A brand new, multidisciplinary MIT graduate program in music expertise and computation will characteristic school, labs, and curricula from throughout the Institute.
This system is a collaboration between the Music and Theater Arts Part within the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) and the College of Engineering. College for this system share appointments between the Music and Theater Arts Part, the Division of Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science (EECS), and the MIT Schwarzman School of Computing.
“The launch of a brand new graduate program in music expertise strikes me as each a essential and a provocative gesture — an essential leap in an period being quickly redefined by exponential development in computation, synthetic intelligence, and human-computer interactions of each conceivable form,” says Jay Scheib, head of the MIT Music and Theater Arts Part and the Class of 1949 Professor.
“Music performs a sublime position on the fore of a exceptional convergence of artwork and expertise,” provides Scheib. “It’s the appropriate time to launch this program and if not at MIT, then the place?”
MIT’s practitioners outline music expertise as the sector of scientific inquiry the place they research, uncover, and develop new computational approaches to music that embody music data retrieval; synthetic intelligence; machine studying; generative algorithms; interplay and efficiency methods; digital instrument design; conceptual and perceptual modeling of music; acoustics; audio sign processing; and software program improvement for inventive expression and music purposes.
Eran Egozy, professor of the follow in music expertise and one of many program leads, says MIT’s focus is technical analysis in music expertise that all the time facilities the humanistic and creative elements of constructing music.
“There are such a lot of MIT college students who’re fabulous musicians,” says Egozy. “We’ll method music expertise as laptop scientists, mathematicians, and musicians.”
With the launch of this new program — an providing alongside these obtainable in MIT’s Media Lab and elsewhere — Egozy sees MIT turning into the apparent vacation spot for college kids excited about music and computation research, making ready high-impact graduates for roles in academia and trade, whereas additionally serving to mildew inventive, big-picture thinkers who can deal with massive challenges.
Investigating massive concepts
This system will embody two grasp’s levels and a PhD:
- The Grasp of Science (MS) is a two-semester, thesis-based program obtainable solely to MIT undergraduates. One semester of fellowship is mechanically awarded to all admitted college students. The primary class will enroll in fall 2025.
- The Grasp of Utilized Science (MAS) is a two-semester, coursework-based program obtainable to all college students. One semester of fellowship funding is mechanically awarded to all admitted college students. Purposes for this program will open in fall 2025.
- The PhD program is out there to all college students, who would apply to MIT’s College of Engineering.
Anna Huang, a brand new MIT assistant professor who holds a shared school place between the MIT Music and Theater Arts Part and the MIT Schwarzman School of Computing, is collaborating with Egozy to develop and launch this system. Huang arrived at MIT this fall after spending eight years with Magenta at Google Mind and DeepMind, spearheading efforts in generative modeling, reinforcement studying, and human-computer interplay to assist human-AI partnerships in music-making.
“As a composer turned AI researcher who makes a speciality of generative music expertise, my long-term aim is to develop AI methods that may shed new mild on how we perceive, study, and create music, and to study from interactions between musicians in an effort to rework how we method human-AI collaboration,” says Huang. “This new program will allow us to additional examine how musical purposes can illuminate issues in understanding neural networks, for instance.”
MIT’s new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Constructing, that includes enhanced music expertise areas, may even assist rework music schooling with versatile efficiency venues and optimized rehearsal amenities.
A pure dwelling for music expertise
MIT’s world-class, top-ranked engineering program, mixed with its concentrate on computation and its conservatory-level music schooling choices, makes the Institute a pure dwelling for the continued enlargement of music expertise schooling.
The collaborative nature of the brand new program is the most recent instance of interdisciplinary work occurring throughout the Institute.
“I’m thrilled that the College of Engineering is partnering with the MIT Music and Theater Arts Part on this essential initiative, which represents the convergence of assorted engineering areas — reminiscent of AI and design — with music,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the College of Engineering, chief innovation and technique officer, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of EECS. “I can’t wait to see the modern initiatives the scholars will create and the way they are going to drive this new area ahead.”
“Everybody on campus is aware of that MIT is a good place to do music. However I need individuals to return to MIT due to what we do in music,” says Agustin Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of SHASS. “This excellent collaboration with the Schwarzman School of Computing and the College of Engineering will make that dream a actuality, by bringing collectively the world’s finest engineers with our extraordinary musicians to create the subsequent technology of music applied sciences.”
“The brand new grasp’s program affords college students an unparalleled alternative to discover the intersection of music and expertise,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman School of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of EECS. “It equips them with a deep understanding of this confluence, making ready them to advance new approaches to computational fashions of music and be on the forefront of an evolving space.”
