A studious learner, he graduated high school at age fourteen and was admitted to Oberlin Conservatory a year later, where he studied piano and organ, earning a Bachelor of Music degree (with honors) in 1941. Subsequent study included obtaining Artist Diplomas in Composition and Piano from the Curtis Institute-where he was the first African American graduate-and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Eastman School of Music.1 Some of his first publications are the result of a relationship Walker cultivated with Paul Kapp at General Music Publishing Company. "Stars is the only choral work of Walker's that maintains a consistent time signature of 3/4 throughout the entire piece and does not incorporate metrical shifts.