Carol Lehrman Walker (The Music Lady) is originally from Colorado, where she spent the first 18 years of her life.  She attended Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, and South High School in Denver, graduating in 1963.

Carol’s father was also a musician, and noticed that Carol displayed an interest in the piano at a very early age.  When she was just four years old, Carol would toddle into the livingroom, and, reaching up over her head to find the piano keys, she would pick out a tune she had just heard on the radio, or something her older sister had been practicing.  Soon she was playing tunes like “The Tennessee Waltz” and “Mockingbird Hill” without ever having a single lesson. 

Her father decided to find a piano teacher for her so that she would learn to read music, rather than just playing it by ear.  Carol’s young age was an obstacle (she had not yet started school, and could not read or write), but finally a teacher was found and the lessons began. 

It would be a fair statement to say that as a result of this early training, Carol speaks two languages fluently:  Music and English, having learned both from a very young age.

Her early start at the piano paid off as she progressed through school.  She participated in many talent shows, was the accompanist for all the school choirs, and even played the Grieg “Piano Concerto in A Minor” with the school orchestra in her senior year. 

A highlight of her high school years was her appearance on the stage of the famous Red Rocks Theater near Denver, where she was a finalist in the “Stars of Tomorrow” competition. 

In addition to her private studies, she received a first-rate musical education throughout her school years.  She credits her junior- and senior-high choral teachers with inspiring her to become a music teacher herself. 

But that dream would be put on hold while she headed in a different direction for the next fifteen years, during which time she married and had a son.  In 1963 she left Colorado behind for good, moving first to New London, Connecticut for three years, then to Carmel, New York for two years, and to New Jersey in 1967, where she has lived in Montclair, Kinnelon, West Paterson, and finally Denville for the past thirty years.  During those early years, in addition to being a mom and holding down a “real” job, she continued to free-lance, serving as theatrical musical director, church organist, and accompanist for members of the Metropolitan Opera, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and various school and community choral ensembles.

One such position was as an adjunct instructor at the newly formed Montclair High School of Performing Arts, where she was hired in 1976 to teach piano, harp, and theory, and also serve as accompanist for the six productions they presented throughout the school year.

But this was only an adjunct position.  A "real" teaching position would not be available to her without a degree and teaching certificate.  So, in 1977, at the ripe old age of thirty-something, and while continuing to teach at the performing arts high school, she finally decided to fulfill her dream of being a high school choral teacher.  She enrolled at Montclair State College, and after only three years, graduated summa cum laude in May of 1980.  She earned her long-awaited teaching certificate, and degree in Music Education, with majors in piano, voice, and harp.  

That summer she interviewed for a choral job at Summit (NJ) High School, and was hired on the spot.  During her ten years in Summit she also taught at the middle school, and at almost every elementary school in town. 

In 1990, she left Summit to take a position in the Wayne (NJ) schools, where she was the choral teacher at Wayne Valley High School, and George Washington and Anthony Wayne Middle Schools.

Her choral programs flourished under her leadership, winning top honors and highest ratings at annual festivals.  Every spring she and her choirs would board buses and head to such places as Williamsburg, Toronto, Boston, Cleveland, and Washington, DC, to participate in competitive choral festivals. 

The 90’s were productive years at the state level as well:  she was an active participant in the state organizations, serving for ten years as Choral Division Chairperson for the North New Jersey School Music Association, and three years on the All-State Choral Procedures Committee; she was guest conductor for the NJ Region One Junior Women’s Chorus, NJ Region One Senior Women’s Chorus, and the Sussex County Honors Choir, and also served as the piano accompanist for several NJ Region and All-State Choruses.

In 1993 her Wayne Valley chorus was honored to be selected to sing on the stage of Radio City Music Hall as backup to Barry Manilow, who was appearing in New York for eight nights.  The following year, her group again appeared at Radio City, this time to sing with tenor José Carreras who was doing a world tour to raise money for Leukemia research.

In 1999 she joined the staff of American Music Abroad, a company that arranges European concert tours for high school students.  For the next seven years, she and some of her choral and band colleagues from NY and NJ traveled with 200 students to Europe, performing and sightseeing in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, and The Netherlands.  She served as both conductor and accompanist for these trips.

