Hal H. Hopson (born 12 June 1933) is a full-time

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and church musician residing in Cedar Park,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He has over 3000 published works, which comprise almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he continues to make a significant contribution to the new repertoire of

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

s and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that are included in newly published

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

s and psalm collections. His cantata, ''God with Us'', was one of the few compositions selected by a panel at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, Washington, DC, to be placed in a capsule during the

American Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memo ...

in 1976. The capsule will be opened at the Tricentennial in 2076 and will be heard again as a representative piece of American choral composition of this century. Hal is active as a conductor and clinician, having conducted choral festivals and workshops in United States, Europe, and Asia. More recently he has been recognized for his contribution to music by being included in The International Who's Who in Music, Cambridge, England, and by being awarded the esteemed title of National Patron by Delta Omicron, a national professional fraternity of musicians. He has loved music and composing since a child.Delta Omicron
He is active in several professional organizations, having served on the national boards of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and Choristers Guild.

References

External links

Cyber Hymnal entry
Composers of Christian music Living people American Presbyterians 1933 births People from Cedar Park, Texas {{US-composer-20thC-stub