Elizabeth Bishop Gilmore, who taught voice at The Juilliard School from 1945 until 1982, died on November 30 in Sarasota, Fla., at the age of 96.

Gilmore was born July 12, 1906, in Almont, Mich., the daughter of Genevieve Thomas Bishop and Frank L. Bishop. She enjoyed a lifelong career in music, studying in the U.S. and Europe at an early age, and later at the Juilliard Graduate School and Columbia University Teachers College, where she received her M.A. Her singing career included recital, radio, concert, and oratorio performances in Europe and the U.S.

She married Kenneth Gilmore in 1937; they lived in New York and both taught at The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. She was active in the Associated Music Teachers League of New York, serving as vice president, and also was a member of the executive board of the New York Singing Teachers Association. In 1980 Elizabeth Bishop was invited by the Chinese government to be the first Western teacher of singing to teach in China since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. She and her husband taught for nine months in Beijing, where they gave master classes at the Philharmonic Society and the Central Conservatory.

In 1987 the Gilmores moved to Sarasota, where she continued her teaching until recently. Her goal was always to help singers of all ages develop their voices to their full potential, and she took a special interest in the development of younger singers. She is the author of The Urge to Sing and How It Grows, a book dealing with the development and care of the singer's voice. Teaching was Gilmore's passion, and her many former students can attest to her precision and dedication.

She is survived by a sister-in-law, three nieces, and four nephews. Those wishing to honor her memory are asked to consider the Associated Music Teachers League of New York Young Musicians Concerts (c/o Joyce Liu, 25 Ada Place, Staten Island, N.Y. 10301) or the U.S. fund for UNICEF (333 East 38th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016).