Teresa Nakra

Widely recognized as an expert in technologies for learning and performing music, Teresa Marrin Nakra has made important research contributions in the study of musical expression and gesture. She is best known for her work to quantify the gestures of conductors and apply this data to the development of real-time music systems. She has twice presented her work in concert with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, and undertook a large-scale experiment with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2006. Since 2003, she has built interactive conducting systems for the public to experience in museums and concert halls. Current initiatives include a design collaboration on music & health with the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, NJ.

Teresa M. Nakra is Program Director and Professor of Music and Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology. She previously served as Professor of Music, Design, and Creative Technology at The College of New Jersey, where for 19 years she helped build new degree programs in music, music technology, and interactive multimedia. Teresa has presented her work in concerts with the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestras, as well as in museums, music festivals, and performance venues across the United States, Europe, and Japan. Her students have gone on to prestigious graduate programs and careers in music technology, audio/media production, acoustics, robotics, and composition for films and video games. She earned PhD and MS degrees from the MIT Media Lab, and a BA in Music (magna cum laude) from Harvard College. Her book, Constructing Music: Musical Explorations in Creative Coding (2024), is published by Oxford University Press.

While studying music at Harvard, Teresa founded a conductor training orchestra, conducted/directed three opera productions, and was a recipient of the Doris Cohen Levi Prize, the David McCord Prize, and the Michael Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship. After college, she earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the MIT Media Lab with research fellowships from IBM, Motorola, and Interval Research Corporation. During her time at MIT, she appeared in 160 performances of Tod Machover’s Brain Opera and served as a musical coach for Penn & Teller. Teresa then served for five years as the Assistant Conductor of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, widely recognized as the leading orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording new music. She also founded and ran a non-profit organization (Immersion Music, Inc.) that designed music technologies for performing artists and cultural institutions.

Teresa has made important research contributions in the study of musical expression and gesture. She is best known for her quantitative analyses of orchestral conducting and their application to interactive music systems. Her invention, the “Conductor’s Jacket,” was featured in the MIT150 Exhibition celebrating MIT's founding, and is now held in the permanent collection of the MIT Museum. Her U.S. patent for the Digital Baton was cited as prior art by Nintendo for the Wii-mote and was used to defend Nintendo patents in cases heard by the International Trade Commission.

Current projects include a music & health design collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, NJ.

2020-2021 Consultant, Baton-X Project, Johns Hopkins U./Peabody Conservatory
Principal Investigators: Thomas Dolby, Marin Alsop, and Stephen Zeiler
2020-2021 curriculum redesign 6^th grade General Music, Hopewell Valley Regional School District, NJ
2019 Consultant, Music Technology Program, University of Kentucky School of Music
2018 Invited Proposal Reviewer, Research Foundation Flanders (Belgium)
2015 Participant, NSF STC Pre-Proposal, ExCITe Center Drexel Univ. (not funded)
2012 Participant, NSF STC Pre- & Full Proposal, ExCITe Ctr. Drexel (not funded)
2012 Advisory Board member, Georgia Institute of Technology NSF Grant Proposal
(Andrea Brown, “Using Technology to Improve Kinesthetic Skill Learning of
Music Conductors”) (not funded)
2012 Fact Witness, International Trade Commission (prior art on Nintendo Wii patents)
2011 Legal consultant to Cooley LLC for Nintendo Corporation (Wii IP)
2009 Leonard Bernstein Office, NYC (advised on interactive conducting systems)

Stevens Institute of Technology
2024- Professor and Director of Music & Technology

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
2022- Professor, Departments of Music and Design and Creative Technology
2015- Joint Appointment, Department of Interactive Multimedia
2010- Associate Professor, Department of Music
2005-2010 Assistant Professor, Department of Music

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2000-2005 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Arts

Massachusetts College of Art
2004-2005 Visiting Assistant Professor and Visiting Artist, Dynamic Media Institute

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2003 Interim Technical Director, Electronic Music Studio, Department of Music

Harvard University
2002 Clifton Artist in Residence, Harvard Office for the Arts

Founder and Artistic Director, Immersion Music, Inc. (1999-2021)

Issued patent:
Marrin, T., et al. (1999). Apparatus for Controlling Continuous Behavior Through Hand & Arm Gestures. U.S. Patent no. 5,875,257, February 23, 1999. (188 citations)

2018 inducted into Phi Kappa Phi national honor society

2011 Conductor’s Jacket invention selected for MIT150 Exhibition through public nomination and online vote by the MIT community; identified as one of the top 150 projects in MIT’s 150-year history. Displayed in the Compton Gallery January 8-December 31, 2011. Subsequently acquired by the MIT Museum and inventoried in its permanent collection, representing the “Uniquely MIT” theme and Tech Night at the Pops concerts: http://museum.mit.edu/150/55 2010 inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda national music honor society

