Elizabethtown College students are about to learn all too well how to be mastermind musicians. Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Taylor Swift will be joining Etown’s music department to teach a class on songwriting.
After earning an honorary doctorate from New York University (NYU) in May 2022, Swift decided to pursue teaching as a way to give back to the fans who have allowed her to have a successful career. As a Pennsylvania native, the choice to teach at Etown was an easy one for the singer.
Swift will be teaching MU 213: Songwriting Across Genres in the fall semester. This two-credit course will be held Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m., and it will cover the intricacies of writing a hit song, including how to write Swift’s famous bridges. Pop, folk and country music will all be genres covered in the course.
While music majors and minors are encouraged to take Songwriting Across Genres, all students are able to register for the course. No prerequisites currently exist, and there are only 13 seats available, but the music department will revisit this choice once they determine how popular the course is.
Determined students can apply to complete research under Swift, as well. The research will entail intense study of Swift’s album-creation process from start to finish. Students who complete the research will also have the chance to have their name credited on one of Swift’s future songs.
Currently, Swift is on the U.S. leg of her Eras tour, a musical celebration of all her albums. The final show scheduled for the tour is in Los Angeles on Aug. 9. With classes here at the College starting on Aug. 21, this will give Swift plenty of time to do any last-minute course planning before she will be meeting students.
Students have had mixed responses to the news about Swift teaching at Etown. Fans of her music–also known as “Swifties”–are thrilled to have such an influential star on campus.
“I absolutely cannot believe that Taylor Swift is coming to teach at Etown,” senior Lizvette Pappaterra said. “I think there is so much we are going to learn from her since she has so much experience writing music. This is going to be such an incredible opportunity for Etown students interested in learning how to write their own songs!”
Although Pappaterra will be graduating in May, she still would love to take Swift’s songwriting class.
“As a music therapy major, I have to write many songs for different clients that I work with, and I think she will have a lot of good tips for writing songs that other people can relate to,” Pappaterra said.
Other students are a bit more critical of Swift’s arrival to Etown.
“While I think Taylor Swift teaching at Etown is a great opportunity for students, it is a huge step down from the successes she has right now,” sophomore Michael Sagedy said. “It will be a very big class for this campus, but not for me.”
Unlike Pappaterra, Sagedy does not have any interest in taking Songwriting Across Genres.
“I think that I already have significant songwriting credits, so I would not want to take a class with her teaching it,” he said. “I would not benefit from anything she would teach me.”
Regardless of opinions on the singer, Etown will surely be put on the map soon as the “place to be” to learn from music superstar Swift.
