Whether it’s STEM or STEAM education, innovative educational opportunities are everywhere for students, creating experiences that are enjoyable and relevant. As we know, STEM has evolved to STEAM, adding art to the mix (as well as some other variations). Technology can be a great way for students to enhance their art classes using tools like conductive paint, virtual reality, or more. It can also be used in music classes, though, creating interactive, exciting, and real world experiences by combining creativity and tech to produce original sounds. See some of the coolest and most useful tools kids can use when it comes to creating their own music!

ROLI 5D Piano

5D? Wow, that must be pretty impressive. What does that even mean? We’ll tell you. Yes, the ROLI piano is a music tool that incorporates five dimensions into music making. Using 5D technology, music students can create their own sounds using specified hand movements, becoming the conductor and the creator all at once! With ROLI, creative expression has been completely redefined and, thanks, to its fairly compact frame, it’s easier than ever to mix power and portability. What’s great about ROLI is that students can use it to transform their dreams and ideas into melodically impressive sounds, combining ingenuity, interactivity, creative expression, and hands-on composition!

Perfectly tactile and responsive, ROLI produces entirely new levels for creative and musical expression by combining the expressive depth of an acoustic instrument with the versatility of an electronic one. Its magic lies in its “Five Dimensions of Touch,” which allow musicians to create sounds in awesomely innovative and never-before-seen ways. Using their hands, kids can strike, slide, glide, press, or lift—each action creates a different sound on the piano, resulting in an insanely interactive composing experience! The ROLI also features a 2-octave playing surface that perfectly combines the playability of a performance instrument with the portability of an MIDI controller! Teachers can use ROLI in the classroom to build the songwriters of the future with an awe-inspiring, powerful, and user-friendly technology.

The way it works is almost as impressive as what students can do with it. At just 23 mm thick, ROLI is as thin and portable as it is strong. Its anodized aluminum exterior makes it tough but light while its silicone keywave surface is custom engineered to give kids a firm yet easily maneuverable grip. A highly sensitive sensor board rests just beneath its surface, ensuring that even the tiniest of gestures are picked up and expressed as sounds. ROLI is battery-powered and the first multi-dimensional controller to use MIDI over Bluetooth, eliminating the need for annoying wires and pesky problems! The keyboard’s battery lasts for up to eight hours and its latency doesn’t diminish when connected over Bluetooth versus a USB cable. Its ports let budding musicians plug it in to any computer, tablet, or smartphone and connect to virtually any software instrument or hardware synthesizer, catapulting cutting-edge composition to the next level!

Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators

For students who are well-versed in both music and technology, this series of pocket-sized music machines are a great addition to learning. Available in a number of different versions, including four on our store, the Pocket Operators allow students to mix and create their own beats and sounds with ease. Best of all, since they’re so compact, students can take their musical talents just about anywhere! On our store, there is the PO-14 Sub, PO-24 Office, PO-28 Robot, and PO-32 Tonic. The PO-14 is a good option for students who are new to this technology and, the higher the PO’s go in numbers, the more advanced the Pocket Operator becomes. Each one effortlessly helps students bolster their music skills while piquing their interests with a new, exciting, and engaging tool!

Fitted with its own unique set of features, the PO-24 enables students to program in their own songs and beats using its powerful and efficient synthesizer. It provides tons of opportunities for creativity, helping students synchronize tech skills and soft skills while they create sounds with top-notch quality. Its array of unique functions are represented on its surface while the interactive screen simultaneously helps kids understand what they’re doing and where to go next. Meanwhile, the PO-28 Robot incorporates a number of musical genres, including Hip-Hop, to get kids to tell a story about robots working in a factory. Like the other Pocket Operators, the PO-28 features a pocket synthesizer, punch-in effects, over 15 sound options, and a crisp LCD display. It’s powerful, portable, and, most importantly, educational!

