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History of Music at MIT

History of music goes back to the very beginning of MIT. In the beginning, music was played by small groups of students who just wanted to keep their musical skills toned. There were no large performances, but small casual parties where they played for fun. Since then, key figures have come through MIT that have shaped music at MIT into what it is today.

Important Figures

Klaus Liepmann – 1st MIT professor of music (1947)

Liepmann came into MIT with the idea to transform music at MIT. He understood that students at the institute, although engineers, wanted to learn about music and play music, so he thought that there should be no reason why the institute should not have a program for it. Under his supervision, the first concert band at MIT was born. Eventually Liepmann would be directing both the orchestra and choral group at MIT. In addition to starting the first band at MIT, he also hired other key professors who contributed in their own ways to music at MIT, including John Corluy and John Oliver.

Liepmann also help establish what is today known as the Lewis Library for Music at MIT. Before his time, students only had a lounge where they could listen to music. Today, the Lewis library has more money then some conservatories.

John Corluy – 1st founding Director of the MIT Concert band;

Came into MIT and eventually took over for Liepmann as Orchestra conductor. Stayed at MIT for about 51 years before retiring in ’99. In his time at MIT, he help broaden the variety of performed pieces for the MIT concert band. His idea was to be different and have composers commission specific pieces for the MIT band to play. By doing this, MIT musicians could stay up-to-date with what was being written in the musical world. Eventually the MIT concert band became what it is today as the MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE).

Herb Pomeroy – Started Jazz ensemble at MIT in 1963 (father of Jazz at MIT)

Herb Pomeroy came into MIT as a well known trumpet player who was well respected and his job was to help change Jazz at MIT. Before him the Jazz ensemble consisted of a student run group called the Techtonians. After he left, the Festival Jazz Ensemble at MIT gained much success and recognition. Pomeroy even helped take the MIT Jazz Ensemble to Switzerland for the Annual Jazz Festival in Montreax in 1970 making them one of the first college ensembles to appear in Montreax.

After his tragic death on August 11, 2007 at the age of 77, people of the musical world fell sad. In his memory, on May 10th 2008, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble played a concert bringing alumni from all over the US to speak on his behalf and play in his honor.

John Harbison

John Harbison is a recently stated institute professor of music at MIT. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his composition Flight Into Egypt.

Contributions to Music at MIT

In 1985, Barry Vercoe developed one of the earliest forms of computer compositional software called CSound.

Since then, the MIT Media Lab has gone a little away from music. What it still does with music centers around developing new instruments and compositional software.

Performances at MIT

In 2002, the MIT Symphony Orchestra played Charles Ives 4th symphony under the direction of Dante Anzolini. This difficult piece is not one to be taken lightly as some sections require two conductors. Amazingly, the MIT musicians were able to play the piece with much success. Anzolini commented that the intelligence of MIT musicians was unmatched in performing the piece, as the rhythmic structure is best understood with a firm mathematical background.

In recent years, it is not uncommon to go to a concert at MIT and hear a world premier of a piece written specifically for the MIT musical group by either local area composers (students, professors, or local musicians) or composers from abroad (recently, the MIT Wind Ensemble premiered a piece written by the well known Argentinean composer Gabriel Senanes). Look to future performance for more upcoming and well known composers.