In the Spotlight: Dede Ondishko
In the Spotlight
Dede Ondishko
How and when did your relationship with Walden begin?
I was a piano student at Peabody Conservatory Preparatory Department. Peabody required all private students to take music theory, but somehow I was enrolled in both theory and musicianship. I really loved musicianship. Cindy Brackbill was my teacher, and she told me about Walden. My parents got really excited about it, because I was something of a wayward child, so they hoped it would reform me. And it did. In fact, it transformed me. I was a C-student before Walden. I didn’t care about school or improving myself. But then I went to Walden, and I’ve been an A-student and an overachiever ever since! It was like I found the “on” button. I became an engaged person because of my first year experience at Walden.
What has been your involvement with Walden since then?
Today some of my best friends are kids and colleagues I went to camp with. I began as a student in 1974 at age 14 and was a student for four summers. I was on staff for one summer. I was on faculty for seven summers, and I also served a term on the Board of Directors 1998-2004. When I was on faculty, my stepdaughter, Danielle, was 12 and came for the shorter program, and she was hooked! She went every year that she could, then she served on faculty, and now she has joined the Board. As a music teacher I’ve sent my students to Walden. I’m also a contributor, and I’ve held concerts to raise scholarship money for YMP students. I was only able to go to Walden on scholarship, so I really want to thank and repay the people who gave to scholarships and basically paid for me to attend Walden. Walden is family. Like Lynn Hebden said, “You take Walden with you wherever you go.” You never really leave.
Could you describe a favorite Walden memory?
A few years ago, I was interviewed as part of a Teacher of the Year award, and they asked about my favorite teacher, and my answer was David Hogan (we called him Hoagie). I was in my early fifties, but I started choking up right there in the interview, describing how much he gave me as a student. He showed me what I could do! He gave me opportunities no one had ever given me. He was the first teacher who saw what I could do, stood by my side and waited for me. He lit a fire in me!
Another example of that was Saturday hiking at Walden. I was a bit of a laggard, so I was in the last group, which basically went at Sunday-stroll pace-no one really even expected us to make it to the top! I was having fun, but I went to Jeff Hebden, who was on staff as activities director, and I asked if I could move to Group I, the group that was practically running up the mountain. He looked it at me the same way Hoagie looked at me and said, “You want to do it? Okay, go for it!” That Saturday, I hiked in Group I, and I was the first one to the top. This is something I didn’t know I could do, but they believed in me.
I also loved listening to music in a new way. After Goodnight Music, a group of us would go to the listening library, turn off the lights, lie on the floor, and put our heads together like we were spokes of a wheel, and just listen. It was amazing to have this music listening hour with just us kids. We wanted to share the music we liked, and we were expanding each other’s ears. That music sunk in on a level that transformed me, on a cellular level. Having that musical communing with kids my own age was transformative. That’s when I heard Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht for the first time. I think I’ve spent my whole life trying to rewrite and recapture that piece!
How are music and creativity part of your life now?
I went to Eastman for graduate school, and I majored in Music Composition, specializing in Computer Music. After I graduated, I ended up going into computer network engineering, which I was able to do because of my computer music training. But sadly, I stopped playing or writing music! Kyle Horch, a saxophone performer in London who commissioned a series of pieces from me, single-handedly kept me writing. Later, after 12 years of working in computer networking, I realized there wasn’t enough music in my life, so I applied for a job as a public school music teacher, even though it meant going back to school to get licensed. At age 39, I went into teaching music full time, until my husband and I decided to retire. Now I perform all the time as concert pianist and accompanist, as a symphony violist, and I sing in a vocal jazz group. I’m very active as a musician. I recently started writing symphonies-I just finished my third. And I hope to get them performed. I love creating music. Kurt Vonnegut said, “Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow,” and I keep that quote above my workstation.
What is a non-musical hobby you love?
Music is intangible, you can’t touch it or hold onto or see what you’ve accomplished so to counter that I’ve picked up some great concrete hobbies. I make paper cards and send notes to my family and friends. I sew. I garden. I play tennis and go biking and do lots of hiking. I just love hiking.
What advice would you give to an earlier-career musician as they are setting out along their path?
If you have the chance to take a music marketing or business class, do not miss out! Learn about promotion, marketing and production, learn how to send out scores and cover letters to perfect strangers. Pay attention, get informed, and reach out for guidance.
