Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| Music and Theater Arts invites students to explore these disciplines as artistic practices and as cultural, intellectual and personal avenues of inquiry and discovery. Students may pursue concentrations, minors or majors in either Music or Theater, as well as joint majors with Engineering or Science. Music and Theater Arts invites students to explore these disciplines as artistic practices and as cultural, intellectual and personal avenues of inquiry and discovery. Students may pursue concentrations, minors or majors in either Music or Theater, as well as joint majors with Engineering or Science. The Music program develops students’ creativity, talent, research ability and aesthetic sensibility through performance, composition, history, culture, technology and analysis. The understanding of the various facets of music is cultivated through both the making and the study of music, in close contact with professors, performers, conductors, coaches and scholars. The scope of musical investigation and experience incorporates classical, vernacular, and experimental traditions from a wide range eras and cultures, western and non-western. |
| Composition and Theory | The composition curriculum helps student composers develop their skills regardless of prior experience. Students can receive compositional training and performances in a wide variety of genres, from the avant-garde to classical tonality, from jazz arranging to electronic music. Advanced students participate in a composition seminar, which includes opportunities for readings (informal performances) by professional ensembles and the MIT Symphony Orchestra. Composition is also an integral part of many other music subjects, from Jazz Composition and Computer Music to the Harmony / Counterpoint sequence, where students compose original pieces in various period styles. |
| The theory curriculum covers an equally wide range and accommodates all skill levels, giving students a solid grounding in the harmonic and contrapuntal techniques of tonal music, as well as expanding into contemporary practices in both classical music and jazz. Our composition faculty includes Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison, and highly regarded and widely performed, distinguished composers Evan Ziporyn, Peter Child, Keeril Makan, Elena Ruehr and Charles Shadle. | |
| Music Technology | MTA offers a small but highly regarded set of classes in music technology for students wishing to connect their engineering side with their musical side. Introductory topics include recording techniques, mixing and mastering in digital audio workstations, and sound design. Our more advanced classes require a command of music theory and computer programming. Interactive Music Systems blends audio synthesis, real-time graphics, and interaction design. Fundamentals of Music Processing explores the algorithmic analysis of digital audio, such as beat-tracking, chord-recognition, and music fingerprinting. All music technology courses are project-based and include end-of-term public presentations (open houses and/or performances). |
| Performance | The music performance program offers all MIT students (graduate and undergraduate) vocal and instrumental options in the areas of classical, jazz and world music. These include MIT Symphony Orchestra, MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Chamber Chorus, MIT Concert Choir, the Festival Jazz Ensemble, a Balinese gamelan (Gamelan Galak Tika), a Senegalese drumming ensemble (Rambax MIT), and the brand new MIT Laptop Ensemble. Additionally, the Chamber Music Societyoffers expert coaching and performance in small, classical instrumental and vocal ensembles, jazz combos and a jazz choir. All these performance groups are led by our select faculty of renowned composers, performers, and historians and are available for academic credit if desired. |
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