Emerson Meyers

Emerson Meyers (1910-1990) was a composer, pianist, teacher, and professor of music at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. A well-regarded classical pianist, he won many awards including first prize for chamber music awarded in In 1943 by the National Federation of Music Clubs. Emerson urged his students to learn the means and composiional methods afforded by tape-augmented tones and Moog synthesizers. He founded the electronic music center at Catholic University in 1964 where students learned to score music for live theater productions. Emerson equipped the studio with tape reverb untis and sine wave generators procured from government surplus. He invented an instrument comprised of 14 oscillators with individual amplitude and frequency controls attached to 14 touch-sensitive keys. He called his invention an Alexophone, naming it after his dog.