2008 Excellence in Technology Education Award, New Jersey Technology Council
2000 Young Investigator Travel Award, Acoustical Society of America
1999 Best Student Paper Award in Musical Acoustics, Acoustical Society of America
1998-1999 IBM Research Fellowship, MIT Media Laboratory
1996-1997 Motorola Research Fellowship, MIT Media Laboratory
1994-1996 Interval Research Fellowship, MIT Media Laboratory
1992 Doris Cohen Levi Prize, Harvard University
1992 David McCord Prize, Lowell House, Harvard University
1992 Perkins Scholarship, Harvard University
1989 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Award
1988 National Scholar, Harvard University (highest honor awarded entering students)
1988 National Merit Scholarship

2024 Colgate-Palmolive funded health communication project for TCNJ MUSE program (PI; $20,000)
2020 co-author, proposal to establish the TCNJ Center for Creative Technology & Emerging Media ($60,000 from alumnus donor)
2018 TCNJ Cultural-Intellectual Community funds (PI; $2,000), Michael Ray concert
2016 Major Grant Award, New Jersey Council for the Humanities (co-PI; $10,000)
2016 Don Evans Memorial Fund (co-PI; $1,150) for Trenton Makes Music
2015 College Music Society Community Engagement Seed Grant (co-PI; $200)
2015 TCNJ Cultural-Intellectual Comm. funds (co-PI; $1,912), Trenton Makes Music2015 Engagement Mini-Grant, TCNJ Student Affairs (PI; $2334), Sound Thinking
2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) award supplement (co-PI; $29,802), plus $4,000 from Deans of Science, Engineering, & ArtsComm for MMI workshop 2011 TCNJ Cultural-Intellectual Comm. “Innovation” grant (PI; $1,000), MMI wkshop2009 NSF Creative IT RUI, Conducting Robots (co-PI; $359,477) 1992-1993 Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship ($10,000), Harvard University
1988 National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholars Program ($1,600)

Marrin, T., et al. (1999). Apparatus for Controlling Continuous Behavior Through Hand & Arm Gestures. U.S. Patent no. 5,875,257, February 23, 1999. (188 citations)

Book
Nakra, T.M., Constructing Music: Musical Explorations in Creative Coding. New York, Oxford University Press, 2024.


Book chapters
Johannsen, G., & Nakra, T. (2010). Conductors’ Gestures and Their Mapping to Sound Synthesis. Musical Gestures: Sound, movement, and meaning, Routledge, 264-298.

Ault, C., Warner-Ault, A., Wolz, U., & Nakra, T.M. (2010). Kinesthetic Communication for Learning in Immersive Worlds. Serious Game Design and Development: Technologies for Training and Learning, IGI Global.

Marrin Nakra, T. (2000). Searching for meaning in gestural data: interpretive feature extraction and signal processing for affective and expressive content. Trends in Gestural Control of Music. IRCAM, Centre Pompidou.

Peer-reviewed journal articles
Nakra, T.M. (2020). Maximizing Student Outcomes During a Period of Disruption:
Insights from a Music Technologist. College Music Symposium, 60:2, pp. 1-4.

Nakra, T.M. & BuSha, B.F. (2014). Synchronous Sympathy at the Symphony: Conductor and Audience Accord. Music Perception Journal 32(2), 109–124, ISSN 0730-7829, DOI: 10.1525/MP.2014.32.2.109.

Nakra, T.M. (2014). Interactive Conducting Systems Overview and Assessment. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 135 (4), p. 2377. (invited paper; abstract only)

Wolz, U., Ault, C., & T.M. Nakra (2007). Teaching Game Design through Cross-Disciplinary Content and Individualized Student Deliverables. Journal of Game Development 2(1).

Nakra, T. M. (2002). Synthesizing Expressive Music through the Language of Conducting. Journal of New Music Research, 31(1), 11-26.

Nakra, T.M. (2001). The Concerto for Conductor: a new musical form. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 110 (5), p. 2691. (abstract only, no full paper)

Nakra, T.M. & Hill, G. (2000). Quantitative Practice for Students at the Digital Conducting Laboratory. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 108 (5), p. 2538. (abstract only, no full paper)

Nakra, T.M. (1999). Incorporating gestures into the musical control stream with the Conductor's Jacket. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 106 (4), p. 2161. (awarded Best Student Paper in Musical Acoustics; abstract only, no full paper)

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
Nakra, T.M. (2020). Teaching Interactive Music Programming: easing into creative coding skills for music majors. Joint meeting, Association for Technology in Music Instruction and The College Music Society, Miami, FL (online presentation).

