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For official detailed information on Music Technology curriculum please see the catalog site maintained by the university registrar. New and perspective students should choose the most recent catalog. Current students can check their progress by doing a degree audit at the undergraduate student portal or view course descriptions.

Sample Curriculum
Sample 4 Year Plan
Sample 5 Year Plan
Combined Major in Computer Science and Music with Concentration in Music Technology
Combined Major in Interactive Media and Music with Concentration in Music Technology

The Music Technology program offers a varied curriculum that includes courses focused on the acquisition of skills and techniques related to music composition balanced with courses that involve original creative projects. In addition, students take private composition lessons each semester they are in school, except when they are in a Music Composition seminar. Mixed with that are the courses required of all Music majors, which include several semesters of music theory and musicianship, courses in music history and general education courses required by the University. Students also have the opportunity to take free electives from outside their major.

In the first year, students take Music Technology I and Music Technology II in successive semesters. These courses use Curtis Roads’ Computer Music Tutorial (MIT Press) as the course text and introduce students to a range of topics such as sound synthesis, sampling, MIDI, digital audio, and basic acoustics within a compositional context. Students study the underlying theoretical basis of each of these topics, listen to music that employs them (where appropriate) and learn software tools that allow for their implementation on the desktop, then compose original pieces that use them. Among the synthesis methods covered in the first year are FM, AM, granular, and physical modeling. Other major topics include spectral analysis, analysis/resynthesis and convolution. The first year also includes a course in instrumentation and notation.

In the second year, students take Digital Audio Processing, which focuses on studio production techniques such as miking, multi-tracking, mixing and mastering on the desktop. Students also take their first Music Composition Seminar this semester and have the opportunity to hear their works performed by live musicians. This class brings together students at similar levels in the program in an interactive, group environment. Students present both works in progress and completed work to the class for feedback and critique.

The second year also includes continued work in music theory and private composition lessons, as well as the first in the sequence of Music History (Historical Traditions) courses. This semester, students can also take their Music Tech elective, which allows them to pick a class related to their major, for example, Sound Design or perhaps, Video Basics (students may request a course for approval as their elective even if it is not listed on the approved class list).

The third year brings additional historical context to the program, as students will take (in alternate years) either History of Electronic Music or a Historical Traditions course focusing on 20th and 21st century music. Concurrently, the Music Analysis class allows students to examine music of a wide range of eras at a high level, while Composition Seminar II focuses on techniques for which a computer is best suited. Topics range from microtonal music to algorithmic composition to simulating acoustic instruments using digital tools.

The fourth year includes the class Interactive Real-time Performance. This course covers current techniques of using a computer in a live-performance setting, most often in conjunction with a human performer. Cycling ’74′s Max/MSP software is used as the tool to implement the course content. As noted, History of Electronic Music or Historical Traditions: 20th Century Music will also be taken.

In the fall of their fifth year, students take Composition for Electronic Instruments, which covers a number of advanced compositional techniques and allows students to work with long forms. The course requires that students compose several extended works employing the various techniques they have explored through the semester.

The fifth year concludes with the required Music Technology Capstone/Senior Recital, in which a small group of students prepare a public concert of their work under the tutelage of a faculty member.

Coop opportunities, if elected, are available for Music Technology students beginning in the spring of the third year and again if the spring of the fourth year. Students also have the option of completing the Music Technology curriculum in four year if no coops are taken.