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Instructor Clifford Adams is dancing and singing to his students at the College Conservatory of Music every Wednesday and Thursday night.
He's in front of the class laughing and figuring out the technical difficulties with the stereo.
"One of the hardest part of teaching is keeping the students awake," said Adams.
So far he hasn't had a problem. In Adams' History of Rock and Roll class, paying attention is easy.
"You can't fall asleep," student Nick Leahy said.
A Kentucky boy at heart, Adams was born and raised in Fort Mitchell. He even married what he considers "a Kentucky girl" and made it over the state line to get his degree in theory from CCM in 1973.
His musical background began with piano lessons at age six, followed by trumpet in fifth grade and guitar around 1962.
"I have played in bands and performed live music all my life," said Adams.
In the mid '60s he was in a band called the Dingos, which sold 964 tickets for a reunion show in 2000.
In the '70s he played country music. In the '80s he was the "piano man" at Flanagan's Landing, located approximately where Paul Brown Stadium stands today.
In 1983, Adams had a local hit record titled Endlessly, an adult contemporary collaboration with Bengal's player Pat McIanlly.
When the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, his record went to No.9 on Q102 and he was featured in magazines including People and Sports Illustrated.
"So, I was famous for more than 15 minutes, more like 15 days," Adams said.
Adams is now in an oldies band called DejaVu.
But this Kentucky boy didn't think he would end up in front of a classroom full of students at UC.
"[UC] needed someone, they called me and I said yes," Adams said. "I was very nervous initially, but quickly warmed to it and I really love it now."
His students seem to love it also.
Once he has the attention of the class, he doesn't stop moving. He runs from standing in front of an overhead writing out doo-wop lyrics to working the impressive yet difficult to operate stereo system.
He goes over to the piano to pound out the songs his students just wrote. He belts out his students' freshly made songs, laughing right along with them.
Adams says rock 'n' roll is about mixing cultures like bringing the sound of Afro-Caribbean soul to mainstream America through doo-wop music or bringing people together by protesting injustices through Bob Dylan's lyrics.
Dylan once said, "I try to be a kinder person."
To Adams, that's the best advice you can give.
"The thing you'll regret at the end of your life is that you were not kinder," he said.
What he want his students to get out of the class?
"I hope my class provides students with a few intellectual tools to better understand and appreciate the various facets of the genre," he said. "In this sense, the class certainly has immediate, real world relevancy."
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