Mr. Donald J. Walter teaches orchestra at Northwest Guilford Middle School and Northwest Guilford High School. Also, he is the Immediate Past Orchestra Section Chair of the NC Music Educators Association. During his 16 years at NWMS, Mr. Walter has grown enrollment in band and orchestra to a peak enrollment of more than 360 students and overseen the expansion of  the program to encompass two and a half teaching positions.

Mr. Walter is a National Board Certified Teacher and holds Bachelor and Master of Music in Music Education degrees from UNC Greensboro. He has presented teaching clinics at local, state, national, and international music education conferences. He has published an article about deliberate practice and neurobiology in the Music Educators Journal. Throughout his career, Mr. Walter has led groups to more than 50 "Superior” ratings at NC Western Region Music Performance Adjudications, and has had many students selected to county, district, regional, and all-state honor ensembles. Six times he has led groups in performance at the NC Music Educators In-Service Conference (2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2010, and 2006).  

Mr. Walter is an active clinician who has conducted the high school and middle school NC Western Region Repertory Orchestras, the NC Junior Eastern Region District Two Orchestra, and numerous all-county orchestras throughout North Carolina. Additionally, he is a frequent guest conductor of the UNC Greensboro Sinfonia Orchestra. In 2015 Mr. Walter was named the Guilford County Schools Arts Educator of the Year and the NCMEA Orchestra Section Western Region Orchestra Director of the Year. In 2021 he was named one of ten finalists for the Music Education GRAMMY award.

Mr. Walter lives in Greensboro with his spouse, Dr. Jennifer Walter, and their children.

Contact information:

walterd2@gcsnc.com