Food & Wine: Music Class Teaches Students to Score Meals
Composer Ben Houge, an associate professor in Berklee's Electronic Production and Design Department, has made an art form of pairing food and music. In addition to his collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Jason Bond of Cambridge's Bondir, creating what he calls "food operas," he's brought the practice to the classroom, teaching students how to score meals.
In his class Developing Technologies: Music +, offered via Berklee's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE), Houge instructs his students on how to compose music that mirrors and responds to the elements of any dish.
“In the class as well in the events with chefs, music and food together, it helps people focus. The music can suggest different ways to think about the dining experience. It gets people to pay attention,” Houge told Food & Wine magazine.