2012 Dates
Saturday, June 9, 2012 – Sunday, June 17, 2012
Smith College
Northampton, Massachusetts
The Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) offers training and development opportunities for the well-rounded musician (ages 18+).
At the Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR), participants take classes (including courses in The Walden School Musicianship Course), sing in chorus, write music, and improvise. Participants are exposed to a variety of Walden musicianship materials, including acoustics, drills with intervals and triads, resolving structures, rhythms, solfège and harmonic analysis. Classes also include topics in contemporary music and computer music. Composition lessons and master classes are offered.
The faculty for the Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) are drawn from veteran faculty of Walden’s renowned Young Musicians Program and Teacher Training Institute. They have all had extensive training through Walden’s Teacher Training Institute and are a diverse mix of improvisers, composers, performers and music scholars. All are acclaimed members of The Walden School faculty.
Members of a world-class performance ensemble are in residence at the Creative Musicians Retreat. A concert, open to the public, brings exciting new music to participants’ and other audience members’ ears, and participants have the opportunity to write for and work with the ensemble. Everyone participates in two Composers Forums, where participants have the opportunity to hear each other’s brand-new music and discuss it with the performers, composers, visiting artists, faculty and the Retreat’s Composer-in-Residence.
The Creative Musicians Retreat offers something for anyone wanting to invigorate their musical training, participate in a rich and diverse musical community, and to engage in creative music making, through musicianship, composition, improvisation, choral singing, computer musicianship and more. The program is not designed for the brand-new, novice musician, but it is also not designed exclusively for those with extensive training. The faculty and administration offer a program appealing and worthwhile to a range of participants, across a variety of age groups, skill levels, and interests.
The Retreat offers more than just training. It will reinvigorate its participants on an academic and musical level, as well as invite them to connect with a unique creative community. It provides the opportunity for an exploration of oneself and of music. Each participant will form meaningful musical and personal connections with others and with his/her own creative identity.