You have to feed your artistic spirit. As Vonnegut says, you’ve got to keep creating! Be careful of the gap of what you are doing and what you can imagine, or what you hear other people are doing. We’re at a time when the best artists in the world are so easily accessible, so we can see world class musicians at any time. That can be discouraging! So I’ve learned to say to myself, “I know I’m not there yet, but I have the potential.” I know that because my Walden teachers believed and told me so. As Ira Glass says, “Don’t let the gap get you down!” Even though that gap is always there, you can strive and be happy with those moments when the gap shrinks a little bit. You’ve just got to go for it!
About: Denise Ondishko, Ph.D., is a composer, performer, and educator. Her works cover a wide, eclectic range of genres, including solo piano, solo violin, wind ensemble, orchestra, saxophone and piano, chamber ballet, children’s theatre, elementary school band, and a number of works for live instrument and computer-synthesized tape. Dede won the Northern California Viola Society’s 2018-2019 Composer Competition for her piece, Out of Mud.
Dede is active as a performer and collaborator. She studied at Carnegie Mellon University and the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers included Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Barbara Kolb, David Hogan, and Leonardo Balada. She has done extensive research into the work of computer music pioneer Paul Lansky, a member of Walden’s Advisory Council. She has taught composition at The Walden School and Oberlin Conservatory. In addition to her compositional work and research she has also developed a parallel career as an information technology management specialist.
In the Spotlight: Nnenna Ogwo
In the Spotlight
Nnenna Ogwo
We are so grateful to our donors and the vital support they provide. Your generosity inspires us and ensures generations of musicians find a creative home and lifelong friends at Walden. Whether you are a member of our alumni community, a parent, a visiting artist, a faculty, staff, or Board member, or simply a friend who believes in our mission, thank you.
As we celebrate our donors, we asked Nnenna Ogwo to share with us some of what Walden means to her. Nnenna attended the Young Musicians Program for six summers, was a faculty member and visiting artist, served on Walden’s Board of Directors, and most recently returned to Walden as a Creative Musicians Retreat, and performed at Walden’s 2018 Alumni Reunion.
How and when did your relationship with Walden begin?
I was a student at Peabody Preparatory, and Lynn Taylor Hebden was the director of the Preparatory Department there. She was the one who had made it possible for me to attend Peabody, through scholarships and whatnot. She got talking to my mother, and suggested Walden. I spent six summers at the Young Musicians Program, 1982-1987. Once I got to Walden, it was significant because I had been on a very serious piano track, and so should have been at a more piano-focused camp such as Interlochen, but it wasn’t until my last year of high school that I did that. Walden didn’t take me away from piano, because I still went to Oberlin and majored in piano, got my masters in piano. But I’ve always had an inquisitive mind and been stimulated by different types of learning. That holistic approach to music, even if I wouldn’t have called it that then, was clearly something I was thirsty for. I was a kid who really liked to be challenged, so I loved finding out how music was built, and creating it myself. I had often been in conflict with my piano teacher because I didn’t like to practice the same things, until the summer at Walden I took Pam Quist’s class on Renaissance counterpoint, and after that, I came back from Walden, and my teacher was blown away. She said “This is what happens at Walden? You can go then.” Because normally a teacher won’t have the time to get a student to understand counterpoint.
What has been your involvement with Walden since then?
I was on faculty. I joined the Board while I was still in grad school. I’ve sent students, and I went to the Creative Musicians Retreat in 2014. In July I attended the reunion and performed on the alumni concert. I remember being part of Board conversations, and I was in the board room when we were saying “Why can’t there be a Walden for adults?” so it was amazing to be at CMR as a participant.
What is your favorite Walden memory?
I have to really think about this, because there are so many great Walden memories. My last summer there, I think the guest artist was the New England Brass Quintet. I wasn’t normally down to the wire with scores, but I had worked a lot on the first movement, still had a lot to do, and they were going to be reading my score the next day. That was also the year the older girls were living in the attic floor of the Main House. There were five of us, Kate Hollander, Sarah Brown, Leila Ellis, Rachel Burdick, and me, and we had all known each other a long time. We were realizing that we had all come to Walden at 11 or 12, and we’d heard these amazing pieces and thought we could never write like that, and suddenly here we were writing on that level. It was a really dark and stormy night, and we pulled all our desks into the main foyer, put our desks together, and kept each other company as we did our work. I’d never had that before, people working together like that. If someone finished early, they might take a nap and then they’d come back and help us copy parts. It was really stormy, thunder and lightning, and the lights went out. We were wondering what we would do, and then Lynn Taylor Hebden (aka Mrs. H) came up with a plate of snacks and candles and we got back to it. Most of us were up most of the night. And that moment bonded us. I’m sure we all remember it. My piece that year won an MTNA award and was a runner-up for a national award, but whenever it was acknowledged, I’d think “This was really a team effort.” It takes a village. It was the first time I ever experienced that sort of communal support. It was extraordinary.
