The Hayes School of Music Celebrates Spring 2022 Commencement
Join the Hayes School of Music in celebrating our Spring 2022 Commencement! 87 students from the HSOM will celebrate their graduation this Spring.
Commencement Events
Hayes School of Music Celebration
Thursday, May 5, 7:30pm, The Schaefer Center
- Join us for a graduate hooding and a recognition of all of our HSOM graduates! No tickets are needed. Light refreshments will be served after the event.
- Additional parking is available in the Peacock Lot (across the street from the Schaefer Center). Enter the Peacock Lot from the stoplight in front of the Schaefer Center entrance.
- The celebration will be live-streamed on the Hayes School of Music Performances page for those who cannot attend.
Commencement Ceremony (Hayes School of Music and Reich College of Education)
Friday, May 6, 8:45am, Holmes Convocation Center
- Visit appstate.edu/commencement for complete ceremony and parking information.
- No tickets are needed for Commencement.
- The Commencement ceremonies will be live-streamed on the main Commencement website.
- The ceremony will also include the presentation of the UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award to Dr. Reeves Shulstad (article here).
Appalachian Brass Ensemble
Hayes School of Music students will provide music for all Spring 2022 Commencement ceremonies at App State.
- Trumpet: Rachel Leonard, Tanner Morrison, Joshua Newman, Jackie Siverly
- Horn: Sean Andrade, Matthew Rebadow
- Trombone: Benjamin Sallard, Jason Wise, Matthew Wise
- Tuba: Christopher Moore
- Conductor: Dr. Jay Jackson
Commencement Music
- Pomp and Circumstance - Edward Elgar, arr. Roger Harvey
- The Star-Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key, arr. John Higgins
- Procession of the Scholars - William G. Harbinson (HSOM Faculty/Dean Emeritus)
2021-2022 HSOM Awards and Honors
Read about the student and faculty awardees from the Thirty-Second Annual Hayes School of Music Honors Seminar, including scholarship recipients! The Spring Honors Seminar was held on Friday, April 22, 2022.
Commencement Message from the Dean
As we end this academic year, I’m approaching the end of my fifth year as the Dean of the Hayes School of Music. The view from the office of the Dean is exciting and dramatic. We began the year concerned about COVID-19 with questions as to how we might engage in all of the activities that were so familiar to us before the pandemic. Additionally, we were excited to be back in our spaces, making music in larger groups, seeing new students and reacquainting ourselves with returning students, many of whom we had not met in person during the pandemic.
This year included many highlights and a list of them becomes easily overwhelming. Student performances, faculty performances, ensemble performances, an opera, and endowed scholarship recitals provided evidence that, while our students were impacted by the pandemic in many ways, their ability to make music continued to grow. Their passion for making music has exponentially increased, reinforcing our major objective: guiding students to transform their passion for music into a profession for life.
I’ve watched this year’s graduating class grow from first year students to graduating seniors. I met these students when they came for their audition. The view from the Dean’s office allows me to see the transformational experience unfold for the students. I also have the pleasure of observing a faculty that cares about each student, and a faculty that is fully engaged in sharing their passion for music with our students. I see a community of donors and supporters that enrich the educational opportunities we offer our students.
As we approach commencement, our students have exciting opportunities in front of them. Charles Dickens begins A Tale of Two Cities with the words, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” These past two years remind me of that phrase. However, from the Dean’s office, I see this past year as the “best of times”. As our students graduate and move on to many opportunities, I wish them the best. They have experienced some very significant challenges, but have come through making the “worst of times” the “best of times”. I’m excited to see where this class goes and how they use their careers to make the world a better place through the sharing of their music.
James Douthit, D.M.A.
Stay in touch with the Hayes School of Music!
- Subscribe to our email newsletter, Keeping Time with the Hayes School of Music, and share your own accomplishments to be published!
- Visit our Performances page to see a list of upcoming events and watch live-streamed concerts.
- Follow us on Facebook for concert announcements and more.
To new graduates of our degree programs and all graduates who have made music with us at App State, the Hayes School of Music sends wishes for a wonderful Commencement and a bright future. We are so proud of you and look forward to seeing you teaching in the classroom, practicing music therapy, performing in the concert hall, working in the music industry, and making an impact everywhere your passion for music may take you!
