Larry Gene Walz was born on November 16, 1924 in Bird City, Kansas, and grew up nearby in St. Francis, Kansas. He studied piano with Robert and Gaby Casadesus and Egon Petri, and earned a certificate in piano at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. He studied for three years at the Juilliard School of Music, earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, and a Master of Music from what is now the University of North Texas. Walz taught at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta and at the Univerity of Texas at Austin before joining the music faculty at North Texas from 1956 until 1987. Larry Walz died on October 3, 1998.