Nakra, T.M. (2019). Podcasting for Trenton: a template for student engagement with local musical histories. Joint meeting, Association for Technology in Music Instruction and The College Music Society, Louisville, KY.

Nakra, T.M. (2018). Immersive Pedagogy for Music Technology. Joint meeting, Assoc. for Technology in Music Instruction and The College Music Society, Vancouver, BC.

Nakra, T.M. (2015). Improved Methods for Measuring Synchronous Sympathy. 4^th International Conference on Music and Emotion (ICME4), University of Geneva.

Kuiphoff, J. & Nakra, T.M. (2014). Promoting Digital Lit. &Cultural Diversity through Develop. of Interactive Wall Mural. Creative Engagemt.: Thinking w/Children, Prague.

Salgian, A., Nakra, T.M., Ault, C., and Wang, Y. (2013). Conducting Robots – Bridging the Gap between Science, Technology and the Arts in the Undergraduate Curriculum. IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference, Princeton NJ.

Salgian, A., Nakra, T.M., Ault, C., and Wang, Y. (2013). Teaching Creativity in Computer Science. ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education.

Salgian, A., Nakra, T.M., Ault, C., Wang, Y., and Stone, M. (2012). A Theory of Multiple Creativities: Outcomes from an Undergraduate Seminar in Conducting
Robots. Proceedings, Music, Mind, and Invention Workshop, Ewing, NJ.

Rahimi, N., Mastro, M., Nakra, T.M., and BuSha, B. (2012). Correlating Emotional Arousal to Musician Performance. Proceedings, Music, Mind, & Invention Workshop.

Salgian, A., Ault, C., Nakra, T., Wang, J., and Stone, M. (2011). Multidisciplinary Computer Science through Conducting Robots. ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), March 2011.

Ault, C., Salgian, A., Nakra, T.M., and Wang, J. (2011). The Mechanical Maestro with a Human Heart: Interdisciplinary Collaboration through Orchestra-Conducting Robots. New Media Consortium Summer Conference.

Wang, J., Ault, C., Nakra, T.M., Salgian, A. and M. Stone (2011). The Outcomes of an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Course Involving Engineering, Science and Arts. American Society for Engineering Education Conference.

Nakra, T.M., Wang, Y., Salgian, A., and C. Ault (2010). Orchestral Conducting for Non-Humans: its Impact in Interdisciplinary Education. Proceedings of the IROS (Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots & Systems) Workshop on Robots and Musical Expression.

Nakra, T.M., Tilden, D. and A. Salgian (2010). Improving Upon Musical Analyses of Conducting Gestures Using Computer Vision. Proceedings of the Int. Computer Music Conf., SUNY Stony Brook. ISBN: 0-9713192-8-6. (https://youtu.be/WAfgnRyHq3Q)

Wang, J., Ault, C., Nakra, T.M., Salgian, A. and M. Stone (2010). An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Course Bridging the Gaps Between Engineering, Science and the Arts. American Society for Engineering Education Conference.

Nakra, T.M., Y. Ivanov, P. Smaragdis, and C. Ault (2009). The UBS Virtual Maestro: An Interactive Conducting System. NIME 2009 International Conference of New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Carnegie Mellon University.
Nakra, T.M., A. Salgian, and M. Pfirrmann (2009). Musical Analysis of Conducting Gestures Using Methods from Computer Vision. Int. Computer Music Conference. (https://youtu.be/KOVWlPv3DYs)

Hashida, M., Nakra, T.M., Katayose, H., Murao, T. Hirata, K., Suzuki, K, Kitahara, T. (2008). Rencon: Performance Rendering Contest for Automated Music Systems. International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, Sapporo Japan.

Wolz, U., Ault, A.W., Ault, C., Nakra, T.M., and K. Pearson (2008). Immersive Modern Language Learning with Principled Pedagogy. Breakout session (75 minutes), New Media Consortium Summer Conference, Princeton University.

Wolz, U., Ault, C., and Nakra, T.M. (2008). What WE can do with the Wii. ‘5 Minutes of Fame’ presentation, New Media Consortium Summer Conference, Princeton Univ.

Salgian, A., Pfirrmann, M. and T.M. Nakra (2007). Follow the Beat? Understanding Conducting Gestures from Video. 3rd International Symposium on Visual Computing, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series, Springer.

Wolz, U., Ault, C. and T. Nakra (2007). Teaching Game Design Through Cross-Disciplinary Content and Individualized Student Deliverables. Microsoft Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education.

Ault, C., Nakra, T., Pearson, K., Sanders, P., and Wolz, U. (2006). Collaborative Learning via 3-D Game Development. ACM SIGGRAPH Conference Proceedings.