Why do you give to Walden?
I was the recipient of scholarships that made it possible for me to experience something musically transformative in the summer. Everything that I contribute to Walden, whether by sending students, giving concerts, past service on the Board or donating is simply about helping to realize that possibility for others.
When you graduate college and get your first real job, your first paycheck, there are all these little indicators that you’re an adult. I sat down with my mom to talk about financial planning, and she said ‘I know you’re not making a lot, but you need to calculate how you want to give.’ And I said, “I’m giving to Walden.” You give to what has impacted you, because you have an intimacy with certain issues. People don’t make consistent gifts to things they’re not deeply emotionally connected to. My time at Walden included some of the most transformative musical experiences I’ve ever had. Because of that, Walden will always be on my list for giving.
Tell us about the roles music and creativity play in your life now.
I’m still a pianist and a teacher, I make my living that way. I started taking jazz piano lessons recently. I realized and had to laugh that I know a lot, but a lot of it is frozen on paper. That often happens with classically trained musicians. Jazz forces you to have working harmonic knowledge in real time. Walden teaches that, even if they don’t put it quite that way, and it’s one of the few places that does. It’s not tied only to jazz. I feel like a real student again, my brain freezes, and it’s funny. Once we’re teaching, we forget, we start to take knowledge for granted where it doesn’t exist yet. It’s good to be reminded how bewildering things were at age 11. In piano, I like to boldly try new things. I’m a pretty good improviser, but then because I’m highly technically trained, I can be very facile, watch my fingers fly and think, ah, that’s what all that training was for.
What would you want to tell a first-time Walden student before they arrive at camp?
I don’t think I would have anything to say. When I send my students, I tell them things to pack on a very pragmatic level. But students normally decide to go because they’ve heard my story. Students get anxious about “Will there be people who look like me? Will I fit in?” and they’ve heard music coming out of Walden and they’re intimidated. But I tell the story of feeling those things, of finding my place, of making lifelong friends.
It’s built into the ethos of the institution—good, decent-hearted people who are also very interesting and creative people. That checks a lot of boxes for who you want to surround yourself with for your life in general. So I just tell students, you will meet some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet. You will grow in ways you couldn’t have imagined, no matter what people have told you, and your experience will be uniquely your own. You will grow and thrive in ways you can’t elsewhere, you can’t in a year-round school, no matter how good a school you attend. Go forth with an open heart, and see what happens.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Walden Celebrates in D.C.
On the evening of February 10, 2018, more than 50 guests visited the Arts Club of Washington to share a few hours of refreshments, friends, and music together.
The evening was part celebration of the time and effort our board members devote to Walden and part raising Walden awareness in Washington. Walden alumnus Mackenzie Melemed played an outstanding set of piano music, adding an exclamation point to a wonderful evening with selections from Bach, Medtner, and Dorman.
Our gathering of new and longtime Walden friends contributed more than $4,500 to Walden’s summer programs, making the evening a huge success! We want to extend special thanks again to Mark W. Ohnmacht of the Arts Club, Mackenzie for his wonderful artistry, and to members of the event host committee, for all that they did to make the evening a wonderful celebration of Walden.
Sasha - Young Musicians Program
On September 20th, Sasha received a text on the year-round Walden group chat. It read: “Only 40 weeks, 00 days, 19 hours, and 22 minutes ‘till Walden 2018 begins!”
Her brain was on fire, because she did not feel so far away from the place she loves most. Sasha began her time at Walden at age 10. She remembers knowing, from her first hug by a faculty member she had just met and a roommate who welcomed her from the start, that Walden was special. She was surprised and encouraged to find that people reached out to her, wanting to discover more about her talents and her personality. She believes part of Walden’s sense of community comes from everyone learning to reach out to those around them and discover what makes them special. It made her want to learn about others and celebrate the diversity of her peers.
