Hayes School of Music

Stephen M. Hopkins was born and raised in Paris, TN.  In the third grade he began piano lessons which he continued through high school.  While in high school he participated in several choral ensembles and started playing trombone (the band director needed low brass players and the “B” band met at the same time as the World History class that he desperately wanted to get out of).  He also played keyboards in the jazz band.  In the eleventh grade he composed an original piece for band that was performed that year.

Originally thinking he would become an engineer, performing Mozart’s “Ave verum corpus” with a live orchestra at a choral festival in his junior year set him on the course to choose music as a profession.

He graduated with honors from Murray (KY) State University in 1979, earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree with a piano major and a voice minor.  At Murray he arranged music for several campus events and composed a three-movement piece performed by the Wind Ensemble.

For three years starting in the fall of 1979, he was the band and choral director at Peabody High School in Trenton, TN.  During his second year there he was assigned to be the band director at the middle school as well.

In the fall of 1982, he began his Master of Music in Choral Conducting degree at The University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1984.  He continued his studies in the Doctoral program for another year before moving to Wichita Falls, TX to become the choral director at Wichita Falls High School.

While at WFHS (1985-1989), his choirs consistently received superior ratings at Texas University Interscholastic League competitions and he had several students accepted into the Texas All-State Choir.

After another year at UT finishing up his doctoral course work, he was the Director of Choral Activities for two years at West Texas State University (now West Texas A & M) in Canyon, TX.  He finished his DMA degree in the spring of 1992 and then moved to Boone, NC, to begin his work as Director of Choral Activities at Appalachian State University.

At Appalachian he conducted the Chamber Singers and University Singers and taught choral conducting, choral techniques, and choral literature at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Choirs under his direction there performed at three Southern Region American Choral Directors Association conferences and one national ACDA conference.  Additionally, they performed frequently at North Carolina Music Educators Association conferences and provided promotional recordings for Hinshaw Music, Inc

In April of 2006, he received two university teaching awards.  He was designated the “Hayes School of Music Teacher of the Year,” an award voted on by the Dean’s Student Advisory Council. He was also chosen as one of seven faculty members honored with a University Award for Excellence in Teaching, a university-wide award chosen by the Faculty Awards Committee.

For almost thirty years he served as a faculty member for Cannon Music Camp and from 2001-2015 was Director of CMC.

In 1993 he initiated the annual Hayes School of Music Holiday Scholarship Concert.  For thirty years he was the concert coordinator and during his tenure in that position the concert raised over $300,000.00 for music student scholarships.

In 2023, after thirty-one years at Appalachian and forty years of teaching overall, Dr. Hopkins retired with a wonderful send off from his former App State students.  In retirement he is enjoying woodworking and not having the constant responsibility of choosing the next concert repertoire.

He is a lifetime member of the American Choral Directors Association and has contributed articles to the Choral Journal.  His compositions have been published by Hinshaw Music, Inc. and Carl Fischer and he is a frequent guest clinician and adjudicator.  

He has been married to Patrice since 1984 and they continue to live in Boone.  Their children Emily and Jonathan both live on the West Coast, so visits to see them may be more frequent now.