A beloved piano teacher’s last acts of generosity will enhance the education of young musicians for years to come, thanks to a former student’s decision to direct a bequest from Seattle pianist Willard Schultz to benefit piano students at the University of Washington.
Schultz was extraordinarily devoted to his students, says UW piano professor Robin McCabe, who studied with him briefly as a young musician and remained friends with him until his death in April 2022 at age 96. “Will Schultz was my teacher for only two years, before I entered university,” she says. “But they were pivotal and transformative years. I was a hyper-kinetic pianist, with over-abundant energy and extra adrenalin to boot! He created and developed a large and lacking dimension in my playing: an awareness of line, space, and tone, and the magic of lyrical poise and intention.”
Schultz’s influence on his students was felt all through the Pacific Northwest and as far away as China, where he spent several years in the 1980s teaching at Wuhan Conservatory. “Will was an exceptional teacher,” McCabe says. “When he returned from years in China (where his name is still revered at the Wuhan Conservatory), he resettled in Seattle and became one of the Northwest’s most beloved and sought after teachers for K-12 students.” Several of his students have gone on to become professors of piano at the university level. His influence has been far-reaching in other ways: upon his passing, his estate was distributed to a number of former students and organizations dedicated to music studies.
“Will loved, and lived for his students,” McCabe says, “which is why, when I learned to my astonishment that he had left me a generous bequest, I chose to honor that dedication to teaching by creating the Willard Schultz Piano Fund here at the School of Music.” The fund’s $200,000 starting base, she says, “will support our students in various ways, for example, in giving them the invaluable opportunity to play a concerto movement with orchestra.”
Along with benefiting deserving piano students, the Willard Schultz Piano Fund creates an enduring tribute to a highly respected and much-loved educator. “I believe Will would be pleased by my decision,” McCabe says. “It brings me immense gratification to think so.”