He may have been born in Bruges which is now in Belgium, although we are not sure. One of his students, Gioseffo Zarlino, who became a well-known music theorist, said that Willaert went to Paris first to study law, but then decided to study music. In Paris he met Jean Mouton, the main composer of the French royal chapel, and studied with him. Mouton taught him to write music in the style of Josquin, whose music was very polyphonic with the voices imitating one another a lot.