My Conversation with NYU Music Tech Director Paul Geluso
Recently, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to speak with Music Assistant Professor Paul Geluso, the Director of Music Technology at NYU Steinhardt. In the spring of 2022, I began to speak to professors across some of the nation’s music technology and music production programs to learn about how the subject is pursued at a collegiate level. I spoke to Professor Geluso for the first time in March of 2022, then spoke with him again this month to learn more specific aspects about NYU’s Music Technology Program.
NYU has some of the best collegiate music programs in the world–having birthed modern media trailblazers like Lauv and producer-duo Take a Daytrip–so I naturally wanted to learn more about what makes Steinhardt’s Music Technology Program so great. In my conversation with Professor Geluso, I learned countless things that made me appreciate NYU even more.
Firstly, NYU comprises multiple schools–including the Tisch School of the Arts and the Steinhardt School of Culture. Both are distinct schools within NYU that both offer music, however, what interests me is how they approach music differently from each other. The Tisch School–which includes the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music–is fundamentally an arts program, typically tailored to those pursuing more contemporary entertainment. Lady Gaga, Idina Menzel, and singer-songwriter FLETCHER are a few among countless other alumni. Music programs at the Steinhardt school are fundamentally more theory-based, and tailored for those who want to teach music, learn theory, and work at technology companies making audio and music technology. The Clive Davis Institute at the Tisch School focuses more on artist development, while Music Technology at the Steinhardt School focuses more on technological development. Within Steinhardt, Professor Geluso and other faculty perform extensive research surrounding audio engineering, immersive sound, auditory environments, and other concepts.
As somebody interested in music technology, music production, and the music business, I found myself in an overlap between the two schools. What makes them so great is that both schools, although separate from each other, share a lot with each other. Students in either school are encouraged to participate in the offerings of the other–meaning Tisch students can still take classes at Steinhardt and Steinhardt students can still take classes at Tisch. Those enrolled in Steinhardt who fundamentally want to pursue music technology to develop musical software tools could still take songwriting, production, and music industry classes at Tisch. That intersection between both schools at NYU I feel makes the two programs infinitely more valuable.
As NYU is such a renowned university in one of the world’s most connected cities, the school unsurprisingly comes with abundant resources. Talented students and faculty and robust internship programs are simply a few of what makes NYU so ideal. Students at NYU apply the program’s resources to a project if they are an undergraduate, and Masters and Ph.D. students focus on research. Music Technology at the Steinhardt School is undeniably engaging, and I am so thankful Professor Geluso took the time to help me learn all about it.
Learn more about Music Technology at NYU
Learn more about Professor Paul Geluso
