Coding/Programming with Students
As a Michigan public school educator for 10 years, I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of students in a classroom setting. My role as a music/media teacher has given me the unique opportunity to combine my passions for the sciences and the arts to educate my students about music, coding, and programming. Below are some sample activities that I have done with my students.
Farmington Hills STEAM Academy
In 2019, I was the recipient of a grant from the Farmington Hills STEAM Academy to come in and work with the students in their music program (under the direction of Mr. Kevin Scollin). My teaching sessions centered around the software Max/MSP, which is a visual programming language designed to digitally process sound/music. After a “live looping” demonstration to the students using a trumpet and a laptop, I invited students to experiment with “step sequencer” software to create their own rhythms and beats. In addition, I collaborated with Mr. Scollin to create a custom lesson plan that involved students creating a musical soundtrack to a scene from the video game The Legend of Zelda.
Click here for the full lesson plan and rubric for the “Video Game Sound Composition” project.
Kindergarten Sound Composition
In 2020, I taught a lesson on recorded sound to my kindergarten music students. Using the book “Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! A Sonic Adventure” by Wynton Marsalis, the students created sound effects and recorded them into my computer using the music software Max/MSP. These sounds were then processed with effects and played back as we read the book out loud as a class. In the process, students also got to work with music technology (microphone, audio interface) and learn the basics of code (a “toggle switch” that used 1’s and 0’s for “on” and “off”) to operate the technology.
What’s The Weather Today?
In 2019, I taught a lesson to a classroom of my 4th grade students about weather patterns. I created custom software that acquired live weather data using JavaScript, Node.js, and an API (Application Program Interface) from the website Open Weather. Then this data was sonified (turned into sound) using the program Max/MSP so the students could actually forecast the weather using just their ears. Students learned the basics of how programs can access information from the web, as well as the (very basic) programming that allows the software to find live weather data in any city in the world. Then, the class decided which weather parameters to code (temperature, pressure, etc) and decided on which cities they would request data from in the API. The result can be seen below.
The Physics of Sound
Cross-disciplinary teaching is a highly encouraged concept in teaching pedagogy. When a 1st grade teaching colleague asked me to make a connection to their physics lesson on waves and sound, I designed custom software to teach students the relationship between science and music. Students learned to operate the program to produce basic sine waves and visualize the waveforms at different frequencies. A screenshot of the program can be seen below.
