2013 Top-Rated Nonprofit

The Walden School

2,285 Pageviews Read Stories

 

 

Add to Favorites

Share this Nonprofit

Donate

Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Adult Education, Arts & Culture, Arts Education, Education, Music, Performing Arts Schools

Mission: Mission: The Walden School is an educational program that employs a unique, music-based method to foster creative thinking, problem solving, and risk-taking in young people. Through the exploration of music as a language, the Walden School inspires students to develop a personal, creative voice within the context of an intellectual and artistic community. The Walden School seeks to encourage broad thinking and active listening, teach delivery and acceptance of constructive criticism, plant the seeds of wisdom, and nurture a life-long commitment to creative expression, all resulting in the development of individuals who are capable of effecting positive change in the world around them.

Community Stories

2 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

annedeane Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

11/28/2017

A few days ago I stumbled across an old manuscript book hidden in my piano music. Inside I found my very first pieces. I sketched these notes during an orchestration class at Walden, it was my first summer (1976). My young teacher thoughtfully introduced each instrument through live demonstrations by expert faculty or by recordings while sharing the notation for the various sounds each instrument could make. At the end of our first week, to my surprise, she gave us an assignment to write a melody for violin. 40 years later, a PhD in composition with more than 75 international performances (including Carnegie Hall), I spend each day creating my own NASA award winning overnight camp - a place and community which strives to mimic many of the best parts of Walden - the perfect combination of Innovation as inspiration, excellent food, plenty of hikes, swimming and the opportunity to build life-long friends. Walden's amazing legacy reveals itself in the experience of my students as well as its own students.

Review from Guidestar

1

sdrpolyphony Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 5

10/29/2013

I have worked at The Walden School for three years, and every summer has filled me with inspiration. While many other music camps involve competing for orchestra seats or winning awards, Walden is about opening your eyes to what music is and can be about. Students applaud each other's first compositions, sing rounds on the top of mountains, dress up in costumes to demonstrate musicianship drills in an entertaining way, share original songs, and learn how to listen to the sounds in their environment. They collaborate in chorus, play and sing each other's music, and turn everything into musical instruments. There is no other place like it!

Need help?