Outside New York
Study with the WYL faculty from elsewhere in the United States or abroad without turning the experience into a generic online-tutor marketplace.
Private online music lessons
New York teachers.
New York teachers.
Wherever you are.
One-to-one online lessons with the musicians and educators of WillYouLearn, a New York City music school built around listening, musicianship and the relationship between teacher and student.
Piano, guitar, voice, drums, bass and more, for children, adults and experienced musicians across the United States and around the world.
Every teacher on the WillYouLearn faculty began with us
in New York City.
Born in New York City
A New York music school, without the geography.
WillYouLearn was built in New York because New York is one of the places musicians come to learn from other musicians.
Some of that education happens in schools. A great deal of it does not.
It happens on bandstands and in rehearsal rooms. It happens in recording sessions, after gigs, sitting in, accompanying singers and playing with musicians who know things you do not know yet.
It happens when one musician shows another a tune, a voicing, a rhythm or a way through a phrase. You hear it. You try it. Someone shows you again. You listen differently the next time.
That combination of listening, imitation, mentorship and exchange shaped our teachers. It also shaped the way WillYouLearn teaches.
Every teacher on our faculty began with us in New York City. Some still live and work here. Others have carried that experience elsewhere.
The WillYouLearn method
Learn music in a way that becomes your own.
We do not believe technique is something a student has to master before they are allowed to make music.
Technique grows from music.A student learns control because they are trying to shape a phrase. They develop coordination because a piece asks something new of them. They learn harmony because they can hear relationships they want to understand.
Reading, theory and craft become tools for making sense of music that is already alive in the ear.
Music begins with sound: pulse, phrase, melody, harmony, imitation. Reading, theory, technique and craft matter enormously, but they make the most sense when they grow out of something the student can already hear and understand.
This is not a shortcut around serious study. It is what makes serious study meaningful.
Listen
Hear pulse, phrase, melody, harmony and the relationships that give music its shape.
Imitate
Hear something, try it, repeat it and begin to recognize how musical language works.
Understand
Reading, theory and technique give names and tools to things the student is already beginning to hear.
Make it yours
Play, understand, improvise, create and participate in music with increasing independence.
Where it leads
The goal is for the music to become theirs.
Some of our students will become professional musicians. Most will not.
They may become lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, designers, parents or anything else. What matters to us is not where music sits on their résumé. It is whether curiosity about it stays alive.
Wait. Show me that.
A voicing you have never heard. A rhythm that suddenly makes sense. A phrase you want to steal. A song you have known for twenty years that opens up differently because someone showed you what was happening inside it.
That instinct can last forever: hearing something you do not quite understand and wanting to get closer to it.
That is one of the things we are trying to spark in a lesson. Not simply the ability to complete what a teacher assigns, but enough fascination that the student begins asking the questions.
The goal is not lifelong dependence on lessons.
It is a lifelong appetite for music.
The faculty
Musicians first. Teachers, too.
Our teachers are professional performers, composers, recording artists and educators.
Their own musical lives matter because they are passing on something they practice themselves.
Credentials matter, but they are only the beginning. Good teaching means understanding the person in front of you: what they hear, what excites them, where they get stuck and what might make them lean closer.
- New York roots. Every WYL teacher began with us in New York City.
- Professional musical lives. Our faculty performs, composes, records, collaborates and teaches.
- A shared approach. Listening and making music come before endless technical exercises.
- Personal matching. We consider the student, personality, goals, musical interests, experience and schedule.
Why online
The right teacher matters more than the zip code.
Online lessons let geography stop being the first question.
Moving or traveling
Keep working with a teacher you know through a move, college, travel or a changing schedule.
Adults
Work with the musician who actually fits what you want to learn rather than simply choosing whoever happens to live nearby.
Specific musical interests
Jazz, harmony, improvisation, songwriting, composition, classical repertoire, technique or the particular thing you want to understand more deeply.
How it works
Tell us what you’re looking for.
A few details about the student, instrument, location and schedule are enough to get started. We’ll use them to figure out who on our faculty might be the right fit.
We read what you sent.
We start with the actual student: experience, instrument, schedule, personality and what they want from music.
We work out the fit.
We look at the faculty and current availability, then figure out which teacher and lesson format make the most sense.
We follow up.
You’ll hear from us with our recommendation, availability and exact tuition. Nothing moves forward until you decide it makes sense.
Online pricing
Private lessons with professional musicians.
Online lessons are generally offered at a modest discount from our in-home rates.
Exact pricing depends on the teacher, lesson length and schedule. We’ll give you the exact rate before you commit to anything.
Setup
You probably already have what you need.
A reliable internet connection
Stable audio matters more than fancy equipment.
A laptop or tablet
A built-in camera and microphone are usually enough.
A useful camera angle
For piano, we want to see the hands and posture.
For other instruments, frame yourself comfortably.
Your instrument and somewhere to play
That is most of it.
Need something lighter?
There is also metempo.
If a weekly live lesson is more than you need, metempo lets you work one-to-one with a teacher by video message instead.
Send what you are working on, get a personal response, practice and send another.
Apply for online lessons
Find the right fit.
Tell us about the student, what they want to learn, where they are and when they’re available. We’ll take it from there.
Apply for lessons →No commitment to apply. We’ll follow up with availability, exact tuition and our recommendation.