In 2003, she was honored to be a recipient of the New Jersey Governor's Teacher of the Year Award, and was also listed in "Who's Who Among American Teachers."  

In 2008, after 28 years in the classroom, Carol decided to retire and let someone else have all the fun.

Along the way, Carol branched out from her classical piano experiences, and began studying harp with Professor Rosalie Pratt at Montclair State.  Her senior recital included both piano and harp works.  As a harpist she was hired by local orchestras and musical theaters, and began booking weddings and parties with her harp.   Later on, she added a folk harp to her collection, and continues to enjoy performing on this beautiful instrument in various settings.

After purchasing an Appalachian dulcimer during a vacation to Kentucky, she began practicing this unique instrument and soon became proficient enough that she was invited to teach at several dulcimer festivals in the Northeast.  She now owns six different dulcimers:  the first one from Warren May, two from McSpadden in Arkansas, a baritone from FolkCraft in Connecticut, and two from Bear Meadow Dulcimers in Rochester, her latest acquisition being a Concert Grand from Bear Meadow, a magnificent instrument that is as beautiful to play as it is to look at, complete with hand-carved rosettes and inlays.

Inspired by her visit to the Isle of Man in 2009, Carol began doing research and collecting hundreds of Manx tunes with the idea of arranging them for mountain dulcimer.  These wonderful Celtic-influenced tunes are relatively unknown in this country, and it is her plan to change all that with the publication of her collection slated for October of 2010.  Also slated for release at that time is her first CD, an eclectic presentation of her favorite musical pursuits.

Her venture into the world of folk music led her to meet a group of people in Pennsylvania who had formed an old-time band, Wayfarers & Company.  Carol continues to play harp, dulcimer, piano, and upright bass with this group, as well as adding her own backup vocal harmonies.  Their first CD, “Vacant Chair,” is available on CDBaby.com, and a second album is currently in production.

Musical theater became another of Carol’s passions, a side career which actually had its roots in her high school years, and which branched out into local community and dinner theaters from the early 60’s to the present day.  Carol has played and/or conducted literally thousands of rehearsals and performances.  

The acquisition of a synthesizer allowed her to become a one-woman orchestra.  She is commissioned by several theaters and schools to provide the entire orchestration, complete with strings, brass, winds, and percussion, producing a professional recording suitable for both rehearsal and performance.

Carol may be retired from her “regular job” in Wayne, but by no means has she left the world of music, or of teaching.  She was honored to be asked to join the prestigious Masterwork Chorus, where she serves as their pianist for all rehearsals and performances.  She also was hired to build an after-school choral program at the Academy of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, and joined the adjunct faculty at William Paterson University.  She has continued working with various high schools in the area, serving as accompanist and musical director.

And on various weekends in the spring, she serves as an adjudicator for the very same companies who sponsor competitive school music festivals that she herself attended with her students in earlier years.   

It so happens she recently married a professional touring guitarist, Toby Walker, (www.littletobywalker.com) and began to tour with him whenever she could -- her official title is "Executive Roadie," and she occasionally also has the opportunity to play or sing on stage with him.  She's also looking forward to playing upright bass on his next CD.

Thus, her love of theater, music, and travel, all instilled in her by her father during her very youngest days, has come full circle:  She looks back with satisfaction on a successful teaching career, continues to perform on multiple instruments in a variety of venues, AND travels all over the North American and European map with her new musical husband. 

Carol has one son, Russ, who is a retired police sergeant.  Russ and his wife, Liddy, have two children, Ashlee and Josh.

Fang, the Ferocious Feline, also resides with Carol and Toby at their home in Denville, NJ. 

Carol owns the following instruments (and can actually play all of them with some degree of proficiency):

6 dulcimers

3 keyboards

2 pianos

2 guitars

2 harps

2 melodicas

1 accordion

1 autoharp

1 cello

1 upright bass

assorted kazoos, nose flutes, spoons, and a limberjack

Oh, and a partridge in a pear tree.