Scratch Loop-Based Sequencer

I received a grant from Northwest Missouri State University to purchase Makey-Makey interfaces for my classroom.  The plan for the grant is to have a group of students design their own electronic instruments from both the hardware and the software sides.

Makey-Makey is this great interface invented my Eric Rosenbaum (@ericrosenbizzle) and Jay Silver (@wakeupsilver) that allows you to connect a computer the world.  It takes electrical inputs and translates them into key presses and mouse clicks, so your computer thinks it's talking with a normal keyboard, but really it could be a banana.  The Makey will make it possible to interface with any material that conducts electricity. Scratch will take care of the software side of the project.

Until recently, I had planned on the kids programming a simple Scratch project to respond to a Makey's input.  Something like this:

Then I thought:

"Wouldn't it be cool if we could trigger audio samples in Scratch just like it happens in Ableton?"

In Ableton Live, there is this really cool feature in which you can trigger an audio clip to play, and the program will wait until the downbeat of the next measure to play the clip.  It's really handy when you are launching multiple clips and you don't need to hit it right on the downbeat.

After kicking around some ideas, I designed a small Scratch project to trigger audio on the downbeat of a measure.  Assuming all the audio samples are in the same tempo, they should layer nicely together.  Essentially, the the program keeps track of the beat,waits for the user to press the spacebar, and then triggers the loop on the next downbeat.

Here is the script I came up with:

The next challenge will be to modify this script to trigger multiple audio samples.  I think I could do this my making a sprite for each audio sample and changing this script to play the audio I want.  Hopefully, the kids can use this to create some great instruments.

Un-creative creatives: Improvisation as an Essential Musical Skill

Improvisation is something that might scare many musicians. We spend hours and hours interpreting what others have written, but do we spend time creating?  Is this something that we practice or have our students practice? How many hours do we spend recreating others' music, and how much do we spend creating our own?

There is an old saying:  "If you want a guitarist to stop playing, put sheet music in front of them".  I'd like to add this to the lexicon:

"If you want a trained musician to stop playing, ask them to improvise".

Improvisation is a cornerstone of creating music, and students should be learning it from day one of life.  Victor Wooten gave a TED talk on music, specifically focusing on music as a language.  Take a look:

I am not saying there is no place for private lessons or the tradition established in order to pass on musical knowledge.  If this lights your fire, more power to you!  I am just saying we need to be concerned with how students create music.  Giving students a chance to add to the musical conversation is just as important as teaching them what others have said before them.

Giving students the chance, freedom and support to improvise is not only vital, but really fun.  In 5th and 6th grades this year, we've been using jam sessions to create a safe environment to improvise.  Jamming with my students has been a blast!  Not only do they get to hear what I add to the conversation, I get to hear what they have to say and how they say it musically.  Pedagogically, I get a glimpse into their musical skills and hear if they have been picking up anything I have been teaching. Here is a little gem from one 5th grade class:






This form of assessment is WAY more fun to grade than a paper and pencil test, for everyone involved.

I think creating music should be on the same priority level as recreating someone else's music in concert, which seems to be the bread and butter of our music education.

Improvisation should be an essential skill for all musicians, or else we might be raising a generation of un-creative creatives.  

Makey Makey Something Awesome Part 3: It's alive!

Like Dr. Frankenstein (pronounced FRANK-ehn-stheen), I have created.

Here is a video of the first time I played the set in my classroom.  Later, I had to remove the kick drum beater and replace it with a foil covered chopstick to keep from destroying the kick drum.  Overall, I am pretty excited with the way it turned out.  

Here is the link for the Scratch program that powers the set.   

Worst Cast Scenario: Active Shooter Training

Let me start this post without political hope or agenda:   What follows is an experience my colleagues and I underwent during active shooter training in our school as part of a Missouri statute.

This training involved multiple safety agencies, and featured a live shooter firing shotgun blanks as we were stationed in various parts of the school building.  We did not know when he was going to start the drills.  

The goal was to help us understand the situation and how to react in this situation to keep our students safe.

I was a little nervous about the day.  I did not know how I would react to the actual situation, or how 'real' this simulation was going to be.

When you hear a shot fired in a place you have so many great memories and love, things change.

I can safely say that every teacher and staff member reacted like it was the real thing.  I know this, because I did, too.

Without going into too many details, the day was intense.  I saw some of my friends with looks on their faces that were genuinely terrified, as I am sure they saw in me as well.

But that didn't matter.

Even though we could see the fear in our lead teachers and felt the fear ourselves, they reacted with sharp directions and quick thinking, even with chaos happening around them.  Once we were given the all clear, we could feel each other relax from the adrenaline rush and process what happened.  I learned a lot about myself, and how I would react in this situation.  Now I feel more prepared in that I know my weaknesses, and can do better leading the kids I am responsible for.

Without hesitation, I can categorically say we became teachers to help kids learn, and make the world a better place.  Seeing the brave actions of those around me (law enforcement and teachers) is a reminder of why we teach and that there will always be more light than dark in the world.  

Hug your kids, your partner, your loved one, the person sitting next to you as you read this, a law enforcement official, anyone.  

Hug a teacher.    

Adam Savage's 10 Commandments of Making (the world and your classroom a better place).

While browsing the "Technology" category in the Podcast store, I stumbled upon a pod that includes Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame.  It's called "Still Untitled:The Adam Savage Project".  Adam sits down with two hosts and talks about everything, but one sticks out.  It is a recording of his keynote at the 2014 Bay Area Maker Faire.

