Eric Schultz, D.M.A., an assistant professor of music at Coastal Carolina University, has been announced as a quarterfinalist for the 2024 Music Educator Award, presented in joint partnership between the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum.

The Music Educator Award is open to U.S. music teachers, and anyone can nominate a teacher. As a quarterfinalist, Schultz has been asked to submit video essays and footage of his teaching to advance to the next round. Semifinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award will be announced in September, and the ultimate recipient will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024. According to the Recording Academy, the quarterfinalists, who hail from 197 cities, were selected from more than 2,000 initial submitted nominations.

“Everyone knows about the GRAMMYs – this is a household name,” said Schultz. “As a musician and teaching-artist, it is the honor of a lifetime to be recognized by the Recording Academy, but to be nominated for a singular achievement award like the GRAMMY Music Educator of the Year is truly beyond my wildest dreams, especially at this stage in my career.”

Schultz began teaching at CCU in August 2020. His teaching areas include clarinet performance, flute performance, woodwind methods, and chamber music. He said teaching isn’t something he ever expected to be awarded for.

“I do not expect any recognition for the teaching that I do,” said Schultz. “It is already so rewarding. I feel like the luckiest human on earth. I cannot believe that what I dreamed all those years ago has become my reality, that I get to make music every day and that’s how I make a living. I’m performing all over the world in top venues, even Netflix, NPR ... But to pass this on to the next generation as a teacher is the greatest privilege of all. I sacrifice a lot for my students. But it’s worth it every single time. To work alongside them and contribute to change in our field is something I do not take for granted.”

In addition to teaching music in CCU’s Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, he serves as director of the Edwards College Center for Inclusive Excellence. One of his passion projects that began while Schultz was a faculty fellow in the center is the REPRESENTatoire Project (musical repertoire as representation), created alongside his students. The project puts emphasis on performing the work of living composers, especially composers of color, female composers, and other underrepresented populations. Every year, Schultz and his students choose a new living composer to focus on.

“This past year, we had Valerie Coleman on campus as a guest artist to teach masterclasses, discuss her career, and perform her music,” said Schultz. “We acquired her music library and now have the largest collection of her music in the world. She has been commissioned by many major American orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera. It was an honor for us to have her here and the students learned so much from her.”

Schultz received a South Carolina Arts Commission Artists’ Business Initiative grant at the end of 2022 to fund the recording of an album, which will be titled “polyglot.” He said collaboration is one of the keys to his success and an important foundation for his students.

“I often remind my students that if they want to create something meaningful, the hardest thing is getting started,” said Schultz. “So, I tell them, find your allies. Let people know what you are working on. Collaborate. I believe music is the most powerful form of magic we have access to and it teaches us how to do all of these things. So just get started somewhere – anywhere. To me, this recognition is just proof that this really works. We can create change, one step at a time.”