Guest Artist Interview with Hal Hopson
Composer and Church Musician
Jeannine: Please share a bit about the story of your life with our readers.
Mr. Hopson: I am a composer and church musician from Dallas, Texas. I grew up in a large Southern Baptist family of ten boys and three girls, where I learned to both work hard and play hard. Education and music-making were important in our lives, evidenced by the fact that my oldest sister Merle was my first piano teacher. (The hymn tune, MERLE'S TUNE, is named for my sister.)
I started playing for little church near Waco, Texas when I was thirteen. Those years in the church were important for my musical development as I learned to get off the printed page and create hymn arrangements at an early age, thus fostering my interest in composition.
I never considered doing anything else but church music. I attended Baylor University on a music scholarship and following graduation began my church music ministry serving several churches as organist and director of music in Tennessee, New Jersey, and Maryland. For the past ten years, I have been composing full-time.
My wife Martha, is also a church musician, and we have three children and six grandchildren who are the pride of our lives!
J: What is your approach/philosophy to church music?
Mr. Hopson: A testament to my whole approach to church music can be found in my hymn based series, "The Creative Use of the...Piano, Organ, Instruments, Choirs, Handbells...in Worship."
I simply put into notation those ideas that had worked for me over the years.
Congregational song and liturgy are the focus of my music ministry and work. I am now composing hymn tunes, service music, and psalmody. Erik Routley, the great hymnologist, influenced me greatly in his writings "to hear things from the perspective of the person in the pew". My focus is to educate and foster in the congregation a deeper understanding of the text and music of the hymn and to engage their voices in singing the entire service.
J: Please describe your compositional style.
Mr. Hopson: My mission in all my compositions is to write worthy music that people can grow into and not out of. I started writing church music in shorter forms--calls to worship, responses, hymn introductions. As I developed, I also composed anthems for my choirs and longer instrumental pieces. The phrase, "necessity is the mother of invention" applies to my work, as I wrote music that was needed for my work as a church musician.
J: You have the distinct honor of having a composition included in a Kennedy Center time capsule to be opened in 2076. Please tell our readers how you received this honor.
Mr. Hopson: I was serving a church in Nashville in the 1980's and had recently completed, God With Us, a cantata based on the incarnation scriptures. On the suggestion of a friend, I submitted the score to the Kennedy Center competition. To my delight and surprise, God With Us was chosen as an example of "church music" to be included in the time capsule. As a relatively new composer at the time, it was a huge honor!
J: Where can one find your music?
Mr. Hopson: Much of my work is published by MorningStar and GIA. You can also find some pieces in the World Music, Sheetmusicplus.com and Augsburg catalogs. To date there is no comprehensive listing of my total compositional output, however, Dr. Robert Mann of the church Music Institute will soon begin archiving my complete catalog.
J: Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Composer and Church Musician
Jeannine: Please share a bit about the story of your life with our readers.
Mr. Hopson: I am a composer and church musician from Dallas, Texas. I grew up in a large Southern Baptist family of ten boys and three girls, where I learned to both work hard and play hard. Education and music-making were important in our lives, evidenced by the fact that my oldest sister Merle was my first piano teacher. (The hymn tune, MERLE'S TUNE, is named for my sister.)
I started playing for little church near Waco, Texas when I was thirteen. Those years in the church were important for my musical development as I learned to get off the printed page and create hymn arrangements at an early age, thus fostering my interest in composition.
I never considered doing anything else but church music. I attended Baylor University on a music scholarship and following graduation began my church music ministry serving several churches as organist and director of music in Tennessee, New Jersey, and Maryland. For the past ten years, I have been composing full-time.
My wife Martha, is also a church musician, and we have three children and six grandchildren who are the pride of our lives!
J: What is your approach/philosophy to church music?
Mr. Hopson: A testament to my whole approach to church music can be found in my hymn based series, "The Creative Use of the...Piano, Organ, Instruments, Choirs, Handbells...in Worship."
I simply put into notation those ideas that had worked for me over the years.
Congregational song and liturgy are the focus of my music ministry and work. I am now composing hymn tunes, service music, and psalmody. Erik Routley, the great hymnologist, influenced me greatly in his writings "to hear things from the perspective of the person in the pew". My focus is to educate and foster in the congregation a deeper understanding of the text and music of the hymn and to engage their voices in singing the entire service.
J: Please describe your compositional style.
Mr. Hopson: My mission in all my compositions is to write worthy music that people can grow into and not out of. I started writing church music in shorter forms--calls to worship, responses, hymn introductions. As I developed, I also composed anthems for my choirs and longer instrumental pieces. The phrase, "necessity is the mother of invention" applies to my work, as I wrote music that was needed for my work as a church musician.
J: You have the distinct honor of having a composition included in a Kennedy Center time capsule to be opened in 2076. Please tell our readers how you received this honor.
Mr. Hopson: I was serving a church in Nashville in the 1980's and had recently completed, God With Us, a cantata based on the incarnation scriptures. On the suggestion of a friend, I submitted the score to the Kennedy Center competition. To my delight and surprise, God With Us was chosen as an example of "church music" to be included in the time capsule. As a relatively new composer at the time, it was a huge honor!
J: Where can one find your music?
Mr. Hopson: Much of my work is published by MorningStar and GIA. You can also find some pieces in the World Music, Sheetmusicplus.com and Augsburg catalogs. To date there is no comprehensive listing of my total compositional output, however, Dr. Robert Mann of the church Music Institute will soon begin archiving my complete catalog.
J: Thank you for sharing your story with us.