It rocked my world in a way that made me think about every decision I make as an educator.

In the keynote, Adam gives the "Ten Commandments" for being a maker.  It could also be the "Ten Commandments to be an Awesome Teacher and Human Being Put on This Earth to Inspire the Kids We See Everyday".  

I can see why he went with the more succinct title.   

I got tingly listening to it, and you will too.  Here is a YouTube of the speech.  The commandments end at the 10:20 mark.  Below are the video is an outline of the commandments and some thoughts and quotes.

Make Something.  Anything.
"Humans do two things that make us unique from all other animals:  We use tools and we tell stories"
"When you make new things, you are joining in the most ancient dialogue humans have ever had."

Make something that improves your life.

Adam goes on to cite the joy you get when you use something you have made in an authentic way.  Would this experience mean more that an 'A' grade on a test for some of our students?

Start now. 
Do the thing you want to do."..."mock it up" 

No excuses.  If you don't have a welder, create a cardboard mock-up of what you want to make.  Get dirty, and get dirty fast.   

Find a project that gets you interested in the thing you want to build 

You won't learn anything for the sake of learning it, you must have an authentic goal in order to learn what you want to learn.  

Ask for advice.  Ask for feedback.

Trust.  In your colleagues and your students.  Do they trust you?     

Share

I gave him a one man standing ovation in my kitchen when I heard this:

"There is nothing that makes me angrier than when somebody does something beautiful and you ask how it's done and they say it's a secret.  No secrets!  What are you protecting?  No one has a monopoly on being you, and if you think that your technique is what makes you interesting you're being ridiculous."

Please recognizing that discouragement and failure are a part of every single make project."

"They are still gonna suck, I'm not going to lie to you.  It sucks to fail it hurts to cut yourself, but they are going to happen in every single project.

Measure Carefully

Are the experiences we are designing for our students planned and precise?

Make things for other people.
"Giving your stuff away does place you in a slightly vulnerable position, but a magical one.

Use more cooling fluid

"Cold metal cuts much better than hot metal."

I think this applies to our students' ability to learn.  Are we priming them so they are ready to learn?
Are we using the best practices to prepare our students brains so they are ready to pick up what we are laying down?

I plan on using this in my first day back with my students.  In the comments below, share how this talk grabbed you and what does it mean to your classroom.

Makey Makey Something Awesome Part the Second

This has been pretty fun!

After going through two initial designs, here is the rack I created.   (This is my happy place.  Pardon the mess.)

The parts are 1 inch PVC, tee joints, and elbows all from the local hardware store.  

The best $12 investment I have ever made was the PVC cutter I bought pictured on the piano bench.  No sawing, no dust...just clean quick cuts!  Also, it doubles as a spy "interrogation" tool in a pinch, with a great suspenseful 'click, click, click' as the blade ratchets down.  That's a bonus, just for you.

I decided to make a drum rack instead of individual stands for each of the pieces.  It's was a lot easier to design and manipulate, and cut down the measuring time exponentially.  From right to left the drums are going to be:

1. Snare
2. Hi Hat
3. High Tom
4. Crash
5. Bass
6. Ride 

The plan is to craft some drum heads from cardboard and foil.  Glue is the medium of choice to get the heads on the rack, so we will see what happens...  

MakeyMakey Something Awesome Part the First

One of my goals this school year is to create the projects I am assigning to my students.  One of the projects is creating a homemade instrument.  For mine, I am making a homemade electronic drum  kit with the MakeyMakey and samples in Scratch.

 Here's a vid of the very early stages of testing:

    

Got to have my (Monty) Python.

The Ministry of Silly Walks, a dead parrot, and a quest for one of history's most sought after relics have all led to this.  

A computer programming language that can help you learn and teach coding in your classroom.  

Python is a computer programming language named after the legendary British comedy troupe Monty Python.  

If you haven't seen them, stop reading and get ye to YouTube right away.  Your life will be better for it.


For this post, Python shall henceforth reference Python 3.4.1, available here.  It's designed to be clear, concise, functional, and therefore a great language for beginners to dive into.  

Here are some of the things you can do with this language: 

• Create simple to complex programs, including games and web apps.
• Use a variety of libraries and modules to add functionality to your program.
• Take advantage of great documentation and tutorials, like the courses available at Codeacademy.  

It's great language to get started on and dive into the world of computer programming.  

Hello World!

Learning is the most addictive activity one can engage in, next to making music.

I like to learn, a lot. 

I like to teach, a lot. 

I like to make music, a lot.     

My hope for this blog is to share some things that give me that tingly feeling...the "part of Harry Potter when he chooses his wand" feeling that comes with teaching. (I know, the wand chooses the wizard, but for the sake of sentence structure I had to make that concession.  Grammar be praised.)    

I aim to write and post about finding new tools to help your students learn as well as trends in: 

• instructional design
• coding
• music education
• something that solves a big problem in your personal or professional life.

I teach middle school music ( and Kindergarten music) in a certain approachable yet fast growing midwest city.  Yes, the barbecue is everything you've heard it is, and then some.  Yes, we have one of the best professional sports franchises in the United States.  We also have a football and baseball team, too.  We make beer, startups, tech incubators, Hallmark cards, chocolate, more beer, clothes, coffee and have a pretty kicking performance space in the Kauffman Center.  

All of these above things make me excited to be in education right now, I hope we can share the best parts of our teaching and help others help their students (both metaphorical and real) become addicted to learning.  Welcome to the party!  

Joe