May 12th, 2021
Nikolas Zetouni
It’s extremely important that as educators we connect to students in whichever medium speaks to them. You may have someone who is an extremely talented musician but has little interest in coding and programming. You can use music to teach many coding concepts and engage more of your students.
Music is a form of code
Music notation explains to a musician how to properly execute a song, just like code explains to a computer how to properly execute a program. Both have strings (melody), they have loops (codas and chorus) and they have variables (key changes). Other music styles such as jazz also have conditionals as people will play differently depending on what their fellow players are doing.
Creating your own instrument
Using a MakeyMakey and Scratch students can create their own instrument. Scratch has a wide variety of samples already preloaded that students can start off with, but students can go a step further and create their own sounds for wacky instruments that haven’t been heard of in the past. You can even create a full band using MakeyMakey instruments like these students did here.
Get automated
Teach your students automation with a more advanced program such as GarageBand (or similar DAW). You can show them how to program the computer to do crossfades, trigger effects, and play different tracks. Along the way you’ll be teaching them to think algorithmically and be providing them with amazing 21st century skills they can take for the rest of their lives.
Final Thoughts
As a teacher, engaging all of your students can be difficult. Using Music can be a really great way to engage some students that would normally be uninterested in coding.
Did you know Coded Minds is a pioneer in iSTEAM and one of the first companies to integrate it into their learning objectives and educational programs? To enrol your child in iSTEAM learning or learn how to integrate iSTEAM into your educational program or curriculum, CLICK HERE.