According to Jemile Gurbanova's biography of Halmammedov, his mother died in 1944, and his father moved to Iran with two of the family's four sons, Begmammet and Ashyrberdi, abandoning Nury, his 17-year-old brother, Bayly, and older sister, Artyk.

[2][14] In 1954, Halmammedov was transferred to Turkmen State Music School in Ashgabat, where he studied under Viktor Khiruntsev and Elena Kulesh.

While studying at the Conservatory, he wrote more than nineteen compositions for piano, on top of the larger Variety Theme (1962), Scherzo (1958), Sanya (1961), Prelude in C-sharp Minor (1960), and Five-Part Turkmen Polyphonic Suite (1963).

[16] Halmammedov wrote a major piano work during this period, Sounds of the Dutar, published in 1962 and dedicated to the prominent Turkmen dutarist Mylly Tachmyradov.

[21] Halmammedov additionally put verse to music, including poetry by Gurbannazar Ezizov, as well as Sergei Yesenin and Heinrich Heine.

In particular, Halmammedov was noted for putting to music Yesenin's lyric poetry in Persian Motifs (1969-1971), blending Turkmen- and Persian tonalities in six parts: My Old Wounds are Healed, Blue and Joyful Country, Interview, Shagan, My Shagan, My Beloved's Hands are a Pair of Swans, and Countless Sounds of Sparrows.

[27] The program brochure for the III Moscow International Nury Halmammedov Festival noted, "His music is so naturally and durably woven into the everyday life of the Turkmen people that mothers sing Lullaby from Decisive Step to their children, not even suspecting that this music isn't a folk song.

In Cherkezova's words, Halmammedov took this advice and learned he could "find points of contact" between two completely different genres and "harmonically merging two miracles, he created a third.

"[15] Halmammedov's work was noted for incorporating elements from both the Turkmen folk musical heritage and the broader classical tradition as taught at the Moscow conservatory.

"[31] Cherkezova cites film producer Yevgeny Mikhelson's description of Halmammedov's score for one of his animated features, "...the national tone...which ran like a red thread through his entire composition.

His second wife and widow was Gulsoltan Gylyjovna Khalmamedova (Turkmen: Gülsoltan Gylyjowna Halmämmedowa; Russian: Гульсолтан Клычевна Халмамедова, romanized: Gul'soltan Klychevna Khalmamedova) née Yagmyrova (Turkmen: Ýagmyrowa; Russian: Ягмурова, romanized: Yagmurova), who for many years headed Turkmenfilm.