My NYU colleague Derek and I are delighted to introduce you to Tuniversity, our new music learning venture. Our first songwriting course starts next month, and we are holding our inaugural Tune Up event at the end of April.
We were motivated by two different things: people want to study with us who don’t attend NYU, and NYU is not giving us enough classes to teach. I have been feeling frustrated for a while that, while I am at the peak of my music teaching game, I can’t find a good institutional home for myself. NYU is a perfectly fine place to be an adjunct, but being an adjunct is not sustainable. Derek has been feeling the same way. We have been starting to feel like maybe the institution for us just doesn’t exist, not in the present climate, not within the geographic areas that our family lives make available to us, certainly not at a pay point that makes sense. We didn’t want to start a business, because we are artists and educators and not businesspeople, but, well, here we are.
There is definitely something to be said for running our own shop. We like the way that NYU structures its music theory and songwriting classes for the most part, but we have our own ideas too, and it will be nice to get to act on them. To be clear, we will keep teaching at NYU, but we would like that to be the side hustle, because it is not working as a main gig.
We’re running eight-week classes, meeting online at first, but we will do in person classes in New York City eventually too. People can jump in for individual sessions, but it will be cheaper per session to do the whole course. We are also offering individualized coaching.
Derek has a similar background to mine, but we have different areas of expertise. He’s a voice teacher and a professional songwriter, and he knows the music business much better than I do. I can help you write and produce a track, but Derek can help you write lyrics, sing it, and sell it. The thing we have in common is a commitment to learning by making and doing. No exams, no flash cards, just making music, reflecting on it, making more music, reflecting on it.
We also have a technology product in mind, kind of a Wordle for music: it gives you an unfinished melody or a partial drum groove and you complete it. You get a new one every day. There’s no right or wrong answers, just these creative puzzles to solve. These things will be hand-created and curated by us. No randomly generated nonsense, no AI slop. If it takes off, we plan to bring in guest artists to do special challenges in their own style.
So, that’s what’s happening. Come to our launch party if you’re in NYC, watch this space for more information about the classes, and tell your friends!