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Walter Thompson

Walter Thompson was a retired Black American music teacher who lived at Harbor View Apartments in Curtis Bay, Baltimore. From fall 2021 until his death in Summer 2022, he gave his neighbor Jacob Keller the first sustained formal music instruction of Jacob’s life.

Music Teaching and Mentorship

Main article: Jacob Keller and Walter Thompson

Walter heard fourteen-year-old Jacob practicing through the apartment walls and invited him over under the pretext of helping with chores. He connected written notation and formal theory to music Jacob already understood and composed by ear. Their conversations also included the work of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Beethoven.

Walter’s instruction gave Jacob a durable written language for music that had previously existed largely in memory. He treated Jacob’s musical ability as preexisting and taught him the formal tools needed to preserve and develop it.

Death and the Yamaha Keyboard

Walter died of a heart attack in Summer 2022, before Jacob’s sophomore year of high school. After Walter’s death, his unnamed son delivered Walter’s Yamaha digital keyboard to Jacob. The son appeared angry and would not look at Jacob, but the reason for his reaction and the arrangement behind the delivery were not established.

Main article: Walter Thompson’s Digital Keyboard

Legacy and Memory

Walter’s teaching supported Jacob’s later written composition, music-theory study, conservatory preparation, and work as an educator. Jacob carried Walter’s distinction between existing musical ability and learned formalities into his own teaching.

Memorable Quotes

“I’m just teaching you the formalities. You already got what matters, and that’s something can’t nobody teach.”

(Walter explaining the relationship between Jacob’s existing musical ability and formal notation and theory.)

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