1951"); {{oclc|49981198}}

1. Etude I:{{space|3}}"Dorian"
2. Etude II:{{space|2}}"Phrygian"
3. Etude III:{{space|1}}"Lydian"

• "Fantasy for Organ" (1969); {{oclc|37149337}}
• "Five Plus One," for woodwind quintet – flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, with optional double bass (1969)
• "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven," for SATB chorus with instrumental ensemble, text by V. Lindsay (1954)
• "Incantations," for two pianos (1969); {{oclc|27876766}}
• "Mutations," a multi-media composition for brass quintet, prepared electronic tape, 16mm film projection and 35mm slide projections, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, Shawnee Press (1972); {{oclc|17579310|223198454}}

:: for 2 trumpets, horn, bass trombone and tuba

• "Pastoral," for harp (1970); {{oclc|367625536}}
• "Pastoral," for & piano (1970)
• "Piece," for trumpet & piano (1950); {{oclc|29170766}}
• "Celebration," for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, tape, lasers, and visual events (commissioned by Baylor University, Richard Shanley & Society for Commissioning New Music) American Music Center, New York (1980); {{oclc|25457601}}
• "Dream of the Rode," for tape and 16 mm film;

:: Premiered Nov 6, 1973, Montevallo University, Alabama; Marsue Burns, PhD (1935–2007), libretto; Carroll Young Rich, PhD (1933– ), Anglo-Saxon translation for the spoken parts (Marsue and Carroll were members of the UNT English faculty)

• "Feedback Fantasy"
• "The Great Gift"
• "Kaleidoscope;" {{oclc|17011680}}
• "Mutations," Shawnee Press, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania (1972); {{oclc|17579310|924030337}}
• "Nostalgia," for orchestra, film & theatrical events; {{oclc|2881943|24827789}}
• "Oboe Quintet"
• "Organ Fantasy"
• "Scintillation," solo piano; General Words and Music Co., Park Ridge, Illinois (1976); {{oclc|9296147|28152355|3398362|756990300}}
• "Tomorrow Texas," North Texas Composer's Archive, Denton (1965)

{{refend}}

; Opera

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• "The Sorcerer," for solo baritone, tape, film, slides, and chorus (with optional live band); Shawnee Press, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania (1973); {{oclc|3267795}}

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; Film and television

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• "The Choice is Ours," intermedia work for 2 films, slides, tape & audience participation

{{refend}}

• 1962 — Harvey Gaul Prize, Friends of Harvey Gaul, Inc., and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Department of Music, for the composition, Organ Fantasy, performed in Carnegie Hall
• 1964 — Texas Federation of Music Clubs Competition, First Prize for "The Great Gift"
• 1965 — Texas Federation of Music Clubs Competition, First Prize for "Oboe Quintet"
• 1965 — Texas Federation of Music Clubs Competition, Second Prize for "Tomorrow Texas"

Ellis became a member of ASCAP in 1966.

• ASCAP Award for contributions in serious music; 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979

• Electronic Music Composition Manual, Merrill Ellis, Robert Cannon Ehle (born 1939), and Robert A. Moog, North Texas State University (196-?); {{oclc|24103657}} [latest date in bibliography is 1967]

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• 1990–92 — Kurt Kuniyasu
• 1990–91 — Gregory Alan Schneider
• 1991–92 — Rick D. Chatham
• 1991–92 — Michael Anthony McBride
• 1994–95 — Steven Bryant
• 1994–95 — [https://web.archive.org/web/20101220144412/http://people.unt.edu/~hk0008/ Hideko Kawamoto]
• 1994–96 — Man-Mei Wu
• 1996–97 — Lucio Edilberto Cuellar, DMA 2002
• 1998–99 — [http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jtrinker/Bio.html J.T. Rinker]
• 1999–00 — [http://www.henryvega.net Henry Vega]
• 2000–01 — Kayli House
• 2002–03 — [http://www.jamesworlton.com/ James Worlton]
• 2005–07 — [https://web.archive.org/web/20110208151749/http://www.stephenlucasmusic.com/ Stephen Lucas]
• 2007–08 — [http://www.camilosalazar.com Camilo Salazar]
• 2009–10 — Nicholas Kanozik
• 2011–12 — Ryan Pivovar
• 2012–13 — Jonathan Jackson
• 2013–15 — [http://www.dantramte.com/ Dan Tramte]

