Hayes School of Music

Bill McCloud (January 25, 1933 September 7, 2002) was born in Johnson County, Ky., to the late May Conley and Luther McCloud. A lifelong learner he graduated with numerous undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education, psychology, and early childhood education.

Before coming to North Carolina, McCloud taught in the public schools of Alabama and Kentucky. He served as a music supervisor in Birmingham, Ala.; as a bandsman and organist while he was in the United States military; as a high school band director in Jenkins, Ky.; and as a director of music at Pike County elementary and high school.

McCloud started teaching at the college level in 1959, with tenures at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and at Pikeville College in Pikeville, Ky. In 1979, McCloud accepted a position at Appalachian State University as an associate professor, teaching in the areas of music education and theory.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities during his tenure at Appalachian State, McCloud served as advisor to the Collegiate Music Educators of North Carolina, Chapter No. 110. He also served as a director of Cannon Music Camp and as the liaison, during summers, with other music camps, such as the North Carolina Choral Institute, the Dulcimer Workshop, and the Silver Burdett Music Workshop. In 1981, McCloud was appointed chair of the Department of Music. While serving as department chair, he led the Appalachian State Department of Music through the process of becoming a School of Music and he became the acting dean of the school, serving in this capacity until the spring of 1989. McCloud achieved full professor status as well.

Throughout his career, McCloud led the way through professional service. While in Kentucky, he served as eastern Kentucky's district president, festival manager, and state student advisor; he was also president of the Kentucky Music Educators Association from 1977 to 1979. While he was president of' the Kentucky Music Educators Association, McCloud got Governor Julie Carroll to declare a proclamation for Music in Our Schools Week. He served as Southern Division MENC Collegiate Advisor for two terms.

While in North Carolina, McCloud became the Southern Division MENC Collegiate Advisor in 1984 and the state Collegiate Advisor in 1988, serving in the state capacity until 2000. In 1994, he was awarded the first North Carolina Music Advocate Award by the North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA). Among the citations of that award, McCloud was recognized for convincing the State Department of' Public Instruction to consistently approve the North Carolina Music Educators Association InService Conference for staff development certification credit, and he led the Collegiate Section of NCMEA and MENC, as well as the Appalachian State University Collegiate Chapter, to new heights of service; he also organized and implemented the North Carolina Early Childhood PreConference Workshop for North Carolina music teachers, served as clinician for numerous Music Educators Association conferences, acted as mentor to vast numbers of music educators throughout the United States, and was president of the Southern Division Music Educators of North Carolina from l990 to 1992. McCloud served on many national committees of Music Educators of North Carolina. During recent years, he had worked as one of the program authors for The Music Connection, the textbook series from Silver Burdett Ginn Publishing Company. Over the years he received numerous awards and honors recognizing his lifelong dedication to music education.

McCloud retired from Appalachian State in 2001 and was awarded professor emeritus status shortly thereafter.

On the day of McCloud's funeral, Kathy Petot, an old friend, arrived early for the service and she felt that the sounds coming from the chapel could easily have replicated the sounds from any class the beloved music teacher ever taught: "In one corner of the room, a woman was tuning a harp, beside Bill's casket, a little boy was playing the piano. That was exactly as it should be at his funeral. He was always looking for ways to involve young people in music because it opens up a new world to them, and it's a lifelong gift they can share."

Source: Appalachian State University files, and personal correspondence
-Dr. Kay R. Dickson