The Sound of Music - Sonic Pi with The Home Ed Computing Group

With the last session I had discovered the difficulty of the volume of text required when using python and the CamJam Edukits for some of the younger children. I have been working on a python library to help with this but this week i decided to use a different tool to look at coding concepts.

Sonic Pi is a great tool because it allows you to teach coding and make music at the same time. It was also a good way of being able to progress in complexity with computing concepts (introducing iteration) but keeping the level of text entry required to a minimum.

Sonic Pi is freely available software as part of the standard Raspian build and is also available for other platforms (more information here on the Sonic Pi Website)

The simple nature of the commands required for the children to be able to make music means it is a really good tool for younger (or children less able to read / type).

Some of the barriers I had found in the Python session had been easily overcome by the simple nature of the commands. I think would have struggled with getting some of the children to start looping blocks of code in Python yet they were all happily making repeating tunes with Sonic Pi. I really wanted to avoid simplifying things too much and this has provided a great bridge between the simple block programming that some of the children have done before and text based languages.

Sonic Pi itself is based on Ruby so it teaching a specific code structure and language that will continue to be useful. O so it is simplified in that the tasks it is performing are much more complex than the Play and sleep combinations, but it is a really engaging and relevant way to work with code.

I have written lots before about Sonic Pi so i will try and avoid this becoming the Sonic Pi fan page. However in reducing the volume of typing required I have found another way in which Sonic Pi makes coding accessible to a wider audience.

The group seemed to really enjoy this session and it was one of the most requested areas to do more with.

I am starting to look to move away from just leading the sessions and i already have several children with ideas for their own projects. This is an idea I am really keen to explore as i feel the best way to learn about computing is by finding challenges and solving them using computing. If children can find something that interests them they are much more motivated to explore than if they are being directed by someone else.