Tod Machover: Music for Everyone

Tod Machover believes in the power of music, yet laments its elusive and somewhat elitist nature. Elusive because we can't harness its power. Elitist because the years of study and practice that it takes for one to learn to make beautiful music winnow the number of people who master it to be an elite few.

Machover joined the faculty at the new Media Laboratory of MIT in 1985 as Professor of Music and Media and Director of the Experimental Media Facility. He is head of the Lab's Hyperinstruments/Opera of the Future group and has been Co-Director of the Things That Think (TTT) and Toys of Tomorrow (TOT) consortia since 1995. Notably, Machover was the professor working with Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, who developed Guitar Hero while graduate students at MIT.

Simple, imaginative, sincerely expansive questions have led Tod Machover to change the possibilities of music for everyone.

What if young children could experience the joy of making music?
What if making music weren't so hard?
What if music were fun before it was drudgery?
Why can't instruments be smart?
What happens when music and composition and instruments intersect technology?
What happens when music unlocks expression?

For Machover's truly amazing answers and creative inventions that address these questions, watch him with Dan Ellsey at TED. This is amazing, enlightening, and a testament to questioning, problem-solving, and creativity.