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~ Merelyn Mather Davis '64 ~

Merelyn Davis, a 1964 Music Education alumna of IUP, has been named one of the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients for 2006 in recognition of her work in the television and entertainment industries for nearly a quarter-century. 

Ms. Davis, a native of Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, has accumulated a wealth of international experience in the creation and application of music for performance, the classroom, and television.  As the founder of Merelyn Davis Music, Inc., she has edited and designed music tracks for a variety of television sitcoms, including Dream On, Friends, The Drew Carey Show, Joey, and The George Lopez Show.  Ms. Davis won a Golden Reel Award in 1999 for music editorial and has been nominated twice more for the honor. 

Music has been the driving force in Ms. Davis’s life, ever since she attended IUP.  Having earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education, she went on to earn her Master of Music degree in Music Theory with a minor in Piano from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.   

Over the course of her career, Ms. Davis has transcribed ethnic music recordings in the IU archives of traditional music, transferring vintage wire recordings to tape.  Japanese music was of special interest to her during this time.  She taught music theory and directed a number of choral groups at William Penn High School in York, Pennsylvania, becoming the first music teacher to produce and cast a multiracial stage musical in the school’s history.   

After two years of teaching, she visited with relatives in the United Kingdom and made the decision to move to Scotland.  While there, Ms. Davis edited music and recorded sound for documentaries with Templar Film Studios, a Scottish production company.  Ms. Davis also sang and served as rehearsal pianist with the Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and sharpened her capabilities in composing, editing, and designing music for film and television productions.

She returned to Pennsylvania in the seventies and spent a decade with Audio Innovators in Pittsburgh, where she honed her editing and recording skills, along with refining her ability to “compose” music tracks using prerecorded music from production libraries.  This led to her move to Los Angeles, where—after a number of years working for other postproduction companies—she eventually formed Merelyn Davis Music, Inc. 

A member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, Local 700, Ms. Davis enjoys travel, photography, graphic design, birding, and British mysteries.  She lives in Burbank, California.