The Conservatory is at the head of the class in XLR8R (pronounced “accelerator”) magazine’s top five electronic music schools.

The article calls Oberlin “one of the country’s most prestigious music schools,” and quotes Associate Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts Tom Lopez ’89, chair of Oberlin’s TIMARA program (Technology in Music and the Related Arts). At Oberlin, students “compose for computer, perform via multiple speakers, collaborate with highly talented musicians, dancers, actors, and artists, and develop a powerful, unique personal voice,” says Lopez.

Mentioned in the article are composer Bob Ostertag ’80 and digital artist Cory Arcangel ’00, and some visiting artists: Morton Subotnick, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Olga Neuwirth among them. XLR8R also took inventory of the “drool-worthy gear” available for TIMARA students to use: a Digidesign ICON system with 32 channels of Grace mic preamps and Apogee A/D conversion; vintage synths and equipment; and such performance instruments as a Yamaha MIDI grand piano, a Zeta string quartet, MalletKAT MIDI percussion, and a JazzMutant Lemur MIDI controller.