When the chimes rang out at the Sunday September 9, dedication of September 11 Shanksville Memorial Tower of Voices, in Pennsylvania, it was Houston High School graduate Sam Pellman’s groundbreaking advances in electroacoustic music that allowed the chimes’ pitch and resonance to give “voice” to the victims who died there September 11, 2001.
Pellman’s accomplishments in music began in his very early years. He was 7 when he started music lessons. After two months of lessons, his music teacher told Sam’s mother that she had no more to offer because Sam was a musical prodigy. It wasn’t enough for him to just play the music. He would have to embellish and add to it. He was playing for church services when he was 11 and 12. After learning that it was possible, Sam was admitted to the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Samuel Pellman was a 1971 graduate of Houston High School, graduating magna cum laude and valedictorian. He is a 1975 graduate of Miami University with a Bachelor’s in Music Education, and a 1979 graduate of Cornell University with a master’s and Doctorate in Music.
Pellman went on to Hamilton College in New York where he was a professor of music theory, music composition and electro-acoustic music for almost 40 years. Pellman was a co-director of the Hamilton’s Studio for Transmedia Arts and related studies. Pellman’s work has been presented at festivals and conferences throughout the world from Melbourne, Paris and New York City to Beijing, Capetown, Buenos Aires to name just a few. He also authored “An Introduction to the Creation of Electroacoustic Music”, which was published in 1994 and became a widely adopted textbook.
Pellman’s expertise in acoustics and composition was recognized by the planners of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Organizers commissioned him to design sound for “The Tower of Voices”, a 93 feet instrument that holds 40 wind chimes, each tuned to a different pitch representing the 40 passengers and crew members that were killed on 9/11. Pellman attended the groundbreaking that marked the beginning of construction of the tower. It was one of his most important works of his legacy.
Pellman received the Hamilton College Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016 and was named James L. Ferguson Professor of Music in 2016. Pellman also served as organist and director of instrumental music at the Clinton United Methodist Church, tour accompanist for the Oneida Area Civic Chorale, secretary of the Kirkland Democrats, and board member of the Syracuse Society for New Music.
Sadly, Dr. Samuel Pellman lost his life in a tragic accident in November of 2017. Samuel was struck and killed by an automobile while riding his bicycle. During the nearly four decades of sound creation, Sam was a widely admired teacher, a groundbreaking scholar in the area of electroacoustic music and an indispensable part of the community.