Before Games Could Listen: Thinking Beyond Interactivity in Early Game MusicEarly game sound is often framed as a technological stepping stone, or, more negatively, as a crude precursor to the interactive and adaptive scores of later decades. This narrative of progress, while historically coherent, has tended to obscure the musical imagination and structural sophistication that flourished within early gaming platforms. My work reconsiders that narrative by showing how alternative modes of listening—attentive to structure, design, and technological limitation—can reveal distinct compositional logics and aesthetic priorities, inviting a broader understanding of creativity before games could “listen.”About the SpeakerAndrew Schartmann is a composer and music theorist whose work bridges classical traditions and interactive media. He is a Professor of Music Theory at the New England Conservatory and serves as Audio Director of Yale’s XR Pediatrics Lab, where he creates sound and music for award-winning augmented-reality games, including SmokeSCREEN VR (Gold Medal Winner, 2020 International Serious Play Awards; Forbes Top 50 VR Games of 2019) and Year of the Cicadas (Unity for Humanity Winner, 2023).Schartmann is the creator of NADIA, a mobile app that teaches music fundamentals through gamified learning, scheduled for release in November 2025. He is currently collaborating with William E. Caplin on an interactive website devoted to Beethoven’s piano sonatas and recently curated Beethoven: A Multisensory Experience, an exhibit that explores Beethoven’s legacy through play and interactive storytelling.His books include Koji Kondo’s Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack (Bloomsbury, 2015), Keiji Inafune(Bloomsbury, 2025), Analyzing NES Music (Intellect / University of Chicago Press, 2025), and a forthcoming volume on The Legend of Zelda for the University of Chicago Press. Schartmann is Associate Editor of DSCH Journal and serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Sound and Music in Games and SMT-V.About the Music Forum SeriesThe MIT Music & Theater Arts Music Forum is a series of public presentations by music scholars from inside and outside of MIT. Hosted in the Lewis Music Library and presented in partnership with MIT Libraries, the MTA Music Forum Series gives the MIT Community an opportunity to engage with leading voices in every field of music scholarship. Past presenters include John Harbison, Julia Wolfe, Terry Riley, Don Byron, and others.

From Process to Outcome: A Joint Book LaunchAs the pace of global change accelerates — ecologically, socially, and technologically — design is emerging as an essential partner to science and technology. This event marks the launch of two new books that capture design’s role across scales.THE BOOKSDesigning the X: Shaping an Unknown Future, by Dennis Frenchman, Svafa Grönfeldt, and Sigurdur Thorsteinsson, examines how design enables us to move with complexity, not against it, shaping futures beyond the limits of the present. Grounded in praxis and research — including interviews with designers, technologists, and educators — it makes the case for design as an essential partner to science and technology: integrative, inventive, and profoundly human.Value of Design, by Dr. Andrea Chegut, Minkoo Kang, Helena Rong, and Juncheng “Tony” Yang, asks a different question: can design be quantified? Drawing on years of research at MIT’s Real Estate Innovation Lab, the book reveals how design leaves measurable traces in the built environment — economic, social, and environmental — that can be captured through data and correlated with real outcomes in our cities.Together, the books highlight two stages of design: the process of generating new possibilities, and the outcomes that design makes visible and measurable. The evening will include conversations with contributors, hands-on activities, and book sales.

Tuesday, October 21 2025 -- astronomical twilight -- 6:53pm -- MIT Sailing Pavilion Dock Thursday, November 20 2025 -- nautical twilight -- 5:56pm --MIT Sailing PavilionThe new moon is a time of darkness, rest, creativity, and gestation. Join MIT's Indigenous Spirit Community in a centering ceremony honoring the interior quiet time needed for discernment, regeneration and incubation.Meet us at astronomical twilight for smudging with sage. A short ceremony will be followed by a guided meditation and a ritual of focus and release. Together we will watch the sky darken, letting the new moon, meandering current, and autumn breeze refresh our spirits.Then, we will all come indoors for a little something hot and a slice of cake.Please RSVP. This event is sponsored by Indigenous Spirit at MIT and is open to the MIT community and friends.

Silent Meditation in the Chapel on Thursdays 6-8pm, open to everyone in the MIT Community. Some sessions include Guided Meditation at 6:30pm.

Time:Location: Philadelphia, PA / Temple University

Time:Location: Philadelphia, PA / Temple University