Wolz, U., Ault, C., Nakra, T., Sanders, P. and Pearson, K. (2006). Video Game Design as a Vehicle for Multidisciplinary Collaboration. New Media Center Summer Conference Proceedings, Case Western University.

Lee, E., Nakra, T.M., & Borchers, J. (2004). You’re the Conductor: A Realistic Interactive Conducting System for Children. International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Hamamatsu, Japan, pp. 68-73.

Nakra, T.M. (2003). Immersion Music: A Progress Report. New Instruments for Musical Expression Conference, McGill University, Montreal.

Nakra, T.M. (2002). Musical Performance Applications of Affective Computing. Invited paper, Physiological Computing Workshop, CHI Human Factors Comp. Systems, WI.
Nakra, T.M. (2001). Translating Conductors’ Gestures to Sound. International Workshop on Human Supervision and Control in Engineering and Music, pp. 139–144.
Marrin, T. & Picard, R. (1998). The Conductor's Jacket: a Device for Recording Expressive Musical Gestures. Int. Computer Music Conf., Ann Arbor, pp. 215-219.

Marrin, T. & Picard, R. (1998). Analysis of Affective Musical Expression with the Conductor's Jacket. XII Colloquium for Musical Informatics, Gorizia, Italy, pp. 61-64.

Blumberg, B., M. Johnson, M. Hlavac, C. Kline, K. Russel, B. Tomlinson, S. Yoon, A. Wilson, T. Marrin, et al. (1998). Swamped! Using Plush Toys to Direct Autonomous Animated Characters. ACM SIGGRAPH Enhanced Realities, Orlando.

Marrin, T. & Paradiso, J. (1997). The Digital Baton: a Versatile Performance Instrument. Int. Computer Music Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, pp. 313-316.

Marrin, T. (1997). Possibilities for the Digital Baton as a General-Purpose Gestural Interface. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 311-312.

Peer-Reviewed Posters and Workshops
Nakra, T.M. (2023). Teach Music Theory and Creative Composition concepts through Coding! New Jersey Music Education Association State Conference, Atlantic City, NJ.

Nakra, T.M. (2021). Human-Centered Musical Design. Joint meeting, Association for Technology in Music Instruction and The College Music Society, Rochester, NY.

Nakra, T.M. & Pearson, K. (2017). Trenton Makes Music: the Sound of a City. Speech & Audio in the Northeast Workshop, Google NYC.

Salgian, A., Agina, L., & T.M. Nakra (2014). Teaching Robots to Conduct: Automatic Extraction of Conducting Info. from Sheet Music. Int. Computer Music Conf., Athens.

Rahimi, N., Mastro, M., Nakra, T. and B. BuSha (2011). A Low-cost and Unobtrusive System to Measure Emotional Arousal. Biomedical Engineering Society, Hartford, CT.

Warner-Ault, A., Ault, C., Wolz, U., and T. M. Nakra (2011). Language Learning through Kinesthetic Interfaces. Northeast Assoc. for Language Learning Tech., UPenn.

Nakra, T.M. and C. Ault (2008). WiiConduct – Teaching Classical Music through Interface Design. NJEdge.Net Conference 5.0.

Nakra, T.M. & R. McMahan (2007). Student Composers & Sound Designers in the Context of a Game Design Course. Microsoft Academic Days, Game Dev in CS Educ.

courses taught at TCNJ 2005-2024:

Interactive Music Programming – developed, cross-listed in Music and IMM, 2010-2024
Audio Signal Processing – developed, cross-listed in Music and IMM, 2009-2024
Image-Movement-Sound Lab – developed, cross-listed in Art, Music, and IMM, Fall 2023
Musicianship 4 – Spring 2023
AI & Machine Learning in Music – developed, 1^st year seminar, Fall 2022 & Spring 2023
Designing Music for Wellness – developed, special topic Fall 2022
Electronic Music – redesigned, cross-listed in Music, IMM, and Digital Art, 2005-2022
Senior Thesis (IMM) – Spring 2010, 2015, 2017, 2021
Design Perspectives in IMM – Spring 2021
Scoring for Media – developed, cross-listed in Music and IMM, 2018-2021
Live Electronic Music Performance – developed, special topic Fall 2021
User-Centered Musical Design – developed, special topic Fall 2020
Sound Springs Eternal – developed, special topic Spring 2019
Composing Ambient Soundscapes – developed, special topic Spring 2018
Trenton Makes Music – developed, special topic Fall 2016
New Interfaces for Musical Expression – developed, special topic Spring 2016
Musicianship 1, 2, and 3 – 2005-2014
Conducting Robots – developed, special topic 2009-2011 (NSF grant funded)
Audio Recording and Production – developed, taught 2010