{{refend}}

• Louisville Orchestra – Jorge Mester, conductor

: Merrill Ellis, "Kaleidoscope," for Orchestra, Synthesizer, and Soprano – Joan Wall, soprano

: George Crumb, Echos of Time and the River †

::originally released 1974 (LP), Louisville Orchestra First Edition Recordings LS711; {{oclc|916602|9846970|221630245}}, {{oclc|83589462|221612389|79876387}}

• Unconventional Trumpet, music by University of North Texas (CD), composers Ellis, Beasley, McTee, Mailman, Austin, Latham, and Tull

: Crystal Records (2004); {{oclc|57490708}}

• Facets 2, John Holt, Trumpet

: Natalia Bolshakova (piano)

: Crystal Records CD764 (Dec 1, 2004); {{oclc|57491034}}

: Track 10 – Ellis: Trumpet Piece

: † Crumb, who shares the album with Ellis, won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music for this composition

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ij0NHM2FmM&list=LL-QJF0zOBG744tafsutdKdw "CEMI: 50 years of experimental music and intermedia at UNT"]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Emc-1CpF4 "Mutations"]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z0e2-48hv4&list=PLj3J8ny89kg41PmKqWwTPiFI3q-nDplnu&index=2 "Kaleidoscope"], The Louisville Orchestra, Joan Wall, mezzo-soparano, Jorge Mester, conductor (1974)

{{refbegin}}

• [https://archive.org/stream/contemporaryamer00ande#page/n7/mode/2up Contemporary American Composers, A biographical Dictionary] (1st ed.), compiled by E. Ruth Anderson (born 1928), Boston: G.K. Hall & Co. (1976); {{oclc|2035024}}

{{refend}}

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

[https://www.library.unt.edu/collections/music/merrill-ellis "Merrill Ellis Papers,"] Special Collections, University of North Texas Libraries

"Ellis to Play with Symphony," Denton Record-Chronicle, November 9, 1973

Marsue M. Haviland, née McFadden – surnames from former marriages: Burns, Johnson; Obituary: "Marsue (McFadden) Johnson – Haviland," Daily Courier (Arizona), August 22, 2007

"Various Cultural Programs Brighten Year in Denton," Denton Record-Chronicle, January 30, 1966, Sec. 7, pg. 2

[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fel37 Elsa Gonzalez, "Ellis, Merrill,"] by Elsa Gonzalez, Handbook of Texas Online

"Deedle, Blat, Zonk, Beep, Urk, To Star in Festival Opener," by Dan Pavillard, Tucson Daily Citizen, March 29, 1970

ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (4th ed.), compiled for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by Jaques Cattell Press, R.R. Bowker (1980); {{OCLC|7065938}}

[http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0331103-072550/unrestricted/Druhan_thesis.pdf "A Performer's Guide to Multimedia Compositions for Clarinet and Visuals:] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719231933/http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0331103-072550/unrestricted/Druhan_thesis.pdf |date=2011-07-19 }} A Tutorial Focusing On Works by [http://www.chadabe.com/ Joel Chadabe], Merrill Ellis, William O. Smith, and [https://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/reynold-weidenaar Reynold Weidenaar]" (DMA Dissertation), by Mary Alice Druhan, Louisiana State University (1993); {{OCLC|52452151}}

}}

• [http://cemi.music.unt.edu/ UNT College of Music Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI)]
• [http://music.unt.edu/comp/archive/former-faculty UNT College of Music Division of Composition Studies]
• [http://www.library.unt.edu/collections/music/merrill-ellis Merrill Ellis collection in the UNT Music Library]

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Category:1916 births

Category:1981 deaths

Category:People from Cleburne, Texas

Category:American contemporary classical music performers

Category:American male classical composers

Category:20th-century American classical composers

Category:Postmodern composers

Category:Electroacoustic music composers

Category:American experimental composers

Category:American electronic musicians

Category:Microtonal musicians

Category:University of North Texas College of Music faculty

Category:American music educators

Category:Classical musicians from Texas

Category:University of Oklahoma alumni

Category:20th-century American male musicians