Mr. Donald J. Walter is the Director of Orchestras at Northwest Guilford High School and Northwest Guilford Middle School and president of the NC chapter of the American String Teachers Association. While at the NW Schools, Mr. Walter has doubled the enrollment in the middle school orchestra program and increased enrollment to more than 90 in the high school program. In his career, he has been Chairperson of the NC Music Educators Association Orchestra Section and Guilford County Schools Lead Orchestra Teacher.

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, all-state, and national 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). In 2024, the NW Advanced Honors Orchestra will perform at NCMEA once again.

Mr. Walter is an active clinician who has conducted high school and middle school NC Regional Orchestras and numerous all-county orchestras throughout North Carolina and West Virginia. 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 Mr. Walter was named a finalist for the GRAMMY Museum's Music Educator Award. This year he was again nominated for the Music Ed. Grammy Award and will find out if he is moving on to the semifinal round this fall.

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

Contact Information: walterd2@gcsnc.com

Canvas Links: 

• 6.2 Orchestra
• 7.1 Orchestra
• 8.2 Orchestra