Hacking-4-Muzik 48 Hour Coding Marathon

The Tech Garden and the Syracuse Innovators Guild are joining forces to invite creative technical minds to participate in a free Hacking-4-Muzik 48-hour coding marathon. The 54-hour event at The Tech Garden features a $2,500 grand prize for a team of software developers, coders and designers who are invited to help develop software for MyMuzik – a revolutionary, digital interactive touch screen music stand.

There is a strong connection between technology and music, and evidence suggests that scientists, engineers and programmers often turn out to be great musicians. “There's a very rich acoustic and mechanical world that supports our musical impulses, and it extends through things like iPods and computers and everything else,” notes MIT professor Michael Hawley. “Science and engineering have enabled us to express our musical sentiment better.”

Creating and composing are synergistic skills, and Robert Cessna, founder of MyMuzik, is striving to bring both together to create a transformative change in the music industry and music education. It’s been suggested that MyMuzik’s technology could transform the music industry in a similar way that the iPod, iPad and iPhone revolutionized personal electronic devices. 

MyMuzik features a digital music stand, as well as on-board versatile software that can network an ensemble for a perfectly integrated performance. Additionally, the digital, wireless music stand will provide access to a database equipped with more than 200,000 scores of sheet music for instant download – expanding the repertoire of performance pieces available for performance orchestras as well as schools and colleges. 

As part of the coding marathon, MyMuzik will provide the hardware platform while participants will be asked to work in teams on an intuitive software solution during the three day event.  Involvement in the project will help open the opportunity for national and local media exposure as part of a global product launch in 2012, as well as the cash grand prize, and job opportunities with the company as it expands. 

“MIT’s Media Lab has been at the leading-edge convergence of music, innovation and technology for nearly three decades,” says Linda Hartsock, Vice President, Innovation and Technology, CenterState CEO, “and festival events like South by Southwest have now become a creative magnet for the best and brightest young technical talent in the country.  These kinds of projects are exciting approaches to creating transformative technologies that can shape new ways of interacting with the world, and with each other.  We see this region emerging as a place with similar potential – given the large pool of creative technical talent we have here.”  

All events are open free of charge.  For a full event schedule and to sign-up, visit www.sig315.org/hacking-4-muzik