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California Institute of the Arts

MFA: Music Technology

The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts

Two floor-to-ceiling screens at 90 degrees to one another display projections of ethereal concentric circles with tree branches impinging from the top and bottom

McLean J. Macionis (MFA 19), Where Is the Quiet?

Interaction, Intelligence, and Design

Experimentation has been a central component of a CalArts education since its founding, a theme exemplified by the MFA Program in Music Technology: Interaction, Intelligence, and Design (MTIID). As a graduate student in the program, you’ll take your skills to the highest level as an artist, musician, and technologist adept at the creation of sonic and multimedia art. With an emphasis on the sonic arts, courses cover subjects such as electrical engineering, computer science, physics, acoustics, and mathematics, alongside immersion in electronic music composition, production, and performance. 

A person sits cross legged with an amp in their lap. They manipulate it with their hands.

Interested in this program?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.  

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Create the sound you want to hear

MFA Music Technology: Interaction, Intelligence, and Design

CalArts’ two-year MFA in Music Technology: Interaction, Intelligence, and Design (MTIID) curriculum is designed to prepare you for a career focusing on electronic composition and performance, sound design and synthesis, web/multimedia design, audio electronics, immersive environment design, recording, software development, interactive audio—or maybe a career no one’s even thought of yet. 

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Where the wild things play

A lone performer plays a saxophone, standing in the middle of an empty stage in a futuristic bandshell with a lawn in front and trees and sky in the background.

The composer Morton Feldman used the term “Wild Beast” as a metaphor for the ineffable generative force in art—making it the ideal name for CalArts’ iconic variable-use, indoor-outdoor music pavilion.

As a graduate student, you’ll expand your musicianship skills as you explore and advance the possibilities of 21st-century music technology. Guided by your faculty mentor, your studies will range from custom software design, physical computing for human-computer interaction, and electromechanical systems for mechatronic performance to many contemporary music subjects and elective options such as robotics, machine learning and mobile music computing. As you concentrate on gaining and refining advanced creative engineering skills, you’ll work toward developing an MFA thesis project, required for completing the degree.

Your coursework will cover topics in creative technology, programming for electronic music and other digital media, sound art, interface design, audio signal processing, interactive systems, software development, and music technology pedagogy. As an MFA student, you’ll also take part in digital performance ensembles, either in standing groups such as the Machine Orchestra, Sonic Boom, Creative Electronic Ensemble, and Improvisation Ensemble, or groups formed specifically in connection with classes.

All graduate programs in The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts are designed to equip advanced students with the skill sets you’ll need to stake out a place for your unique vision and reach the highest levels of professional practice. The curriculum is stimulating and challenging, and fosters a collaborative learning environment in which music and sound artists—students and faculty alike—work together to refine and perfect their already distinctive voices, while simultaneously exploring new and inspiring creative territories.

All MTIID students are required to fulfill all course requirements and pass a mid-residency and graduation recital in order to earn the degree.

Explore more about the MTIID program

Admission requirements

To be considered for the BFA program in Music Technology, you must complete an application and all program-specific requirements. Due to its specialized and highly selective nature, before applying, students should email a brief description of their musical and technical background to the program director. See the application requirements for more details. 

View application requirements

Degree requirements

Each CalArts music student designs their course of study in collaboration with a faculty mentor. 
The program of study is designed to be a stimulating and challenging, collaborative learning environment, in which music and sound artists can refine and perfect their already distinctive voices to reach the highest levels of professional practice, while simultaneously exploring new and inspiring creative territories.

View MFA Music Technology academic requirements

Interdisciplinary opportunities

In addition to CalArts’ naturally collaborative atmosphere, the Institute provides several programs of study that can be pursued concurrently with a student’s chosen metier, such as a concentration in Arts Education or Integrated Media.

MFA concentrations

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as an MFA Music Technology student? Browse the courses offered in the School of Music, including opportunities to study jazz, world music, experimental pop, film scoring, improvisation, electronic music, composition, vocal performance, African and Balinese ensembles, and much more.

School of Music courses

Meet the faculty

At CalArts, faculty and students are collaborators, teaching, learning, and working together as members of our community of artists. 

Projects, people, and research

Inventing new products, technologies, and instruments; staging world-class performances; and recording compilation albums showcasing our future stars are just some of the projects hatched in the MTIID program each semester. 

Small groups of musical instruments, stands, speakers, and technology are arranged on a large white floor. Some people play the instruments while others watch or walk around.

Meason Wiley, Hemispherical Speakers

What will you make?

In Music Technology, students are encouraged to develop their own tools, such as original software for composition and performance or custom-built instruments. This can involve programming, circuit design, and hardware hacking.

Eight thumbnail images of instruments made by students in the CalArts Music Technology program.

TEDx talk with MTIID Program Director Ajay Kapur: “Composing, programming, and performing musical robots”

Gallery

Some of our alumni

More School of Music alumni

School of Music Events

See all School of Music events

  • Performance School of Music

    Join us as the vocalists of CalArts sing some of their recent favorites. What are…

    Sun, Oct 20 / 8:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Performance School of Music

    A lovely concert of chamber music performed by students and faculty, followed by a Porto's…

    Tue, Oct 22 / 8:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Performance School of Music

    A concert of music by Brandon Becker (MFA 2023) who with his passing earlier this…

    Fri, Oct 18 / 8:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

The Futures of Music

Volker Straebel, dean of The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, asks students and colleagues to reimagine how musicians make music and build connections with listeners.

School of Music dean Volker Straebel sits at a soundboard.

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.