A native of Woodbourne, New York, Murray Houllif holds degrees from the State University of New York at Potsdam (BS Music Education) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (MM Percussion Performance). His teachers include Raymond Des Roches, Richard Fitz, James Petercsak, Sandy Feldstein, Dom Famularo, and Bey Perry
(organist Jimmy Smith's drummer). Having subsequently served as co-coordinator of percussion at North Texas State University in Denton, Murray has recently retired from 32 years as a band director and percussion specialist in the public schools of Smithtown, New York.
As a member of the percussion section of the Long Island Symphony under Seymour Lipkin and the Nassau Symphony directed by Andrew