Songwriting lessons in NYC
Songwriting can be one of the best ways to learn music. Chords have a reason to exist. Scales become melodies. Rhythm becomes something you need. Piano, guitar, voice, theory, ear training and technique all start pointing toward music that belongs to the student.
Why songwriting
You do not have to choose between “learning the instrument” and making original music.
A student can learn to play piano by writing on the piano. A guitarist can learn harmony because they need the next chord. A singer can learn pitch, phrasing and keyboard skills while shaping a melody of their own.
Reading, technique and theory still matter. Songwriting simply gives those tools an immediate musical purpose. The student is not waiting until some distant point in the future to be creative.
How it works
The best songwriting lessons are full music lessons. What changes is the reason for learning something: a student needs the skill because the music they are making asks for it.
What that can become
Some students arrive wanting to write. Others discover it after lessons begin. Either way, the point is not to manufacture “songwriters.” It is to give students enough musical ownership that creating something feels normal.
Miles wrote one of his first original songs around the time of our virtual recitals. He kept going. At the WYL recital each year, he has returned with another original and performed it with our full band. The songs changed as his playing, harmony, ear and confidence grew.
Aimee began as a WYL parent and became a student herself. Her lessons grew into songwriting, recording and a larger original-music project. She is now working on her first album of original songs with WYL teacher and songwriter Gracie Nash.
NYU + WYL
WYL has built a 13-year relationship with NYU Steinhardt, where founder Will Armstrong also taught and has returned as a guest lecturer.
Over the years, that relationship has brought successive generations of songwriters and working musicians into the WYL community. Graduates join the faculty, teachers refer the next generation, and the circle keeps expanding through the New York music community.
That is a big reason songwriting at WYL is not a specialty bolted onto otherwise traditional lessons. Many of the people teaching piano, guitar and voice here are also professional songwriters, composers, performers and recording artists.
Songwriters who teach here
There is no single WYL songwriting teacher because there is no single kind of songwriter.
Some students need a pianist who can open up harmony. Some need a guitarist. Some need a singer who can help shape melody and lyrics. We make the match around the student and the music they want to make.
Voice · piano · songwriting
Jazz-trained vocalist and songwriter whose lessons connect the ear, harmony, keyboard, voice and song. Especially strong for singers and students whose interests cross between instruments.
Piano · guitar · voice · songwriting + more
Multi-instrumentalist, composer and longtime WYL teacher with an NYU master’s concentration in songwriting. Charlie can follow an idea across instruments and turn it into a real musical project.
Piano · guitar · voice · songwriting
Songwriter, performer and teaching artist who has helped private students write, record and produce original music and has led young musicians through collaborative composition projects.
Guitar · voice · piano · songwriting
Guitarist, songwriter and producer with a master’s in songwriting from NYU. Dewey brings arranging, production and contemporary styles into patient, practical lessons for young musicians.
Voice · performance · songwriting
Professional singer, songwriter and bandleader who can help students connect vocal technique with interpretation, performance, lyrics and developing an original sound.
Composition · production · instruments + more
Our faculty is broader than this list. Tell us what the student wants to make and Will can match the instrument, personality and creative direction to the right teacher.
Who it is for
Songwriting at WillYouLearn
Tell us about the student, the instrument, the music they love, where you are and what they are curious about. You do not need to know which teacher you want. That part is our job.
