2018 Drum Set Clinic
Adam Hopper (b.1985) is an active percussion educator, composer, and performer in southern Kentucky. He is currently the director of percussion at Southwestern High School, and the director of bands at Southern Middle School in Somerset, Kentucky.
Mr. Hopper is involved in many aspects of the percussion landscape. An active performer and clinician. He has recently performed with Sacred Winds, The Orquesta Sinfonica Cristiana de El Salvador, Christine Anderson, The Almeida Duo, The Country Gentlemen Jazz Band, and serves as the principal percussionist in Somerset Big Band. He has presented clinics at a variety of schools and universities in the United States, El Salvador, and Brazil. Mr. Hopper is also an active composer and arranger, having written for and taught various groups at the middle, high school and university levels in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. Mr. Hopper’s compositions “Right Track”,“Ghost Garden”, “Bolado” and “You Can’t Get There From Here,” as well as his collection of snare drum solos, “Five on 5” are published through C. Alan Publications. In 2015, Mr. Hopper was named the the winner of the Heartland Marimba Festival’s Young Composer Competition for his piece “Island Market.” In 2016, Mr. Hopper completed a consortium series of marimba solos and quartets for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro entitled “The Bridge. Mr. Hopper also runs his own publishing company, Hopper Percussion, which specializes in custom arranged percussion works and commissions.
Since taking the position at Southwestern High School in 2009, Mr. Hopper’s groups have consistently earned proficient and distinguished ratings at festivals and competitions across the state and region. Mr. Hopper directs the award winning Indoor Drumline, Percussion Ensemble, and Batucada Brazilian Ensemble as well as overseeing the marching and symphonic percussion sections. Mr. Hopper’s groups have performed with touring productions of “The Music Man,” the Campbellsville University Steel Band, the Elk Grove Percussion Festival in Chicago, Illinois; The Lassiter Percussion Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia; The KASA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky; the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina; the 2017 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana; and a variety of other performances around the region.
Mr. Hopper holds a Bachelor’s in Music Education as well as a Master’s in Percussion Performance from Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky. He has professional affiliations with the Kentucky Music Educators Association, and the Percussive Arts Society. Mr. Hopper is a proud endorser of Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Beetle practice pads, and Meinl Cymbals. He currently resides in Somerset, Kentucky with his wife Sarah and their cats Bossa and Thelonious.