The Minor in Music Technology (MUTEC) is appropriate for undergraduate students seeking to apply domains of knowledge from their majors or General Education programs to issues of audio production and digital technology in music.
The program consists of prescribed foundation courses in musical acoustics, digital audio, sound design and audio recording. Supporting course work allows students to focus in advanced topics such as music software programming, multi-media, or entertainment systems.
The MUTEC minor has been pursued by students majoring in areas such as Music, Theatre Sound Design, Integrative Arts, Film Production, Information Science & Technology, and Computer Science, although students in any major may pursue the MUTEC minor.
The Music Technology Minor Committee is authorized to award a minor certificate to any undergraduate who, in addition to satisfying the degree requirements of his or her baccalaureate major, satisfies the requirements for the Music Technology Minor. The completion of the minor is reflected by a formal notation in the student's official record at the time of graduation.
Students must declare a major before they may request admission to a minor. However, those interested in the music technology minor are encouraged to begin taking applicable courses as early as possible. Students who apply to the minor before the beginning of their sixth semester have the best chance of being accepted. Students who have earned at least a grade of C in INART 050, INART 258A and COMM 374 may apply for admission to the program by submitting an application to the Committee.
A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor.
Is the minor right for me?
A minor is an academic program that supplements a major for students interested in developing an emphasis in additional disciplines. If music technology is an area of interest for you, this program can help you develop a strong portfolio that might enhance your major. It may make your resume a little more interesting by showing a breadth of interest beyond your major. And if a future employer asks, "So what did you do in that minor?" - the best outcome is if you can pull out a portfolio of work that is extremely impressive. At the end of the day, it's the work that counts – not the minor. If the minor is just an extra line of type in your transcript, it won't help you.
We conceived of the minor some years ago when we noticed that there was a small number of students who were passionate about this area and were taking all the classes in it that they could. So we devised the minor as a way of recognizing their work. Since the minor has been approved, many students have shown interest. However, many of these students seem more interested in getting the minor than in taking the courses.
The minor is "right" for you if you would take the courses even if there were no minor. If you are only interested in the classes because of the minor, you have the concept backwards.
If you're a junior or senior and find yourself with credits to spare and are considering picking up a minor, this is probably not the one for you. There is a good reason we don't accept students farther along than their fifth semester: the skills are learned gradually over time. They are not gained by taking as many courses as possible at once over a short period of time. It's akin to applied study of a language. In theory, it may be possible for a student to take Spanish 2 and 3 simultaneously and earn passing grades. However, no responsible language instructor would allow a student to do that, as it would not lead to real progress.
There are some majors at Penn State that require that their students complete a minor to graduate. Please do not start this minor if your main reason for doing so is that your major requires completion of a minor. We cannot be responsible for graduation difficulties faced by students who find themselves unable to complete the minor.