Vision
The Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology (GTCMT) is an international center for creative and technological research in music, focusing on the development of musical instruments and applications as well as the pragmatic and aesthetic deployment of them in performance.

Mission
GTCMT’S mission is to provide a collaborative framework for committed students, faculty, and researchers to apply their musical, technological, and scientific creativity to the development of innovative artistic and technological artifacts.

Background
Historically, developments in music technology have dramatically changed the core social and cultural aspects of music practice, ushering in new modes of expression for performance, composition, and listening. For example, the piano was invented in 1720 by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. W.A. Mozart conquered the new instrument at an early age (6) and began composing and performing his piano concertos in 1782. A short time passed between the creation of a new instrument and such enduring compositions as The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. An endeavor of this sort in our time demands an interdisciplinary technological approach, cutting across such fields as engineering, computation, material science, design, and music, all the while keeping a sharp focus on aesthetics.

Faculty and Students
Close to twenty faculty members from four colleges around the Georgia Tech campus serve as active members of GTCMT. The center is also a home for more than twenty graduate students as well as a group of affiliated members from various departments across campus.

Research Initiatives
GTCMT initial focus is on the design and development of innovative technologies for the creation and enhancement of acoustic, electronic, and hybrid musical instruments. Particular emphasis is placed on combining musical, technological, and cognitive research in an effort to create rich and expressive experiences for performers and audiences alike. Areas of interest include composition, performance, mobile music, machine listening, music information retrieval, digital signal processing, robotic musicianship, manufacturing, networked music, music perception, music theory, multimedia development, and acoustics.

Support
Initial support for GTCMT has been granted by Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture, College of Computing, College of Engineering,  and the office of the Senior Vice Provost for Research.