Young Musicians Program

2008 Dates

Saturday, June 28, 2008 - Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Community

Late on a July afternoon a group of teenagers lounges under a stately beech tree on the campus green at the Dublin School. One strums a guitar while another hunts out notes on a penny whistle. A third drums a rhythm on a nearby rock and a few others, scribbling away in their notebooks, join in with intermittent vocal harmonies. Across the grass a few younger boys toss a Frisbee, leaping and diving as the disc arcs through the cloudless blue sky.

The Walden School Young Musicians Program provides an unparalleled creative summer experience for musically inclined students ages 9 to 18. Part school, part camp, and part festival, the program convenes each summer for five weeks in Dublin, NH. Through rigorous and innovative daily instruction, students hone their musical and creative skills within a supportive community of like-minded peers and mentors.

The recital hall booms with applause and cheers of approval as a girl takes a bow after the performance of the string quartet she’s crafted all summer. She beams at the crowd and thanks the performers who made her music come to life. Stepping off of the stage, she sits down in the “hot seat” to take comments from the audience. She is proud and radiant, with a newfound confidence in her creative abilities.

Learning at Walden is grounded in the school’s unique musicianship course, which utilizes improvisation and composition as the major tools for musical growth. Students take courses covering a wide range of musical subjects, including theory, composition, literature, computer music, and chorus. By the end of the summer, each student has completed at least one compositional work to be performed and critiqued by guest artists, faculty members, and fellow students.

On the way up the mountain, the chatter ranges from cars to pop music to AP college courses. Two seventeen year-old boys chronicle the highlights of the previous year’s high school soccer championship while a couple of girls notice a passing pair of squawking ravens. At the summit, the group sprawls across the rocks, munching their bag lunches and soaking up the sun. Before long, the singing begins. A glorious chorus of 50 young voices fills the mountain air, beckoning other hikers to gather round and listen.

To compliment the challenging musical curriculum and to help build a cohesive community, Walden strives to engage students in extra-musical activities throughout the session. Mountain hikes, swim trips, shopping excursions, recreational sports, dances, and open mike nights encourage students, faculty, and staff to relax and enjoy the company of one another. Community-building also occurs in the dorms, where faculty and staff live among the students, and at mealtimes, when the entire community gathers together in the dining hall for exceptionally prepared food.

As the family car pulls away from the Dublin School on the last day of camp, the boy in the backseat says to his parents, “Well, I guess it’s time to start counting the days until Walden again.” He’s not joking- at home he keeps a special calendar to mark off the days until next summer’s session begins. Although he is sad to be leaving, he knows when he returns next June he will be reunited with some of his very best friends. He also knows that there will be new people to meet as well, people who love music and who have a deep inner need to express themselves creatively, just like him.

Copyright 2007-2008, The Walden School, All Rights Reserved.