Since 2023, I’ve been teaching in-person classical composer music courses in Tucson. I’ve had to do all the work myself (preparation, venue, recruitment, publicity, etc.) because none of the existing continuing education organizations in the Tucson metro area offer evening and weekend classes. Moreover, the primary organization providing continuing education courses in Greater Tucson, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute—University of Arizona (OLLI-UA) adds the additional restriction that their advertised target audience includes no one under the age of 50. Since my music courses are expressly intended for anyone interested in learning more about classical music, high-school age and older, I have had to set about on my own with no organizational support whatsoever. It has not been easy.
Anyone who has attended a symphony or chamber music concert over the last few years will notice that audiences are generally dwindling and the vast majority that do attend these concerts are folks in their 60s, 70s, or older. In my own small but determined way, I am attempting to help reverse these trends by helping folks—especially younger folks—to see that classical music can be as exciting, meaningful, and inspirational as the best of whatever other kinds of music they’ve been listening to—even more so. I am teaching the kind of music classes that I wish someone had taught me when I was a young adult. Since my interest and expertise is in building audiences for classical music, both live performances and recorded music (because, let’s face it, there is a lot of great music that most of us will never have the opportunity to hear in live performance, no matter where we live), I focus mostly on listening enjoyment and the “life and times” of each composer rather than on music theory. Even though my courses are entitled Music for Listeners, I have no doubt that professional and amateur musicians will also enjoy the meticulously-researched “deep dive” into the life and music of each composer while at the same time helping them expand their repertoire.
Attracting younger music listeners to the courses I teach requires choosing a class time that is least likely to conflict with a prospective participant’s work schedule or—in the case of students—class schedule. For the courses I teach, I have generally settled on Saturdays from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Trying to reach the people in the Tucson metro area that would most benefit from my music courses has proved exceedingly difficult. So far, almost all of my students have comes from a Meetup group I started (also in 2023) and the Tucson Masterworks Chorale, where I am a member of the tenor section. Ideally, I would like to reach Classical 90.5 listeners (AZPM) and those that attend Tucson Symphony Orchestra concerts, but neither AZPM nor TSO offer public service announcements for non-profit community music events, and the cost of advertising with them is prohibitively expensive for an individual of modest means. I charge $20 per person for each music course I teach, and that covers my cost of renting the venue and little more. I want my courses to be affordable to all. Yes, it is a labor of love, but how to reach those that would most benefit from what I am doing?
I spend about half a year preparing each course that I teach, working on it each and every day (except when I am out of town which happens much less frequently than I would like). Given the enormous amount of time I invest in preparing each course, it would be a shame if I never had the opportunity to further refine and teach these courses again. At the time of this writing, I am currently teaching a course on Gustav Holst with twelve participants, and I have four other courses ready to be taught again at any time: Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Antonín Dvořák, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Here’s a link for an up-to-date list of past, present, and future courses that I will be teaching:
I am sure there must be others in the Tucson metro area who would like to teach for an organization that offers evening and weekend classes and thus is inclusive of both non-retired as well as retired folks. Right now, this is one of many unmet needs we have here in Southern Arizona.