Robert W. Mendenhall Scholarship Fund
& Benefit Concert
21st Annual Mendenhall Benefit Concert
Saturday, May 4, 2024
The Follen Church
Join us for a very special evening of world-class musicianship in support of our instrumental music program and scholarship fund.
The Mendenhall concert features distinguished professional musicians, many of whom are WSL faculty, parents, and friends, as well as several accomplished WSL students and alums. In addition to selections by Vivaldi, Schubert, Montgomery and more this year’s concert will include a string quartet composed by WSL alum Gino Abrams.
All proceeds from the Mendenhall concert support the Waldorf School of Lexington instrumental music program including essential music lesson scholarships for our students. We are excited to welcome you to a captivating evening of music and are grateful for your support.
Please join us for a celebratory reception following the concert!
Families with children: we are delighted your children will be accompanying you to the concert. Please plan to sit together as a family during the performance, and as we are guests at Follen Church, please supervise your children at all times during the evening.
If you are not able to join us and would like to support the scholarship fund and instrumental music program, please click here to submit your donation. Thank you!
Robert Mendenhall
Director, Instrumental Music Program 1999–2003
The Mendenhall Scholarship Fund was established in memory of Waldorf School of Lexington Music Director Bob Mendenhall, with the foundational mission to support the WSL’s instrumental music program. Bob believed the first and most pressing priority to improve the instrumental music program was to ensure all students receive private music instruction. Before he died in August 2003, Bob set in motion fundraising efforts to create a scholarship fund to provide individual instruction on orchestral instruments to Waldorf students. For two decades, the fund has supported over 150 families. It brings us great joy that during the 2022-23 academic year we were delighted to award a record number of scholarships!
As the support of the fund has grown over the years, we have also been able to use the fund to strengthen additional areas of the WSL instrumental music program, with the first priority always being private lesson scholarships for our students.
The fund, which honors Bob’s work and memory, is sustained exclusively through private donations, the sale of tickets to the school’s annual Mendenhall Benefit Concert, and advertisements in the concert program. To donate to the fund, please contact Kim Ayan at 781-863-1062 x562 or development@thewaldorfschool.org. Thank you for your support.
About Our Instrumental Music Program
Music fills the Waldorf School of Lexington experience. Every student plays an instrument and receives a deep and well-rounded musical education.
Performances take place regularly through recitals, school assemblies, and seasonal celebrations. Students learn to feel confident performing in class and at school events. The experience of playing music also provides a lively and harmonizing atmosphere to the culture of the school.
Instrumental music instruction begins in first grade with simple flutes.
By third grade, all children are playing recorder with their class teacher and continue to do so until graduation. Starting in third grade, each student learns to play the violin, cello or viola and participates in group lessons.
In fifth grade, students may switch to a wind or brass instrument, and the class is divided into a string ensemble and a wind ensemble.
Seventh and eighth graders play together in an orchestra.
“Learning an instrument at a young but healthy age taught me to think in ways that help me approach math and problem solving, in addition to giving me a lifelong skill and appreciation for music.”