For years, NIU piano instructor Donald Walker helped aspiring musicians learn the skills on the ivories. Now, even after his death, Walker’s legacy lives on.

NIU’s music department recently issued a CD of Walker’s recitals. The profits will go toward a newly formed scholarship bearing Walker’s name.

Walker was a long-time NIU professor who was widely regarded as one of the top piano instructors in the country. He never had any commercial recordings released, so all the work on the CD is taken from his faculty recitals at NIU.

“This is a wonderful recording of live concert performances,” said Paul Bauer, a director of the School of Music.

The recordings were taken from more than a dozen shows that Walker performed while he was at NIU from 1967 until his death in 2002.

Bill Koehler, a colleague of Walker’s for more than a dozen years and a professor in the School of Music, said the CD is a great example of his work over the years.

The CD, which features music by Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin, can be purchased by making a $25 donation to the Donald Walker Living Legacy Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will be available to future piano majors at NIU.

There is no set scholarship value yet, nor is there a limit on the amount of scholarships that will be given, Koehler said.

Walker was able to affect every piano major who came through NIU, he said.

“Even those who didn’t work directly with him. He was very respected and revered by the students.”

The CD can be purchased by calling the School of Music at 753-1551.