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Bradshaw, Merrill

 Person

biographical statement

Citation:
Merrill Bradshaw Archive Website, website viewed 2 Mar. 2011 (born in WY, June 18, 1929; taught piano at BYU, died July 12, 2000; had no teacher, but learned popular classical solos of the day; was experienced in football, basketball, track (1/2-mile—third in the State Championships), designing dance decorations, drama, and just about everything else the high school offered; played piano in a dance band-- "Blackie’s Red Jackets"-- and in the school band—bassoon and trombone; was editor of the yearbook and student body president; won a prize in the National Scholastic Composition Contest for a piece he wrote while a senior; entered BYU in the fall of 1947 to study music and english; Dr. John R. Halliday became an important mentor for him; John Halliday was instrumental in getting Merrill hired at BYU; there he taught for 37 years; composed over two hundred musical works, ranging from simple piano pieces and songs to symphonies and concertos to oratorios and pageants; best known work is The Restoration; works have been performed by many regional, national and international symphonies and choirs, including the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square; had an especially good relationship with Ralph Laycock, conductor of the orchestra for many years, who premiered many of Merrill’s orchestral works, and Ralph Woodward, conductor of the A Cappella Choir who did the same for many choral works; wrote a series of essays "Letters to a Young Mormon Composer" in an enveloping, engaging style, which encouraged and influenced many composition students; sat on the National Composers Forum board, and as the first head of the Barlow Endowment for Musical Composition met with many revered conductors and composers)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Merrill Bradshaw papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 7486
Scope and Contents

Collection includes (spans the dates 1952-1996) hand-written manuscripts created by Merrill Bradshaw, original scores and parts, published and bound scores such as “Title of Liberty” and “The Restoration”; papers centered around his teaching years such as grade transcripts and class rolls; audio/video recordings that include reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, video cassettes, and LPs, and correspondence.

Dates: approximately 1952-1989

Merrill Bradshaw audio recordings, 1969-1996

 Series — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 7486 Series 3
Scope and Contents

The audio recordings include reel to reel tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, memorex Q2HD video cassette, and LPs.

Dates: 1969-1996

Filtered By

  • Subject: Videocassettes X

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 1
Collection 1
 
Subject
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 1
Composers -- Utah -- History 1
Letters 1
Manuscripts 1
Music -- Manuscripts 1
∨ more
Notated music 1
+ ∧ less