This discipline is directed toward artists working with acoustic and/or electronic sound as music and audio art, including composers, improvisers, sound installation artists, sound sculptors, and musicians using acoustic, electronic, or computer-based resources. The aesthetics of the music/sound discipline grow out of the exploration and discovery of experimental music. The program is informed by the extraordinary conceptual and technological developments of the 20th century in parallel with similar developments in the visual arts, film/video, multimedia, and literature.

Music/sound is based in the Edith C. Blum Institute and the Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, which together provide individual studios (some with pianos), a music performance area, recording studio, and an electronic music studio. Professional performers may be hired as resources for Master’s Project presentations.

Bard’s electronic music and recording studios offer state-of-the-art facilities for production and performance methods ranging from analog synthesis (Serge Modular) to MIDI and digital audio sequencing, digital recording, sampling, editing (Pro Tools), and Power Mac-based digital synthesis (MSP). An informal lab allows for the design and construction of electronics in many forms, from basic analog and circuitry to the programming of microcontrollers and sensors. The object-oriented programming environment MAX is available for live digital interaction and control.