This unique and concentrated Course has evolved for more than half a century from its initial creation by one forward-thinking master teacher in rural Vermont. Grace Newsom Cushman dreamed a bold dream of teaching music in a whole new way... of teaching the beauty and creation of music to young people who have an eagerness to express themselves. She dreamed of sweeping away the dry dust of "paper" learning and replacing it with a buzzing, singing, active classroom vibrating with sound -- an environment that demanded total rigorous participation of all who entered whether adolescent or graduate student. Grace Cushman dreamed of lifting the language of music off the written page and into the minds and hearts of her students. To that desired end this Manual is dedicated.

"Walden School's exciting and natural approach to developing comprehensive musicianship is very effective in preparing prospective music majors for concentrated study at the college level in any musical idiom and area of specialization--from Euro-centric tonality to jazz and post-tonality. As well, its curriculum is flexible and can be adapted to the needs of a two or four semester college theory program."
--Thomas L. Read, composer and violinist, Professor of Music, University of Vermont

The collaborating authors, all of them long-time faculty members of The Walden School, are established teachers, composers, and performers. The experience of working together side-by-side at The Walden School has provided an opportunity for teamwork evident in the high degree of continuity throughout this book. Individual areas of expertise are reflected in each chapter while the text never loses the central thread of a logical step-by-step progression through this valuable Course.

"Walden's discovery-based curriculum gives students ownership of the fundamental materials of music. The Walden School Musicianship Course: A Manual for Teachers outlines activities for teachers to use that reinforce important concepts while allowing students to have fun learning musicianship skills. This material can be adapted to work for students in any grade, and any level of musicianship."
--Ben Aldridge, Middle School Music Teacher, Briscoe Middle School, Beverly MA

The Walden School Musicianship Course: A Manual for Teachers is adaptable to a variety of uses. An array of sequentially organized drills make the book an attractive resource for teachers, accommodating beginning students with some drills and challenging the most advanced students with others.

Any single chapter may serve as the basis for a self-contained course, but the greatest strength of The Walden School Musicianship Course is found in the cumulative skills and musical understanding attained by moving sequentially through the material. Each level of the Course is plausibly developed from the foundation established in preceding chapters.

Structure and Content:

The ten chapters of the Manual usher the reader through the entire Walden Musicianship Course beginning with the physical and philosophical foundations out of which a unique approach to intervals and triads is discovered. There follows a study of voice leading patterns that connect chords as they relate within cycles of thirds and fifths (regarded as two thirds) and by seconds (regarded as three thirds).

The Pentatonic modal system is the basis of an entire chapter giving rise to a myriad of ear-training drills and melodic creative projects. An appendix offering melodies for study supplements this chapter, and skills such as transposition, melodic analysis, and melodic dictation are emphasized.

The next chapter presents the Dorian modal system in a comprehensive manner including a traditional view of Gregorian modes and a more contemporary look at the system of scales that grew from those modes. The special characteristics of each mode are explored and that knowledge is applied during improvisation and composition exercises. Modal harmonies derived from the scales of the Dorian system provide the basis of the chapter that follows. With frequent references to Renaissance treatment of these resources, the author shows how to employ these harmonies in the development of harmonic dictation skills.

Two subsequent chapters invite the reader to join the authors on a journey through Functional harmony of the common-practice period in an entirely novel way. Acquiring fluency with the harmonic structures whose voice-leadings and resolutions define major and minor keys is the goal of this section, and the text is an extensive resource for drills and activities aimed at that goal.

Computer Music and its creative potential are addressed in the final full chapter of the Manual. This material written by an expert in the field of computer music education and composition encourages an intersection of the Walden Musicianship concepts with the current technology available to composers of the 21st century.

The fascinating and very useful conclusion of A Manual for Teachers discusses the creative aspects of The Walden Musicianship Course as a whole. Highlighting the many resources for improvisation and composition, the author offers guidance for integrating these creative activities into lessons at each level.

Contributing Authors:
• Dr. Nansi Carroll
• Dr. Stephen Coxe Carol
• Carol Thomas Downing
• David Hogan
• Dr. Tom Lopez
• Dr. Paul Nauert, Editor
• Patricia Plude
• Dr. Carol Prochazka
• Dr. Pamela Layman Quist
• Leo Wanenchak

The contributing authors of A Manual for Teachers have over 200 years of combined teaching experience. Of the thousands of students who have passed through their classrooms and studios, many are now successful musicians both professional and amateur.

Those who have been touched by The Walden School Musicianship Course are now composers, conductors, performers and teachers; some are working on Wall Street, some are helping to create animated films, some work in the judicial system, and some heal others in hospitals and emergency rooms. What all these people share is a deeply rooted and well-trained love for music and what it adds to their lives and contributes to our world.

"I can say without reservation that my Walden experience turned out to rank among the top artistic and personal experiences I have had in my entire career... I have come away not only impressed but inspired, not only fulfilled but committed."
--James Mobberley, Curators' Professor of Music UMKC Conservatory of Music, Kansas City

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