William Hall Sherwood
| William Hall Sherwood | |
|---|---|
from The Etude
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| Born | January 31, 1854 Lyons, New York |
| Died | January 7, 1911 Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation | Pianist & Educator |
| Years active | 1872-1910 |
| Known for | Founder of Sherwood Music School |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary Neilson Fay (1887-1911) |
| Children | Mrs. Ethellinda Anderson Ruth Sherwood |
| Parent(s) | Rev. Lyman H. Sherwood Mary Bales Sherwood |
Mary Neilson Fay
(1874 - c. 1885)
William Hall Sherwood (January 31, 1854 – January 7, 1911) was a late 19th and early 20th century American pianist and music educator who, after having studied in Europe with notable musicians, became one of the first renowned piano performers in the United States. He founded the Sherwood Music School, which was acquired by Columbia College Chicago in 2007.
Sherwood was born on January 31, 1854 in Lyons, New York to Reverend Lyman H. Sherwood and Mary Balis Sherwood. Sherwood’s paternal grandfather was a judge and a Senator and his grandmother, who was also a skilled musician, had ancestry traces back to the English nobility. Mary Balis Sherwood was a well-educated woman, born near Catskill, New York where she grew up in a home that had been given to her great-grandfather for service in the Revolutionary War. Lyman H. Sherwood was an Episcopal minister, a college professor, and a talented musician.
In 1854, the year of William Hall Sherwood’s birth, his father left the ministry to pursue his interests in music further by opening the second incorporated music school in the United States, the Lyons Musical Academy in Lyons, New York. At age nine, Sherwood began attending this school and learning piano. Due to his rapid progression, Sherwood began teaching younger students at the Lyons Musical Academy in 1866.
During the summer of 1871, Sherwood took five weeks of piano lessons with the American composer and pianist, William Mason. Recognizing Sherwood’s talent, Mason encouraged him to study piano in Europe. Sherwood first traveled to Berlin, Germany with his father, where he began piano studies with Theodor Kullak. Kullak criticized the limitations of Sherwood’s small hands and expressed concern that he would not do great legato octave work. Recognizing this challenge, Sherwood drafted his own manipulations of the joints within his thumbs, practiced slowing and accurately, and over time was able to successfully demonstrate his octave exercises to Kullak.
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