ALL ABOUT MUSIC

Music and Theater Arts
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Department of Music and Theater Arts

Department of Music and Theater Arts

At MIT, the arts are widely practiced, performed, and celebrated - in corridors and classrooms, on stage and in the studio.

Hundreds of exhibitions, performances, and readings enliven MIT's campus annually, enhancing and enriching campus life while drawing tens of thousands of visitors from throughout the region.

Between 60 and 70 percent of incoming freshmen come to MIT with strong interests and involvement in the arts. Many pursue their artistic interests through participation in MIT's Music and Theater Arts Section, which provides numerous opportunities for students to develop artistically and intellectually.
Music

MIT's Music Program provides a challenging, rewarding undergraduate musical education for students at every level of preparation and talent. The music faculty includes internationally known composers and performers, and students may choose from a wide variety of offerings in performance, theory/analysis/composition, and music history/literature.

MIT students can major, double major, minor or concentrate in music. In addition to individual and class study in traditional and experimental music, students may participate in many performance groups directed by members of the faculty. These include the MIT Symphony and String Chamber Orchestras, Wind Ensemble, Festival Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Music Society, Concert Choir, Chamber Chorus, Gamelan Galak-Tika and the Senegalese performing ensemble, RAMBAX MIT.
Theater Arts

Through MIT's Theater Arts Program, students explore diverse theatrical forms and practices, from the scripted play to actor-created theater, from musical theater to the theater of identity politics. Courses range from playwriting to directing to set design, always reflecting a commitment to diverse aesthetics. Students participate in numerous curricular and extracurricular ensembles ranging from the curricular Dramashop to the extracurricular improv comedy troupe, Roadkill Buffet.

The Program welcomes students' unique cultural and individual perspectives in a collaborative environment that encourages inquiry as the cornerstone of both personal and artistic growth. Together, MIT Theater's faculty and students work together in search of expression, depth and mastery in the art of theater.American Idiot was a rarity of the 21st century: a bona fide four-quadrant hit, earning critical and commercial respect, roping in new fans young and old alike. It was so big it turned Green Day into something it had never been before -- respected, serious rockers, something they were never considered during their first flight of success with Dookie. Back then, they were clearly (and proudly) slacker rebels with a natural gift for a pop hook, but American Idiot was a big album with big ideas, a political rock opera in an era devoid of both protest rock and wild ambition, so its success was a surprise.