His father, who worked for the Bell Telephone Company, resettled the family in Gregory, South Dakota.
His talent was first discovered at age fifteen when he was chosen as one of the five best pianists in America at a national competition in Marion, Indiana.
As a candidate for the PhD in musicology, his absorption of music of the past provided a historical base of knowledge that framed his compositional perspective.
In the mid 1960s, Binkerd entered into a contract for the publication of all his music with the New York publishing house Boosey & Hawkes.
[3] As a blooming composer Binkerd was the first professor at the University of Illinois to become a member of its Center for Advanced Study in 1959, only having entered as a regular teacher in 1949.
Dakota Wesleyan University honored Binkerd as Alumnus of the Year in 1987 and awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts in 1996.