The Peabody Conservatory’s four-year Bachelor of Music and two-year Master of Music degrees in Music for New Media: Film and Game Scoring are designed to prepare you for a future at the intersection of music and storytelling, whether in film scoring and movie music, composing soundtracks for video games, writing music for TV, or composing for virtual and augmented reality experiences. If you are a strong musician with interests in composition, electronic music, music production, and recording, this program will help you lay the groundwork for a career in new media.
Our small class sizes mean that you will receive individualized attention and instruction with our world-class faculty from the beginning of your studies. You will work to hone your approach to composition and establish your unique voice while learning production and mixing techniques and working in DAWs. Regular seminars bring in guest lecturers, from Hollywood and game composers to spatial audio companies and virtual reality developers.
Live recording opportunities; collaborative projects with filmmakers, developers and others both across and beyond Johns Hopkins; and access to internships in the industry round out your real-world training and provide invaluable insights into the business of composing for new media.
Once esoteric, this specialty of composing for ‘XR’ is now rapidly becoming mainstream. New career paths are opening up for serious musicians well-versed in sound design and composition for VR/AR, TV, video games, and film. Music for New Media: Film and Game Scoring at Peabody will help you develop the skills and creativity required and support your pursuit of a wide range of internships and placements in the music-making workforce.
Learn to match music to a variety of moods and emotions, how to spot a film or game, craft memorable melodies, compose in a variety of styles and genres, work in a collaborative environment, and how to establish a career in the field. Courses in film, TV, and video game composition will prepare you for the professional world.
Learn about Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), professional sample libraries, MIDI programing, game audio implementation, synthesis, audio plugins, mixing, and sound design. Use your skills to expand into areas of extended reality (XR), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR).
In the third and fourth year of the undergraduate program you will study one-on-one with an instructor, completing a collaborative capstone project and final portfolio by the end of your senior year. Undergraduates will also complete an internship after your junior year. Graduate students will take private lessons throughout the program.
Work on student films and games with our partner institutions. Have your music read and performed by other Peabody students and professional musicians, culminating in a live performance with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Participate in a variety of ensembles and events with the Peabody community.
The Music for New Media: Film and Game Scoring program combines the rigor of a classical conservatory with the modern skills of music technology. Students will take classes such as Music Theory and Ear Training alongside courses like Mixing for Picture, Sound Design for Video Games, and Introduction to Programming.
The Peabody Conservatory’s Breakthrough Curriculum ensures that your education will meet not only the high artistic standards you expect, but also the unique and changing needs of today’s professional environment.
The Music for New Media program at Peabody allows you the flexibility to take electives in other areas of interest including music law, conducting, orchestration, and computer programming. You are also welcome to perform with ensembles like the laptop and hip hop ensembles.
The list of breakthrough innovations in Thomas Dolby’s 35-year career is continuous. As an early MTV icon he blazed a trail for electronic music with his imaginative videos. The same year as his own record reached the top of the pop/dance charts, he co-wrote and produced the first ever platinum-selling rap 12” single “Magic’s Wand” by Whodini. He has performed with David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, George Clinton and Roger Waters.
In 1992 Thomas co-designed the first ever music-based VR experience ‘The Virtual String Quartet’ for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He also composed soundtracks for games on CD-ROM, PC, Sega, Xbox and Playstation, as well as location-based entertainment installations. Holding multiple patents, he is the co-author of the audio layer of Java™, and the industry-standard Mobile MIDI polyphonic ringtone file format; and he co-designed the Beatnik ringtone syntheziser that is embedded in hundreds of millions of mobile phones.
Colton Dodd is an American composer based in New York City, celebrated for his versatile and collaborative approach to music-making. With a background as a classical pianist, extensive experience as a music director, and innovative use of music technology, he excels at understanding and elevating the creative visions of his collaborators across various mediums.
Chris Kennedy is the Senior Composer at Noise Distillery/Clean Cuts Music in Baltimore. An Emmy-nominated composer for film and TV, he has scored music for NBC, PBS, Smithsonian, Discovery, and National Geographic.
Joe Powers is a sound designer and audio mixer for Discovery Inc in the Washington D.C. area. For over 20 years, he has mixed long and short form projects for National Geographic, PBS and PBS Kids, Smithsonian, TNT, NBC, Dreamworks, Icebreaker Films, Technicolor Sound, The Weather Channel, and many independent filmmakers.
Offering degrees at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and DMA levels, Peabody Composition provides rigorous professional training to help young composers discover and nurture their own expressive voices. Private weekly lessons are supplemented by departmental seminars with distinguished visiting composers, scholars, new music ensembles, and soloists. Performance opportunities include departmental recitals, readings with Peabody’s large ensembles and chamber musicians, and the staging of complete opera scenes. Additional opportunities include an ongoing reading session program with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Marin Alsop, and readings and performances of student works by leading new music soloists and ensembles. All recitals and readings are professionally recorded. Composition majors also benefit from Peabody’s extensive library of music as well as Baltimore’s ever-growing and diverse new music scene.
Computer Music is offered as a four-year, undergraduate degree program that combines music and technology with a strong focus on composing both traditional and experimental music. Students work with the latest digital synthesis hardware and software and learn through private and classroom instruction to develop composition techniques which take advantage of the unique capabilities of electronic and digital music technology. Studies include computer composition, computer performance and improvisation, and multimedia studies (including audio, video, dance, and graphics with music). Students have the opportunity to earn a Master of Music degree in Computer Music with one additional year of study by applying to the five-year BM/MM program.