Music Tech degree awaits approval

A new master’s degree in Music Technology is pending approval from the Board of Regents. The degree will be offered from the Music Department within the College of Architecture.

“If the Board of Regents gives approval…which I think should happen…then we will start accepting students immediately. There is no reason to wait,” said Frank Clark, director of the Music Department.

This new degree is a step in what has been an ongoing project from the College of Architecture to expand the music program on campus. The Music Technology degree is planned to be a fully interdisciplinary program. This is the first Tech degree that combines performing art with technology.

“The exciting thing is that interdisciplinary is the watch word for this program and…we are starting to see the confluence of disciplines. The most exciting thing is that having viewed the marketplace it became very clear that the vast majority of careers that combine music and technology have yet to be invented. The students in the program have the potential to define the future of music and technology,” Clark said.

The degree will require 48 credit hours and will be involve a large amount of research. The program will start by offering students a concentration in Computer Music Research and Engineering. The program plans to offer another concentration, one geared toward music production, as the program grows over the next several years.

Scott Driscoll, a current Music Technology graduate student, has already started research developing a robotic drumming interface. “I use to be a Mechanical Engineer and I’ve been making a robot that plays the drums and listens to other players at the same time. We are interested in making an interface for audience and players to interact with the robot in a more natural way,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll said that he is excited about helping to start a new program. “I think it is really exciting because Tech is predominantly an engineering school and this is one of the first artistic degrees they’ll be offering. It is exciting to be part of a new program that is being developed from scratch. We’re kind of making our own rules and doing whatever is necessary,” Driscoll said.

Music Technology students will be able to take classes from a broad group of disciplines which includes Industrial Design, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Literature, Communication and Culture.

Clark said that the program hopes to accept around seven students in the short term and that they are looking for approximately 25 students to be in the program over the course of the next 18 to 24 months.

“We are looking for very multidisciplinary people. These are people who see the relationships between mechanical engineering and music. This program creates opportunities for people to combine music, technology, engineering, and performance so that they either become incredibly valuable employees to corporations, become performers themselves, or they may be designing completely new instruments,” Clark said.