Summer Music Technology (SMT)
Summer Program for High School Students
Coronavirus Update (Summer 2022)
We are very disappointed to announce that due to staff changes and health and safety concerns raised by COVID-19, we will not be offering an in-person program this summer, as the program is meant to be a very immersive hands-on experience. We continue to explore ways to provide some SMT content online, but it will not be available as an organized program.
About the Program
The Summer Music Technology (SMT) program at Drexel is an innovative educational experience for high school students that uses music to motivate greater interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This unique one week long non-residential camp is offered at no cost to accepted participants and is our clearest articulation of STEAM learning, a deep integration of STEM with the Arts & Design.
The program was initially developed with the support of the National Science Foundation and has served more than 200 students since our first cohort in 2007. We firmly believe that creating and making are the best ways to learn, not only for students, but for us as program developers. We’ve applied our expertise in music, technology, engineering, computing, and science to design every aspect of the curriculum, incorporating our custom-developed iPad apps. All SMT activities involve hands-on, project-based learning, to explore:
Included topics
- Sound synthesis
- Instrument acoustics
- Audio effects
- Artificial intelligence for music recommendation
- Musical app development
- Creative robotics
- and much more!
Using music, something all students are familiar with, we are able to explore technical concepts in a way that is engaging and impactful on students’ lives. Our hope is to engage with students who may not have otherwise considered science, computing, and engineering, particularly those from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM.
Students will engage in activities from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm daily at the ExCITe Center at Drexel University, and lunch is provided each day of the program. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from Drexel. The program runs from Monday, August 10th to Friday August 14th.
External Coverage
10 Years of Summer Music Technology at Drexel
Technically Philly on Summer Music Technology 2014