Walter, McMath, music educators

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Walter, McMath ‘ecstatic’ over being GRAMMY music educator award semi-fi nalists

Northwest Middle and High School music instructors Donny Walter and Brian McMath are among 25 semi-fi nalists selected from almost 2,000 initial nominations

by PATTI STOKES

Donny Walter gets excited when talking about sharing his love of music with others. Since 2006 he’s done that as band and orchestra teacher at Northwest Guilford Middle School, and for the last five years also as orchestra teacher at Northwest Guilford High School.

During Walter’s 14 years at Northwest Middle, the school’s band and orchestra have grown into the largest middle school band and orchestra programs in Guilford County.

As a music educator, Walter has led musical groups to more than 43 “Superior” ratings at NC Western Region Music Performance Adjudications, and has had many students selected to county, district, regional and all-state honor ensembles.

In 2015 Walter was named the Guilford County Schools Arts Educator of the Year and the NCMEA Orchestra Section Western Region Orchestra Director of the Year.

Of recently being named one of 25 semifinalists for The Recording Academy & GRAMMY Museum’s 2021 Music Educator Award, Walter said he was “dumbstruck” when he got the news.

Sharing his celebration with Brian McMath, Northwest Guilford High School’s band director, was more icing on the cake for Walter. The two music educators, who have known each other since being undergraduates at UNC-G in

Donny Walter Brian McMath

the ‘90s, were selected as semi-finalists for the same award from more than 1,989 initial nominations submitted from all 50 states.

“It’s great to have a colleague as fantastic and accomplished as Brian is,” Walter said.

McMath is in his 17th year as Northwest Guilford High School’s director of bands. Under his direction the school’s bands have been recognized for their growth, discipline and individual member achievements. Members of the class bands (Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble) are consistently chosen for various all-county, all-district and honor bands across the state and the bands have consistently earned “Excellent” and “Superior” ratings at regional and state festivals.

Northwest’s Marching Viking Band has competed twice in the Outback Bowl (Grand Champion 2004) in Tampa, Florida, and the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, and has been invited to perform at the Liberty Bowl, Orange Bowl, Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, Citrus Bowl, the National Parade in Washington, D.C., the Holiday Parade in Waikiki, Hawaii, and the London New Year’s Day Parade.

In his GRAMMY music educator award application, McMath said he highlighted his teaching philosophy, which is to use music to teach life skills that help create other educators, business moguls, ... continued on p. 26