Digital Musics

The Masters Program in Digital Musics is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to exploring the interrelationships among music, composition and performance, design, technology, cognitive neuroscience, computer science, acoustics, and related disciplines. 

Graduate students can take a wide range of courses across the College, includuding but not limited to those in Computer Science, Engineering, Perception and Cognition, Neuroscience, Mathematics, Philosophy, Languages, and Art.

While in the program, students are encouraged to pursue and develop their individual goals, and their work may be directed towards creative, research, theoretical, or technical topics. We are interested in students who are highly motivated and who want to help redefine the future of music and technology.

The graduate program is small, friendly and intense. There are usually six graduate students who work with each other and graduate program faculty on a daily basis. Because students bring a wide variety of background and experience to the program, it is common, for example, for a student with a strong computer science background to assist a composer on a highly technical and innovative project. Conversely, experienced composers often guide and assist students without previous compositional experience. Faculty and students collaborate in a wide variety of ways, working together on projects both formally and informally, and a sense of community is encouraged.

Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree (M.A.) in Digital Musics

1. A minimum of seven terms in residence.
2. Demonstrated experience and expertise on an acoustic musical instrument; an understanding of Western music theory that includes four-part harmony, modulation, and form and analysis; a knowledge of musical styles that includes the music of the world’s peoples, twentieth-century art music, American popular music and traditional Western art music.
3. Enrollment in the Proseminars in Music and Technology (MUS 101-105), given each term, for a total of 6 graduate seminars. Students generally take each Proseminar at least once, Composition (MUS 104), twice.
4. A number of electives in different disciplines (as well as music), including, but not limited to engineering, psychology, computer science, mathematics and physics. The electives and the specific courses in computer science and engineering will depend on the student’s background and area of specialization within the program. Electives may be used to remedy deficiencies in mathematics, computer science, engineering, or music. 
5. Directed research (thesis courses). Two courses (MUS 138) taken under the joint supervision of a member of the music faculty and a member of another cooperating department.
6. A thesis approved by the student’s graduate committee demonstrating a mastery of the materials in the student’s area of concentration within the program.

Digital music requires knowledge and skills in music, computer science, engineering or physics, as well as some significant expertise in one or more of these disciplines. In addition to music, graduate students in our program may bring to bear experience in other, widely diverse fields (such as visual art, philosophy, mathematics, etc.). Candidates for admission to the Master of Arts program often satisfy one or more of the following criteria:

• Music: A bachelors degree in music or equivalent experience and demonstrated accomplishment in musical composition and/or performance.
• Computer Science: A bachelors degree in computer science or equivalent experience. This might include knowledge of applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, or related areas of science and engineering.
• Engineering Sciences or Physics: A bachelors degree in engineering sciences or physics, or equivalent experience. This could include a knowledge of acoustics, digital electronics and microprocessors, techniques of modeling and analyzing systems, or general hardware design.
• Music Cognition: Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the field.
• Proven excellence or demonstrated potential in some other field, in preparation for advanced work in electro-acoustic music.
• GRE.
• IELTS or TOEFL

Master’s students are generally awarded a full tuition scholarship, as well as an annual stipend, which typically allows students to devote full-time to their studies. The acceptance of financial support entails a commitment to a variety of activities and responsibilities vis a vis the graduate program and the studio: including studio management and development, research, informal teaching, and full participation in the artistic and intellectual life of the program. Occasionally,  graduate students may serve informally as research or teaching assistants in the Departments of Music, Psychology, Computer Science, or the Thayer School of Engineering. 

Only three new students admitted each year.