GREELEY

Composer: Roy Hopp

Roy Hopp (b. 1951) is the Director of Music at Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, MI and Adjunct Professor of Choral Music at Calvin Theological Seminary, where he directs the Calvin Theological Seminary Choir. Hopp graduated from Calvin College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and from Michigan State University with a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting. He did further studies in church music and composition with Richard Hillert at Concordia University in River Forest, IL. He has served as a Director of Music in churches in West Michigan and Colorado for the past twenty years. His choral compositions have appeared in the catalogues of AugsburgFortress, earthsongs, GIA Publications, Inc., Kjos, Morni… Go to person page >

GREELEY, composed by Roy Hopp (PHH 11) in 1984 for the Psalter Hymnal, was first sung on tour by the Dordt College Concert Choir on March 31, 1985. Hopp named the tune after Greeley, Colorado, where his wife studied for a time. A classically designed tune (in which lines 1, 2, and 4 are similar and line 3 provides a suitable contrast), GREELEY is in the Aeolian mode and is well harmonized for part singing.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook