Jane Ellen, active SAI and composer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, joins Dorothy Gross, Project Director of the Composers Bureau, accepting the job of coordinator of admissions, to which she was appointed by the Board of Directors of Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc. She replaces Dr. Gloria Swisher, who filled that role for the past 12 years.

Ellen holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Mexico, with double majors in Music Performance (piano) and Religious Studies. As an undergraduate she was awarded membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Iota, Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges, and the Golden Key Honor Society. She is one of SAI's Ruby Sword of Honor recipients, and was the first one to receive the UNM Friends of Religious Studies Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. As a graduate student she received a Graduate Tuition Fellowship and completed 15 hours toward a Master's in music composition.

She has 30 published works, with a catalog of over 200 compositions. A longtime member of the SAI Composers Bureau, her entry in the Annual Composer Update is on page 26.

Active in church music ministry for 20 years, most recently as parish organist at Albuquerque's Our Lady of the Annunciation Church, Ellen works as a freelance composer, lecturer, and private music instructor. She holds professional memberships in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the International Alliance for Women in Music, the New Mexico Women Composers Guild, and the New Mexico Music Teachers Association.

She recently discussed the job with the editor on email.

"I would like to see the Composers Bureau become a more accurate reflection of the American Composer today. Many active composers either qualify for admission now, or have qualified in the past, but do not submit information for the annual update. Since this annual issue of Pan Pipes is archived internationally in conservatories and universities, I would hope to find a way to encourage greater participation in the Composers Bureau. Perhaps a survey might be prepared and mailed to past and present members, asking what the Composers Bureau could do for them that would encourage them to participate more frequently.

"The Composers Bureau includes many women composers who are SAI members themselves. SAI has always worked to support the work of women in all areas of music, and it is, perhaps, in the field of composition that women continue to receive the least recognition. By including SAI composers in Pan Pipes each year, the Bureau is giving them valuable exposure, as well as encouraging young women who are just entering the field to accumulate the necessary credentials in order to belong.

"The Pan Pipes Annual Composer Update is archived internationally, and helps provide valuable exposure for the American composer. It is a vital networking tool. Because of my being listed, I have been contacted by composers from other countries who either wish information about music in America, or are looking for ways to have their works performed here. I have received commissions as a direct result of my listing; I can only surmise that this holds true for many other members.

"Educationally, it provides information about composers from all walks of life -- university faculty, private instructors, commercially published composers, educational composers, etc. The Winter issue is more than a tribute to the American composer; it is an education publication which provides a glimpse into the lives of contemporary working composers.

"Getting new music performed and recorded remains a difficult task. The words 'new music' seem to carry a particular stigma about them, which proclaims the music to be either unacceptable, inaccessible, boring, or all of the above. I am encouraged by the number of new recording labels spring up that seem to court lesser-known composers. Also, with the advent of new recording technology -- DAT, CDRs, and the mini-disks that are so popular in Asia -- the possibilities for self-recording and self-distribution of works are becoming very exciting indeed.

"I led a four-piece working band from 1983-1988 which played mostly the country club and officer's club circuits, with the usual run of wedding receptions, bar mitzvahs and graduation dances thrown in.

"One experience instantly comes to mind, and that was the year we were fortunate enough to be the opening act for the New Mexico Jazz Workshop Festival at Madrid, NM, in the old ballpark. It was an opportunity to play our original jazz, and not just the usual covers demanded by club patrons. That was also the year I learned the value of hard shell road cases, as one of my keyboards took a 12 foot dive off the back of the stage while still in its case, and survived!

"My favorite lecture topics is the Music of the American Civil War. We have a remarkable written record handed down to us, from people living in what was, perhaps, the most literate nation in the world then. Along with exploring the music, I like to read from period letters, as well as discuss the blatant use of music as psychological warfare during this conflict.

"I have been lecturing on Civil War Music and, reflecting my other major, The Dead Sea Scrolls, longer than any other topics. However, both fields are constantly changing, with new music and diaries coming to light from the Civil War, and new information about the Scrolls developing daily."