The NYU Steinhardt Concentration in Songwriting, which is positioned within the Masters degree (M.M.) of our Music Theory and Composition Program, is devoted to helping our students become the best songwriters they can be, in genres, styles, and approaches they define. Our goal is not to try to "teach" students how to become hit songwriters (something we don’t believe is teachable, anyhow). Rather, we provide access to the wide range of tools employed by composers and lyricists whose work has distinguished them as important practitioners of the art and craft of song.

The vision and experience of our faculty, like GRAMMY^®-nominated songwriter Phil Galdston, who serves as Faculty Songwriter-in-Residence and artistic director, help students to engage and explore songwriting with breadth, depth, and fierce individuality. The Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions, which we present in collaboration with the Songwriters Hall of Fame, have featured such luminariers as Jimmy Webb, Hal David, Glenn Frey, and Nile Rodgers. These unique master classes, in tandem with other innovative programs, provide our students with unparalleled access to the some of the foremost music-makers of our time.

Through our curriculum, our students have the opportunity to study songwriting and related arts in a number of different settings:

• Private, one-on-one classes; 
• As part of Songwriters Forum (12-15 students) and
• In hands-on performance, production, arranging and engineering classes in the studio environment.

Music business, arts administration, and copyright law courses are available, as well. In addition, our students derive the countless advantages of enrollment in an outstanding liberal arts program at one of the world’s great universities.

SONGWRITING: M.M. in Music Theory and Composition

Dr. Ron Sadoff, Director of Songwriting, ron.sadoff@nyu.edu

Phil Galdston, NYU Songwriter-in-Residence, peg233@nyu.edu