Arts Student of the Week: Hayden Baldwin

Niwot High School senior Hayden Baldwin performs in the NHS Marching Band and two of the high school choirs: Tenor/Bass Choir and Evenstar. “Out of the two,” Baldwin said, “by far my favorite has been Tenor/Bass choir.”

Baldwin, Arts Student of the Week, appreciates the community he has found at the high school. “Despite not being an advanced group,” he said, “the community in that class is amazing and super fun to be around. The community and people in Orchestra and for the most part the band has been super connected and supportive.”

“My experience at NHS has been amazing,” Baldwin said. “The community of students and teachers in Niwot makes it a very nice and accepting place to be. Compared to stories I have heard from other schools and other times, Niwot has had comparably very little drama, and has for the most part been a very well-connected community. If I could relive the last five years, I would most definitely still decide to go to Niwot.”

Laura Walters, Choral Music Director at NHS, selected Baldwin as Arts Student of the Week. “Hayden is a senior in the Niwot Choir program and has been in choir all four years of high school,” Walters said. “He is a very strong bass singer, and has a strong desire to teach music in the future.”

Music has always been a way for Baldwin to spend time with others and enjoy learning about music, which has exposed him to a new form of art that he believes can forge common interests. He has spent a lot of time learning how different chords and rhythms have been used by different people, and to understand more about them. “To me, music has always been more about being with people than it has been trying to gain something from the music itself.”

Most of his musical inspiration and influence came from his brother, Aster, a college student and singer/songwriter. Throughout his entire life, everything Baldwin has done has been because his brother did it first. Band, orchestra and even choir are all things Baldwin has joined because of his brother.

Walters is impressed by Baldwin’s commitment to his music. “He is very responsible and on top of his music at all times. He also has a lot of fun in the two choirs as well.”

Choir concerts have always been incredibly fun. Each group generally has a few songs, and then there are a few combined songs with all the choirs. For the individual songs, Baldwin has always loved performing with the Tenor/Bass Choir. “It is such a fun community,” he said, “and we have a tendency to make a fool of ourselves through funny songs and dances. The combined pieces are also incredibly fun as they are almost always in a genre of music that I have not performed yet.”

“He has volunteered to lead some of the sectional rehearsals,” Walters noted, “and is excited to take more of a leadership role. He knows all the correct questions to ask. He is great at explaining things to some of the students in Tenor Bass choir who have never been in choir before.”

Apart from high school, Baldwin has performed in many other venues. By far his favorite was performing at Carnegie Hall in New York last summer. He and many other students at NHS joined with others from across the nation to perform there, which, he said, “was certainly an opportunity of a lifetime.” Most of his other memorable moments as a performer have been in the Tenor/Bass Choir. One of his favorites took place last year, when the choir performed “Pirate Song.” “It was a very serious sounding song,” he said, “with some of the silliest lyrics you will have ever heard. It was incredibly hilarious.”

Baldwin has always been passionate about education and people in general. He reads a lot into the psychology behind education. In addition, he has an interest in national and international politics. He likes to read a variety of news sources and talk about politics and world affairs with friends, and always feels better when he knows what is going on in the world. “I love to read all sorts of news regardless of how much I love or hate the source.”

After high school, Baldwin plans to pursue a career in music education. His dream job would be working as a middle school band director or possibly a choir teacher, because that is when students are first introduced to music. He has also debated majoring in early childhood education and social studies, but music education has always been the most appealing.

As someone who is going into music education as a career, becoming more involved in music leadership has been an amazing opportunity. Baldwin has taken every opportunity in high school to learn more about music education and music leadership. This year, he is taking a student teaching course with Flagstaff Middle School, and he would like to try out high school as well. “Running sectionals is an amazing opportunity for me to use my experiences from prior years running band clubs alongside middle school bands to try something new,” Baldwin explained.