Happy 77th Birthday, "Professor" Roy Bittan, and congrats on finally getting a steady teaching gig!
- Letters To You
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
July 2, 2026
Happy Birthday to "Professor" Roy Bittan, who turns 77 today, and best wishes for many more Happy Birthdays to come. Y'know, you'd think that a guy known as the "Professor" would have gotten some extensive teaching and tutoring experience under his belt by now. But it actually was only a few weeks ago when Professor Bittan finally began his first steady teaching gig. He currently can be found giving keyboard lessons - of course - on a daily basis at the acclaimed Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ:
Each day, Bittan teaches visitors at the University's Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music how to play the signature riff that he developed for "Born in the U.S.A." The lesson - included with admission to the Center - is offered exclusively in the Center's Jimmy Iovine "In-Studio" Room, and on a virtual basis only.
The Professor is an effective and patient educator, too, even if he's completely pre-recorded and accessible only onscreen. He explains the riff step-by-step, and demonstrates the playing of it so that his students then can try their own hands at playing it. We students can even witness him commit an error while playing. By all accounts, such an error is something he rarely - if ever - does in the studio or onstage, which has us wondering if maybe, just maybe he's only pretending to make that "mistake" in order to make all of us novices feel a bit better about our own fumbling attempts to follow his lead. Hmm...
This isn't the first time that Professor Bittan has been seen teaching on the Monmouth U. campus, either. Last September, he actually showed up in person to help educate a large classroom full of Born to Run scholars about the making of that classic Bruce Springsteen album, Bittan's first as a member of the E Street Band.
Speaking of the E Street Band, while we're glad to see The Professor finally teaching on a regular basis, we're also glad to see that this new university gig won't interfere at all with his continuing to make beautiful music with Bruce Springsteen whenever he is called upon to do so. So, again... Happy Birthday, "Professor" Roy Bittan! Long may you continue to tickle - and teach - those keys!
