Belmont’s music technology program will have its first graduating class in April since its
formation in 2021.
“I think this program did such a good job at giving us a wide range of skill sets and tools
that we can use in the real world, and it just really opens up the possibilities into what we can
do,” said Cooper Agresta, a Music Tech senior.
Over the last four years, the 16 seniors saw the program grow and work through
navigating a new major since its creation in 2021.
Some might confuse music tech with the audio engineering technology program at
Belmont, but the two have some key differences.
While AET students learn how to record, edit and produce other people’s music, music
tech students use their computers as their instruments to create music, said Keith Mason,
coordinator of music tech.
“We use the software and the hardware to be full-fledged music content creators. It’s like
you are literally the one-person orchestra,” said Mason.
Since music tech is part of the School of Music, students must follow the same
requirements as other music students, including auditions, ensembles and recitals. The students audition by showing music they created digitally and once accepted, take
private lessons on top of the core music classes.
The seniors have a capstone recital in March where they perform for 25 minutes with an
instrument of choice, either incorporating their digital music with voice or an instrument or
simply performing with a tech board.
Although Belmont tried to make the program seem like it existed for longer than 4 years,
the 2025 graduating class witnessed several learning curves as the program continued to develop, said Ethan Alfred, music tech senior.
Ensembles initially presented a challenge to the students.
Because their music skill sets were different from regular ensembles, no one knew where
to put them at first, said Liam Slowey, music tech senior.
However, the program learned to adapt by allowing them to join any ensemble of their
choosing, which in turn helped them network with other students, said Mason.
The first set of music tech specific classes also presented their own struggles.
“There were some giveaways that made it a little bit more apparent that it was new. Its
seminars, for example, took us a while to get into the flow and the rhythm of,” said Alfred.
However, those same challenges helped set the program apart.
In the history of electro-digital music, a class built solely for music tech students, there
was a mutual understanding between professors and students that the class was new and still
being workshopped, said Slowey.
“It ended up morphing into a kind of really cool, circular, Socratic seminar-based thing,
where we would learn while getting constructive feedback on our projects from our other
classmates,” said Slowey.
This close relationship with their peers also helped the students grow in their musicianship.
“You can learn as much from your peers as you can from your professors and I think we
got to benefit a lot in that aspect because everyone in our major makes such incredibly different styles of music, so we learned really valuable skills from each other,” said Alfred.
The program also encouraged students to network outside of Belmont so they would be
more prepared after graduation.
“You can get so bogged down in the commercial space and think of Belmont as its own
ecosystem, whereas they try to push us outside Belmont and try to make other connections in
Nashville,” said Slowey.
Overall, the seniors felt equipped to leave the program and excited to see how it would grow.
“It's just very rewarding to walk out of here with such a wide range of skill sets,” said
Agresta. “But down the line, as things get more efficient and people get better at understanding what we need to do, I think it's just gonna get better.”
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This article was written by Samantha Graessle
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