Artificial Intelligence in Music
Master of Music in Composition*
With the focuses:
- Music Design
- Electro-acoustic composition
- Instrumental composition
Part of the joint project "Artificial Intelligence Services and Systems - KISS", funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (German: BMBF).
*Accreditation applied for
AI and Music in the Program
Artificial Intelligence has changed all living and working areas as well as the creative process. We now have the chance to rethink art and AI and practice them. The new focus area AI in Music Design provides space for this: an innovative offering for the developing artistic-technical career field in the area of artificial intelligence and music.
Algorithmic methods and AI technologies are understood here as the material, tools, and expansion of artistic thought and should be explored, developed, and critically questioned in terms of their aethestic potential in a diverse range of courses and in independent project work. Building on a music-related degree, the program with focus area AI enables an exciting further development of one's own artistic work and the critical and ethical reflection of the creative process.
In the three focus areas (Music Design, electro-acoustic music, instrumental/vocal composition), the following accentuations in the Master of Music in Composition can be set: electronic and acousmatic music, computer music, artificial intelligence and intelligent systems, sound art, sound design, media composition (Film, theater, audio dramas, games, computer programs, installations, interactive apps, etc.).
The program offers a flexible framework for the further development of one's own artistic personality. Students are able to move in interdisciplinary, medial, and applied contexts and to design and implement explorative, artistic research projects.
The Three Focal Points
The Music Design focus area concentrates on the development of innovative, experimental, and applied contexts for sound and music. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and VR/AR with musical, technical, performative, and design conceptions form sound, dramaturgy, sound design, and form are combined and tested in practice. The formats of artistic results range from performances and installations to musical productions and interactives apps.
The focus is on the individual and collective explorative work with musicians, performers, and ensembles. Questions about interpretation, compositional technique, listening, notation, ensemble playing, performance and issues of instrumental playing techniques are dealt with in relation to current technological and aesthetic developments. Here, algorithmic methods and live electronics play an essential role. The course offering supports overlapping with neighboring practices such as sound art, music design, and electro-acoustic music.
The electro-acoustic composition focus area places composition with digital media and algorithmic methods in the foreground. Key content includes sound synthesis and analysis, development of interfaces, ambient sound, dealing with hardware and data and dealing with current technology such as artificial intelligence. Against the backdrop of current aesthetic discourse from acousmatic music, sound art, and computer music, students learn to develop an individual artistic position.
FAQ
Up to ten per year.
The majors "Music Design," "instrumental/vocal," and "electro-acoustic" each finish with the academic degree "Master of Music" (M. Mus.) in Music, in the composition subject, which is only awarded at musical conservatories.
Two years (four semesters)
The entrance examination consists of two phases. In the first phase, the following documents must be submitted along with all the usual application documents (by post, flash drive with 1GB max):
- Letter of Motivation for the program (max. 1 page)
- Curriculum vitae including chronological list of musical activities to date
- Media documentation of your own works with explanation (at least 2 pages)
- Exposé - desscription of the artistic project (max. pages)
After examining the documents, the examination commission will select candidates for in-person presentation in Trossingen. This second phase consists of an interview about the submitted works and exposé (approximately 30 minutes).
Not all applicants can be invited to the entrance examination. There is a preselection based on the submitted application documents.
At the Trossingen University of Music (in cooperation with the University in Furtwangen). The bulk of the courses take places in Trossingen or "Latent Space" in Schwenningen.
Students from EU countries don't have to pay any tuition fees, as long as it isn't a second degree within Germany (Zweitstudium). Students from outside the EU can find more information here. An administrative fee and the student union fee are charged to all students each semester.
Yes, the program entitles you to support from BAfög according to the legal requirements.
(NB, BAfög - Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz or Federal Education and Training Assistance Act is a German need-based financial aid program. You are not eligible for BAfög if your residency status in Germany is based on your studies, ie a student visa or student-based residence permit)
Yes, a corresponding university degree (e.g. Bachelor) from an accredited institution is required.
No, however, depending on the content of the master's program, a high level of creativity and problem-solving as well as relevant software and programming languages are recommended. Alternatively, it is advisable to apply if you have the knowledge and a strong interest in the specified areas in the module handbook, and the motivation to develop knowledge in parallel in self-study.
Composers and music designers work arbeiten either employed or self-employed in the areas of composition, audio/sound design, media production, music technology, audio supervision, and sound design for production houses (music, video, computer applications and games, advertising), agencies (advertising agencies, commercial agencies, web agencies, and event agencies), radio and TV stations, and in music schools and conservatories.
Projects in practice-oriented research are a component of the program and open additional fields of activities such as interdisciplinary artistic-scientific research and development. There are also workshops, including the offerings of our "Latent Space" and the "HfM-Start-up Werkbank" (depending on availability.
Artificial Intelligence Services & Systems
The Trossingen University of Music and Furtwangen University have cooperated for many years in the border areas between music and information technology up to artificial intelligence. In 2010 the joint bachelor program started in the fields of tension between music, digital media, and information technology. Young people with an affinity for music and sound create the sounds of the future in an innovative, musically ambitious manner and in interdisciplinary teamwork. The cornerstore for the insight-driven major in the area of digitality in art, research and teaching was thereby laid. Furthermore, in 2016 the state center MUSIK–DESIGN–PERFORMANCE opened and since then has worked as a bridge-building between the digital world and musical tradition.
On the fruitful soil of this cooperation now stands the Project Artificial Intelligence Services and Systems (KISS), which is supported by the BMBF. This center of competence is being expanded from the Trossingen University of Music with the major AI in Music across all types of universities. The core is the AI lab Latent Space. It offers technical resources and rooms for artistic experiments and technological innovations as part of Die Halle Startup and Creative Center in Schwennigen. This sound lab is used collaboratively by both partners, bringing together creative and technological expertise and enabling this new interdisciplinary mobility. AI is explored as a tool to expand artistic expression in various fields of application, such as the development of new compositional methods, the analysis, classification and generation of sound properties or the development of new forms of interaction with sound and music.
