Claude L. Bass

Claude L. Bass is a native Texan. He was born in Gainesville in 1935. He graduated from high school in Midwest City, Oklahoma and attended Oklahoma Baptist University, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Education in 1957. He taught high school choral music in Syracuse, Kansas, Coffeyville, Kansas, and Borger, Texas. He received his master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1960. He taught for twelve years at Oklahoma Baptist University as Professor of Music Theory and Composition. He received the Ph.D in Music Theory from the University of North Texas in 1972. In 1977 he began a twenty-four-year stint as Chairman of Music Theory and Composition at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He retired from SWBTS in 2001 and currently resides in Fort Worth.

C. L.’s hobbies include genealogy, travel, photography, gardening, and reading. He has remained active as a singer, composer/arranger, accompanist, and orchestrator. For YouthCue he has orchestrated over 100 anthems. He has over 200 works published works, including three cantatas and one book on sight-reading music. He has written three dramatic works on biblical themes.

C. L. and his wife, Charlene, recently celebrated their sixty-first anniversary. They have three adult children, Paul, David, and Carrie. They have two grandchildren, Erika and Hayden, and one great-grandson, Hollis.