In an electronic publication, Stroope states that even though he had dabbled in composition since the age of ten, it was not until he wrote The Cloths of Heaven, and Inscription of Hope, that he began to gain recognition.
Cecil Effinger and Normand Lockwood, mentors of Stroope, are well-respected American composers.
Nadia Boulanger, became one of the most influential music theory teachers of the twentieth century, one of her first pupils being American composer Aaron Copland.
Stroope credits Boulanger for his mentors' support of his creativity saying, “Efficiency of writing would be the main thing I took from my studies with Effinger.
It wasn’t a cookie cutter approach to composition.” Morten Lauridsen, a colleague and friend of Stroope, is the professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and has been for more than thirty years.
Lauridsen, composer of works such as O magnum mysterium, Sure on this Shining Night, and Les Chansons des Roses, was named "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts.