Elam Ray Sprenkle was born to a family rooted In the Mennonites of southern Pennsylvania. That explains his Biblical first name…more difficult is finding the wellspring of his versatility.  A teacher of music history, theory and ideas at the Peabody Conservatory and Johns Hopkins University, a choir director, ​a WBJC-FM radio veteran favoring facts to opinions, an admirer of American creativity, a baseball fan straining for the Orioles’ first pitch, and a Civil War student unable to shake his upbringing near Gettysburg. But all of this would become secondary when Sprenkle drops the Ray and signs his name. That means he’s finished another composition as ​Elam Sprenkle, one of Maryland’s foremost composers.