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 Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS); Division of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science (EECS) within the Faculty of Engineering; and the MIT Schwarzman School of Computing.
“The launch of a brand new graduate program in music expertise strikes me as each a needed and a provocative gesture — an vital leap in an period being quickly redefined by exponential progress in computation, synthetic intelligence, and human-computer interactions of each conceivable sort,” says Jay Scheib, head of the MIT Music and Theater Arts Part and the Class of 1949 Professor.
“Music performs a chic position on the fore of a outstanding convergence of artwork and expertise,” provides Scheib. “It’s the correct time to launch this program and if not at MIT, then the place?”
MIT’s practitioners outline music expertise as the sphere of scientific inquiry the place they examine, uncover, and develop new computational approaches to music that embody music info retrieval; synthetic intelligence; machine studying; generative algorithms; interplay and efficiency techniques; digital instrument design; conceptual and perceptual modeling of music; acoustics; audio sign processing; and software program improvement for artistic expression and music functions.
Eran Egozy, professor of the apply in music expertise and one of many program leads, says MIT’s focus is technical analysis in music expertise that at all times facilities the humanistic and inventive facets of creating music.
“There are such a lot of MIT college students who’re fabulous musicians,” says Egozy. “We’ll method music expertise as pc 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 fascinated by music and computation examine, getting ready high-impact graduates for roles in academia and trade, whereas additionally serving to mildew artistic, big-picture thinkers who can sort out massive challenges.
Investigating large 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 routinely 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 routinely awarded to all admitted college students. Functions for this program will open in fall 2025.
- The PhD program is on the market to all college students, who would apply to MIT’s Faculty 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 help human-AI partnerships in music-making.
“As a composer turned AI researcher who makes a speciality of generative music expertise, my long-term objective is to develop AI techniques that may shed new gentle 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 functions can illuminate issues in understanding neural networks, for instance.”
MIT’s new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Constructing, that includes enhanced music expertise areas, can even assist rework music schooling with versatile efficiency venues and optimized rehearsal amenities.
A pure house 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 house 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 Faculty of Engineering is partnering with the MIT Music and Theater Arts Part on this vital initiative, which represents the convergence of varied engineering areas — resembling AI and design — with music,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, chief innovation and technique officer, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of EECS. “I can’t wait to see the revolutionary tasks the scholars will create and the way they’ll drive this new discipline ahead.”
“Everybody on campus is aware of that MIT is a superb place to do music. However I need folks 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 Faculty of Engineering will make that dream a actuality, by bringing collectively the world’s finest engineers with our extraordinary musicians to create the following 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, getting ready them to advance new approaches to computational fashions of music and be on the forefront of an evolving space.”
