At Virginia Commonwealth University, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration is at the heart of preparing students for real-world challenges. This semester, my students in MUSC 310 Dramatic Scoring—Claudia Andrade, Jadon Skatoff, and Aniyah Ricks—had the incredible opportunity to collaborate on an exciting project with students from two other departments as part of the Introduction to Game Design class (COAR 463 / CMSC 445).
This unique course, co-taught by Jason Bennett (Communication Arts) and John Leonard (Computer Science), brought together talented students from Communication Arts and Computer Science to create original video games. Over a brief but intensive four-week period, the teams worked to develop their games from concept to execution, with my students stepping in to provide custom music for their projects.
Among the standout contributions was Claudia Andrade’s work on a dramatic, player-choice game inspired by the narrative depth and emotional storytelling of The Last of Us series. Claudia composed the game’s theme, titled “Devs Theme,” which captures the emotional tone of the game while enhancing the player’s experience. You can listen to Claudia's score here: Devs Theme by Claudia Andrade.
The interdisciplinary nature of this collaboration allowed my students to experience firsthand what it’s like to work in the fast-paced and highly creative world of game development. From understanding the narrative and visual style of each game to tailoring musical themes that elevate the player’s experience, Claudia Andrade, Jadon Skatoff, and Aniyah Ricks applied their dramatic scoring skills to meet the needs of diverse creative teams.
For the Communication Arts and Computer Science students, this was also an opportunity to see how music can transform a game, adding depth and emotion to the gameplay experience. It’s always inspiring to witness how these collaborative efforts help students across disciplines learn to communicate effectively and appreciate each other’s contributions.
Projects like this exemplify the incredible value of interdisciplinary education, where students not only gain technical skills but also develop a deeper understanding of teamwork and creative synergy. Congratulations to everyone involved for making this collaboration such a success—and for creating games that truly resonate!
If you’re a prospective student interested in exploring media scoring or collaborative opportunities like this at VCU, feel free to reach out. We’d love to have you join us!
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