Music Scholarships
Music students are encouraged to apply for scholarships, which are awarded based on merit, auditions, and need. Students may qualify for multiple scholarships.
Achievement scholarships
Prospective music students should apply for the achievement scholarships offered by Walla Walla University. It is one of the largest scholarships available, depending on GPA or ACT/SAT scores, and should be considered in a student’s complete financial aid package when calculating the total cost of a college education. Special scholarships for transfer students are also available. For more information about all university-wide scholarships please visit mikeshiner.com/scholarships.
University Days Scholarship Auditions
These auditions (held during U-Days every year) serve to introduce applicants to the music faculty and provide the possibility of a music scholarship of up to $6,000 a year. University Days scholarships for wind, brass, percussion, and string players are awarded for participation in the wind symphony or the symphony orchestra upon enrollment at Walla Walla University. Awards to vocalists are for participation in the university choirs and voice lessons. Keyboard players who receive University Days scholarships will enroll in lessons and serve as departmental accompanists. Guitarists who are awarded a University Days scholarship will also enroll in lessons.
Auditions will take place in the spring during U-Days, on March 8 or April 8, 2024. Applications to audition are due by February 25 for March U-Days auditions and by March 24 for April U-Days auditions. If you live more than 200 miles from Walla Walla you may submit an online audition by March 31. Please send submissions to music@mikeshiner.com.
Requirements:
- Candidates should prepare two selections in contrasting styles and eras representative of their level of playing/singing. Each selection should be no shorter than three and no longer than five minutes. Excerpts from longer works are acceptable.
- Scholarship recipients will be notified after April 18.
- Scholarship availability for all applicants cannot be guaranteed.
Departmental scholarships
Generous donors have given funds for scholarships to support music students in our program. Consideration for these awards takes place each year in the Spring, and the recipients are announced during the Awards CommUnity during Spring quarter. Eligibility for these awards is based on student ability and achievement, demonstrated need, and the guidelines provided by each endowment.
Blythe Owen Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created by the Music Department in honor of Blythe Owen who began her music career at Walla Walla College as a piano instructor. She taught for more than 80 years until she passed away at 101 in 2000. In addition to teaching, Owen earned a master's degree from Northwestern University and a doctorate from Eastman School of Music, one of the first two women to do so. She created her own musical compositions, with many of her works winning awards. She spent the latter part of her career at Andrews University and maintained a private piano studio until 1997. This scholarship is awarded to female music majors.
Clarence O. Trubey Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for Clarence Trubey who directed the WWU band from 1948 to 1955. In addition to directing and developing WWU’s band, Trubey was a euphonium player who enjoyed playing in bands himself. While at the university, he established the first music education degree program. This scholarship is awarded to music education majors, with preference for students interested in band directing.
Dan Shultz Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created to honor Dan Shultz, former WWU Music Department Chair and professor. He came to Walla Walla from his previous position at Union College, and spent a record 21 years as department chair before his retirement in 2000. In addition to teaching, Shultz founded the International Adventist Musicians Association, served on the Walla Walla Symphony Board of Directors, and consulted on music textbooks. This scholarship is awarded to music majors.
Gene and Betty Soper Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created by Walla Walla Valley residents Gene and Betty Soper. Neither were Seventh-day Adventists or attended WWU, but they were supporters of fine music. Gene Soper served on the Walla Walla Symphony Board of Directors, where he saw the contributions WWU made to the symphony financially and through faculty and student participation. The Sopers chose to honor those contributions by supporting WWU music students. This scholarship is awarded to music majors.
Glenn Spring Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created by the Music Department to honor Glenn Spring, who taught for 36 years at WWU, the longest tenure for any music teacher at the school. Spring received numerous commissions and awards for composing music, and performed as part of the Walla Walla Symphony as a violist for many years and concertmaster for 12 years. This scholarship is awarded to music composition or string students.
H. Lloyd Leno Memorial Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for WWU alumnus and former music professor H. Lloyd Leno. He directed the college band and taught wind instruments, in addition to writing about church music and completing a doctorate. After learning that Leno was struggling with a life-threatening illness, his friends and former students raised the funds needed to establish a scholarship in his honor. He passed away in 1998. This scholarship is awarded to brass students.
John J. Hafner Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for former WWU music professor John J. Hafner. He was part of the university’s music faculty for 11 years after a decades-long career teaching music at Adventist institutions. WWU awarded him the honorary rank of emeritus professor in 1985. Hafner passed away in 2001.This scholarship is awarded to strings students.
Kenneth Schmidt Music Scholarship
This annual scholarship was created by Kenneth Schmidt to support music students.
Mary Garner Esary Memorial Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for Mary Garner Esary. A teacher who began her career at her former high school, Walla Walla High School, after graduating from local Whitman College in 1931, Esary decided to return to school in the 1960s. She contacted the University of Washington but was informed that she could do just as well at Walla Walla College, where she earned a master’s degree in education. This scholarship is used to support first-year music students.
Melvin K. West Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for former Music Department Chair Melvin West who taught in the department from 1959 to 1977. Among West’s accomplishments, he spearheaded the project to bring the pipe organ to the Walla Walla University Church, culminating in a concert in which he performed numerous pieces demonstrating the organ’s versatility. With former professor Loren Dickinson, West also began Evensong, the Saturday evening vespers program that continues today. This scholarship is awarded to an organ student.
Music Patrons Scholarship
This is an annual scholarship funded by supporters of the Music Department. This scholarship is awarded to music students.
Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created by the Music Department and is awarded to music students
Orland Ogden Memorial Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was created by Joan Ogden, in memory of her late husband, Orland Ogden. Ogden spent his childhood in College Place, where his father was chair of the Walla Walla College Board from 1920 to 1927. When his family moved to Seattle, he began a career in music. Ogden was involved in a number of successful business ventures, but his first love was music. He and his wife helped many schools and churches obtain musical instruments at substantial discounts. Ogden passed away in 2003. This scholarship is awarded to music majors.
Stanley Walker Music Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for Stanley Walker, who began his career at WWU as the keyboard instructor in 1935. During his 24 years as part of the music department, Walker earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano from Northwestern University. For the last 14 years of his employment at the university, he served as Music Department Chair. This scholarship is awarded to a keyboard student.
WWU String Quartet Scholarship
This scholarship in the amount of $2000 per person per year is awarded based on auditions held in the beginning of Fall quarter. Please contact Dr. Pamela Cress at pam.cress@mikeshiner.com for more information.
This scholarship was created by Roger and Krista Woodruff in appreciation for their children’s experience as string quartet members while at WWU. Through currently an annually funded scholarship, the Woodruffs and the Music Department are interested in growing this fund to the endowment level, allowing it support students in perpetuity.
This scholarship is awarded to the members of the string quartet.
Yvonne Pickett Memorial Scholarship
This scholarship endowment was named for Yvonne Pickett. In addition to motherhood and her career, Pickett was an active community volunteer, including work in politics. Soon after her husband passed away, she lost her son as a result of childhood arthritis. Seeking solace after these losses, she returned to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the church she had been raised in, and became friends with an individual familiar with Walla Walla College. Pickett was grateful for the assistance her son received at a public college and wanted to start a similar fund to help students. This scholarship is used to help music students attend WWU.