The violinist who helped start a mariachi band

Samuel Wu, trained as a classical violinist, did not want a conservatory where education classes were an add-on. He picked Steinhardt because its music education programme put teaching first. At NYU he followed his curiosity: he was a founding member of Mariachi Violetas de NYU and took a course in which student composers wrote for live players. His own music now blends violin with looping and improvisation.

Field placements in a Bronx middle school and an elementary school near Steinhardt gave him classroom time before graduation, and he says his professors kept learning alongside the students. After his Bachelor of Music in 2024 he took a Master of Music in musicology at King’s College London. Next comes a fully funded PhD in music education at the University of Toronto, studying the emotional labour of music teachers and the pressure on arts advocates as resources shrink.

He still hopes to teach, ideally at the elementary level, where he thinks children are most open to creativity. The band he helped found is the subject of a story later in this issue.