The first time Sasha sang Goodnight Music, she felt she would never forget the people at Walden. Everyone came together to commemorate the events of the day and the progress made as individuals and as a group. People come to Walden expecting a typical camp, but Walden helps people get comfortable being themselves in a community. For Sasha, Walden helped her learn to trust herself more and to be more assertive in school, with friends, and as a composer.
In 2016, Sasha wrote a festival piece at Walden that helped her discover, for the first time, her personal style.
It was a piece about dreams. The feedback and acceptance by her peers and mentors at Walden was life-changing. Hearing other people her age affirm her music inspired her to continue writing music. She now attempts to think about relationships and emotion with every piece she composes. She attributes this important aspect of her life to the community of Walden, and she thinks about it every day.
Sky - Teacher Training Institute
I first learned about Walden when I was an undergraduate music composition major at Luther College.
My composition professor Brooke Joyce, who was an amazing teacher and mentor, had taught at Walden in the past and Walden’s musicianship pedagogy infused his teaching. Brooke encouraged me to attend Walden’s Teacher Training Institute and I went in 2009 (the summer between my junior and senior year). There, I immediately experienced the magic of Walden and was supported and challenged, learning how to teach the Walden musicianship course while improving my own musicianship and stimulating my compositional creativity. I was hooked. Thanks to my training at Walden, I was hired as a music theory and ear-training tutor at Luther during my senior year and I thus began my work as a practitioner of creative musicianship and composition pedagogy.
The summer after I graduated from college (2010) was my first summer as a faculty member at Walden’s Young Musicians Program, and I have been on faculty every summer since. I feel truly privileged to be able to spend my summers enmeshed in the caring, positive, and brilliant Walden community. It feeds my soul to see the positive impact that Walden has on students’ artistic, intellectual, social, and emotional development, and I am extremely proud of the high level of music that we create each and every summer. I met my husband at Walden; it is the kind of place where we could quickly see and fall in love with each others’ best selves.
I certainly would not be where I am today professionally if not for Walden.
My first ‘big’ commission, an orchestra piece for the Lexington Symphony, came through my involvement with Walden. This piece helped me gain admission into the DMA program at Columbia University, which has given me the financial support to study music, hone my craft, and build my career in New York City for the past four years. When I first moved to New York, I already knew many of the stars of the contemporary music scene from our interactions at Walden. I have had many collaborations and projects that blossomed from connections formed at Walden.
Just this summer, I received my biggest commission yet from Chamber Music America to write a new piece for Splinter Reeds, the quintet of Walden faculty member and Walden Players bassoonist Dana Jessen. One of my most critically acclaimed pieces, my string quartet Many Many Cadences, was originally commissioned by Walden for the 2014 Young Musicians Program ensemble-in-residence Spektral Quartet. I went on to revise and rehearse the piece with Spektral over the next year and they recorded it on their 2016 album Serious Business.
Everything I know about teaching I learned at Walden. I am now in a place where I can use the Walden model to design a lesson about any musical topic.
My pedagogical methods from Walden translate into the college classes, private lessons, and pre-college classes that I teach. Yet, my favorite place to teach is Walden, where I really get to know my students, have the freedom and support to create exciting new classes, and contribute to the ever-expanding body of Walden musicianship knowledge. Walden has deeply and profoundly changed my life and I’m sure it will continue to open doors and connect like-minded souls for every person who gets involved.
Sky
Francesca - Young Musicians Program
Francesca first came to Walden at age 9. She attended summer camps before, but usually felt lost and found it a struggle to fit in.
She immediately noticed that Walden was different. This camp emphasized not only creativity and music, but also acceptance and respect, which were just as important. Instead of feeling like she didn’t fit in, Francesca felt encouraged to open up and risk showing more of her personality and talents. She discovered that Walden faculty, even though they were professionals in their fields, collaborated with her as musical colleagues.
As she returned to Walden summer after summer, Francesca found herself taking a leadership role at Walden, encouraging young and new students to find their voice as she had. This past summer, an experience at a Composers Forum caused her to reflect on her own journey at Walden. A young boy was surrounded by incredibly talented musicians asking him questions about his composition. She felt as if she was watching him grow as an artist right before her eyes, and realized that her growth had started with experiences like these when she was new to Walden. Francesca attended Walden for the 7th time in 2017.
Walden has broadened Francesca’s understanding and knowledge of composition, music, and artistic creativity.
