WALTER, LANA (b. 1948)

Lana Walter (b. Dec 22, 1948) is a native of Oregon and received her musical degrees at Williamette University (1967-1971) and the University of Oregon (M.A. in 1984). She has taught Elementary General Music and since 1984 is teaching voice and music theory at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon and directs the Umpqua Youth Choir which she founded. She is continually creating developmentally appropriate materials for her students in their music classes which mixes with many curriculum areas, eg. topics such as Artists, Castles, Geology, Rain Forests, Astronomy, Lighthouses, Crater Lake and Oceans. In the works are projects on Trees, Birds, and the Food Chain. In addition, she has developed a unique keyboard method to teach basic piano beyboard familiarity to primary age children.

 

At the same time, she loves to write for adults too. Having a degree in Music History, with an emphasis on early music, she finds herself often using musical forms and vocabulary which are drawn from prior style periods. That gives her a sense of historical connection which is important to her.

 

If you’ would ask Lana Walter why did you choose music for a career, she would reply, “"I didn’'t, music chose me.”" For her, being alive and making music are synonymous: she could no more stop doing music than she could stop eating. Since she grew up in a home where both of her parents were musicians and teachers, her life was full of curiosity, hunger for learning, appreciation for and involvement in the arts. She grew up with weekly trips to the library for books, attending concerts, receiving music and ballet lessons. Learning and teaching were mental habits she acquired early and are deeply ingrained in her—a basic part of her repertoire of human interaction. That is why she is a teacher.

 

Lana is passionate about music and is able to awaken passion in her students caring deeply about them, working with many who are underprivileged and come from families with low expectations and limited vision. She gives them a taste of excellence and a performing experience to which people respond, "“Wow, you were really GOOD!”" She helps them discover things about themselves that they didn’t know before and then they reach a little farther the next time.

 

Lana Walter firmly believes that we are all creative and that creativity happens in the part of us that’s deep inside where the playful, sensitive, and vulnerable little child lives. Creating something gives everybody out there a very personal glimpse of ourselves, but it is a skill which takes practice to do well. She has learned that if children have creativity going on around them, they begin to assume that they can be creative too, and so they are.

 

The compositions of Lana Walter never patronize and underestimate the mind and capability of young students. Believing that they deserve the best, her music challenges and stretches their potential.