Merrill Bradshaw

Merrill Bradshaw (18 June 1929 in Lyman, Wyoming – 12 July 2000 in St. George, Utah) was an American composer and professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) where he was the John R. Halliday Professor of music.

Bradshaw was born in Lyman, Wyoming to Melvin K. Bradshaw and his wife the former Lorene Hamblin. He went to junior high school in Salt Lake City and high school in Portland, Oregon while his father oversaw the construction of air landing facilities in the Aleutian islands. The family then moved back to Lyman, where Bradshaw graduated from high school.

Bradshaw did his undergraduate studies at BYU, where he was mentored by John R. Halliday. He then served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland. After returning from his mission he was accepted into BYU's á capella choir. It was while in this choir that he met Janet Spilsbury, who he later married. Besides Halliday, other BYU professors of music Bradshaw studied with were Leon Dallin and Crawford Gates.

Bradshaw received a masters in music and a doctor of musical arts degree both from the University of Illinois. Among those he studied with at Illinois were Carl Fuerstner, Hubert Kessler, and Claire Richards.

In addition to being a professor at BYU, Bradshaw was also the first to hold the position of composer-in-residence there, also served as executive director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, and directed BYU's semester abroad program in Austria on multiple occasions as well. He worked closely with Ralph Laycock, BYU's orchestra conductor, and Ralph Woodward, the conductor of BYU's premier choir, in getting his various compositions performed.

In addition to his work with BYU Bradshaw was a key figure in Latter-day Saint music. He was made the head of the composition division of the LDS Music Department in December 1972. In 1973-1978 Bradshaw headed an LDS Church committee that sought to produce a new hymnbook, but its efforts were suspended without final result in the latter year.

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