Elinor first began sight-reading music and enjoying four-part harmony because of many hymnals found in the Armer home, due to her father’s Methodist Evangelist background.
Armer says that some of the major influences in her life include participating in a rhythm band when she was in kindergarten, the radio, and the records her siblings and parents would play around the house.
She taught composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1975 to the present day (she is scheduled to retire this year), and has performed and lectured throughout the United States.
Libermann was a very popular professor during his time, and gave a series of lectures on the piano - how to practice, play, and teach.
From there she continued on to study her masters at UC Berkeley, although she went on to complete her graduate degree in composition from California State, San Francisco.
The majority of Elinor's composition including Promptu and Etude Quasi Cadenza has been written for pianist Lois Brandwynee.
[6] Armer has produced a collaborative multi-part fantasy series with author Ursula K. Le Guin called Uses of Music in Uttermost Parts which has been recorded on the Koch International Label.