“I am eager to dive deeper into music technology—a field where the beauty of the humanities intersects with scientific innovation, creativity, and inclusivity.”
Ashley Wang, Creativitas 2025
Creativitas 2026 Preview
November 22-23: Two Day online introduction to Creativitas and Music Technology
The 2026 preview program has concluded - if you were an attendee click here to answer a short questionnaire about your interests
Creativitas is a course exploring the powerful blending of creativity and technology, demonstrating how STEM knowledge can be a tool for artistic expression. While enrolled in Creativitas students will explore this intersection by designing and programming their own digital musical tools, and learning how to use technology to shape sound and create original music. Through hands-on projects, they will learn the fundamentals of music technology, sound synthesis, and digital composition, culminating in a short musical performance.
This two-day online intensive provides a preview of the full Creativitas program, offering students the opportunity to explore how music technology shapes the landscape of contemporary music and how research in this field is driving the future of musical practice. Professors and students from MIT will introduce core concepts in the design of new music technologies and share their current research and creative work in music composition and performance. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on activities, students will gain insight into the creative and technical potential of music technology.
Syllabus
Session 1: Music Technology as a Research Area
8:45-9:00 HKT Saturday November 22 Pre-session orientation
9:00-10:30 HKT Saturday November 22
What research in music tech looks like
Overview of current research from MIT, Stanford, Goldsmith’s, and Georgia Tech
Session 2: Electronic music performance tools
11:00-12:30 HKT Saturday November 22
Sound synthesis
Modular synthesis
Live Coding
Session 3: DJ Culture and Technique
9:00-10:30 HKT Sunday November 23
Evolution of DJ performance
Turntables and digital DJing techniques
Session 4: AI and generative music practice
11:00-12:30 HKT Sunday November 23
Machine learning vs. generative AI in music composition
Agentic AI as musical partners