Using Scratch music extension - Barclays Code Playground

Resource overview

Lots of current music is made with computers, from pop songs to adverts, and everything in between. Your class can start to discover their own musical talents within Scratch. Use this guide to get to grips with the basics before introducing music coding into your lessons.

Teacher guide (PDF - 292KB) 

Key resource information
- You will need: Laptops or desktop computers, access to https://scratch.mit.edu
- This teachers guide aims to give you the basic knowledge to introduce this subject into your classroom

Extension activities

Activity book

Making melodies

Music was our first love, it can be yours too. Introduce music into your Scratch coding with this fun session. Code along to create a simple melody and as well as learning how to create your own tunes. Click to watch the video, and for this project you will also need to access scratch.mit.edu

Make it

Activity video

Barclays big band

Have you ever wanted to play an instrument? In this session we use the music extension to code digital instruments. You can use them to compose your own songs, or to learn some of your favourites.

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Building your curriculum

Introduction to variables - Scratch

In a program, data values can be constant or variable. If data values are variable they can be changed by the program and the user, for example, when the user is asked a question like their age. Variables may change during program execution.

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Using text to speech in Scratch

Scratch allows you to access external systems and devices through the extensions feature. One of the extensions you can access is the text to speech blocks. This will enable your class to make their projects talk. Use this simple guide to learn the basics before introducing this in to your lessons.

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Any questions?

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