Teaching children to code is hot at the moment! As regular readers of this blog will know, political announcements over the last few years and changes to the National Curriculum have driven schools to promote the developing of children’s coding skills in a range of new ways.

The Sonic Pi is a free sound synthesiser for live coding that does just that. It is designed to support computing and music lessons within schools. Making use of the Raspberry Pi computer, it is aimed at students from Key Stage 3 onwards who can use the free software to compose and perform in a whole range of classical and contemporary styles.

Supported by lottery funding through NESTA, and working collaboratively with the University of Cambridge and our good friend Pam Burnard, the Sonic Pi: Live & Coding project has researched the use of the Raspberry Pi and free software in music education. They have produced a set of free teaching resources to accompany the equipment. They are available here. The research report written by Pam and the team is downloadable from here.

What all these resources don’t make clear (though we will!), is that whilst the software is free Raspberry Pi computers are not (but can be purchased from a range of online suppliers). Prices start from £25 for each computer (that’s just the board; a clear enclosure for each one (around £5) is essential too in our opinion). However, you’ll need to be familiar with all the various bits and pieces and how they are put together before you can get students coding in the classroom. We have heard of several schools across the north west of England who have invested in the hardware already (as part of the ICT provision within their school). If that is the case with your school, then this free software will help you make use of these resources for your music teaching in a fun and engaging way.