The Walden School is a private summer music program situated on the campus of the Dublin School, New Hampshire, USA. It is a five-week residential program which hosts approximately 45 students aged 10-18 and focuses on developing musicianship through composition, improvisation and choral training. The Walden School is widely known among its alumni and current students for its spiritual nature and is considered by many who are aquatinted with the program to be a fantastic opportunity for young composers to mature as musicians.
History
The Walden School was founded in 1972 by David Hogan, Pamela Layman Quist, and Lynn Taylor Hebden following the death of Grace Newsom Cushman, the founder of the Junior Conservatory Camp. The JCC was founded in the 1940s in Baltimore, Maryland and is widely considered the predecessor camp of The Walden School. Many of the traditions and philosophies that embody The Walden School program are thought to have originated during the Junior Conservatory years.
Methodology
Traditional Practices
The Walden School community participates in a variety of traditional practices.
Goodnight Music
The tradition of Goodnight Music is considered the most treasured of these. In this ritual, the entire Walden community, which comprises of faculy, staff, students, guest artists, and other visitors, gathers together in an elliptical embrace and sings the song "Goodnight Music", a lullaby composed by former Junior Conservatory student Sherry Flemming in the 1940's. One (occasionally two) member of the community plays an accompaniment and improvised introduction and conclusion on the piano.
Blessings
Saturday Hikes
Past Directors
- Seth Brenzel 2004-present
- Patricia Plude 1996-2003
- Stephen Coxe 1994-1995
- Pamela Layman Quist 1972-1993
Past Walden Directors
* 2004- Seth Brenzel * 1996-2003 Patricia Plude * 1994-1996 Stephen Coxe * 1972-1993 Pamela Layman Quist