Playing music, playing with music : a proposal for music coding in primary school

In this work we will introduce the concept of music coding, namely a new discipline that employs basic music activities and simplified languages to teach the computational way of thinking to musically-untrained children who attend the primary school. In this context, music represents both a mean and a goal: in fact, from one side coding activities are based on music processes that are able to unveil algorithmic thinking; from the other side, such processes may stimulate creativity and collaborative learning, and their audio feedback is immediately perceivable. Consequently, music can represent a valid learning tool as well as an addictive reinforcement technique to approach coding. After describing a new formalism to graphically encode music operators, a Web prototype specifically designed for music coding will be presented and discussed.