Music is a much more significant part of her life now. She takes composition lessons throughout the school year, she understands the importance of new music and new music ensembles, and, as a composer, she has gained invaluable experience collaborating with professional performers.
Walden means much more to Francesca than a place where her musical abilities grow. Walden helps her in her journey to better herself. She attributes her growth as an autonomous, confident leader, both among her Walden and non-Walden peers, to her time at the Walden School. She now has a network of supportive and creative friends all over the world. And, she understands how a strong community can foster creative thinking and personal growth.
Evan - Young Musicians Program
Evan sums up Walden as “a small paradise that opens you up to a whole world.”
At 15, he already loved music, but Evan was surprised at the depth and intensity of Walden’s curriculum, finding it challenging and intense. A prevalent attitude in the classroom was the idea that he should explore what it is about music and composing that drove him to succeed as an artist. Walden faculty and peers helped him realize how important it is to develop an individual voice by putting your own humor, passions, and personality on display. He was thrilled to discover a love for Bach at Walden, as well as a love of nature through music that was completely new to him. His abilities as a pianist grew exponentially throughout the summer and won an award for a piece he wrote at Walden. Now, he can’t imagine a future in music without composing. After attending Walden, Evan also feels like he has lifelong friendships in the Walden community and a network of friends and professionals in the music world.
Juli Anna, Evan’s mom, believes Walden was life-changing for Evan.
As a musician, the difference between Evan before and after Walden was like night and day. He seemed a year ahead after 5 weeks at Walden. She loved that students have the opportunity to disconnect from the outside world (specifically no phones or computers), focus on their talents, and enjoy the community activities and interaction. All this and more had an extremely positive effect on Evan. He matured by leaps and bounds as a musician, but she is also thrilled with how calming and eye-opening it was for Evan personally.
Kevin - Creative Musicians Retreat
“My experience with Walden started as a 25th anniversary gift from my wife.
She felt I needed to broaden my musical horizons and connect with other like-minded composers so her gift was to send me to the 2012 Creative Musicians Retreat. The experience was exhilarating, challenging and uplifting! I have since returned for the Creative Musicians Retreat in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
In addition to learning about contemporary music topics, Walden has given me the opportunity to compose for each of these retreats and have my music performed by first-class musicians. More than that, Walden gave me the confidence to pursue a degree in Music Theory and Composition at the State University of New York at New Paltz, which I just completed this past May. Aside from the Creative Musicians Retreat, Walden has also provided me opportunities to submit scores for two Composers Forums which they sponsored at New York City locations.
But the Walden experience is much more than learning the nuts and bolts of a particular set of topics.
It is much more than just composing pieces and getting them performed. Simply put, Walden is a family affair. Of course many organizations aspire to create a “sense of family” with staff, instructors and students, but the difference is that Walden delivers! One leaves Walden with a sense of belonging to a musical community much bigger and far more important than whatever one might bring to Walden. And the proof of this is so clear when one considers that many of the staff and faculty at each of the Creative Musicians Retreats I attended had spent many summers in their youth at Walden’s Young Musician Program.
So you see, Walden is not about some event you attend or some particular set of subjects to be learned. Rather, it is a unique family environment where creativity is encouraged and where everyone (faculty, staff and students) learns from each other. It is an experience you don’t forget and a feeling that only grows each time you attend an event.
Kevin
Nathan - Guest Artist
In 1999, a Walden faculty member happened to be at the concert where Nathan’s sextet, Non Sequitur, was performing.
After the invitation, Non Sequitur arrived as an ensemble-in-residence in 2000. Nathan played student and faculty pieces until 2010, and he was able to return in 2017 with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).
Nathan fell in love with Walden. He never could have imagined such a wonderful environment existed for young musicians, and he wished he had attended something like Walden when he was younger. He reached Walden at a crossroads in his early career as a professional, and Walden became an influential and inspiring part of his journey as a performer. It reminds him of why he does what he does, and he considers himself lucky to have played hundreds of world premieres by faculty and students during his time at Walden. Now, 18 years after he first played at Walden, he often finds himself working with composers with whom he last worked when they were children attending Walden.
Nathan appreciates that although the focus and content of Walden’s programs is primarily music, what Walden really addresses is a sense of community needed by everyone. It is an enduring community of talent that has the same feelings of acceptance and inspiration year after year. It benefits students, performers, and faculty alike. Nathan feels truly privileged to be a part of Walden’s influence in the music community.