Finally, the PO-32 is a drum and percussion synthesizer and sequencer with a few tricks of its own. Most notably, the PO-32 features unlimited sounds thanks to its Microtonic VST and the help of data transfer. Like the others in the Pocket Operator family, the PO-32 can sync with the rest of them and connect to other devices through its audio jack using an auxiliary cable. Thanks to this group of portable instruments, students can bring the exciting elements of technology into music classes and learn new tech skills at the same time. Perfect for adding the ‘A’ to STEAM and offering a real-world experience, the Pocket Operators are an engaging option. Explore more on the Eduporium store!

Makey Makey

Our next must-have musical recommendation is a STEAM tool that wasn’t really created with music in mind. The Makey Makey, however, is so versatile that it’s seamlessly weaved its way into various classes within the curriculum and added music to hands-on education in a number of ways. One of the most common projects Makey Makey users enjoy creating is a piano. If they don’t want to take the time to build their own, however, there is one available online and its super easy to use! To play sounds, students simply connect the jumper wires to the Makey Makey board and, whichever slot they connect them to, they will see the corresponding key on the piano light up when they’re grounded and touch that wire! Of course, there are other musical projects kids can create using the Makey Makey as a touchpad sensor to make a drum-like instrument out of any conductive object!

Makey Makey's essence lies in its name—curious kids are constantly finding new ways to 'make' anything a 'key.' Children of all ages can creatively leverage the unique technology found inside the Makey Makey interface and its alligator clips to craft functioning tools out of common objects. Using the conductivity found naturally in people, the Makey Makey enables students to complete circuits by grasping an alligator clip in one hand and connecting the other end to any conductive object, showing how they can creatively control chaos using their own bodies! This go-to STEM tool helps expand children's imaginations as they scramble to find the next thing they want to turn into a computer keyboard! It only needs a tiny bit of conductivity to work and there’s no wrong way to interact with this technology, truly making the Makey Makey an invention kit for everyone!

The technology behind how the Makey Makey works is actually fairly simple, but pretty fascinating. The Makey Makey takes advantage of the conductivity that is naturally present in the human body to create truly interactive projects that illustrate basic science concepts. When “grounded” to the board, any user also grasping the alligator clips becomes a real circuit that real electricity can flow through. Besides people, most objects are also conductive and able to demonstrate this principle, including a spoon, pencil, and even a banana! When kids touch a connected object, the Makey Makey sends the computer it’s connected to a message (the computer thinks the Makey Makey is just a regular keyboard) and it performs the action of the corresponding button on the board! Check the Makey Makey out in the Eduporium store. 

littleBits Synth Kit

As you probably already know, there is a long line of littleBits kits that empower students in many different grades to invent electronic devices and build key skills. Some of these kits serve as an introduction to circuitry, others focus more on engineering, and there are even some designed to teach kids coding. There’s also one other one that’s a bit unique from the rest of them and that would be the littleBits Synth Kit. While this kit is definitely the only one that goes so far as to include music as part of the ‘A’ in STEAM, there’s little doubt that the rest of their kits do so as well. With the Synth Kit, students can construct the same interactive circuits as they would with other littleBits kits and keep hands-on learning going with the added element of intriguing music.

Developed in partnership with Korg, a pioneer of electronic musical equipment, the Synth Kit represents an innovative model of the iconic synthesizer instrument, making it easier and more affordable than ever for kids to combine music and tech skills. Curious students can create toe-tapping melodies while building 21st century skills and personalize all kinds of beats with a powerful modular synthesizer designed to lend itself to customization. Even if children don’t have much engineering knowledge, that’s not a problem! The Synth Kit is exceptionally easy to use and designed to seamlessly connect with speakers, other instruments, and recording devices. Students can jump right in, start building some circuits, and record original music to project through memorable DIY instruments in no time!

Each Bit in the Synth Kit is designed to be compatible with all other littleBits modules and facilitate the discovery of creative structural and musical combinations. The modules’ magnetic technology allow for the creation of snap-and-go connections, eliminating the need for any soldering, wiring, or programming. The 12 electronic Bits in the Synth Kit easily snap together with magnets to create circuits like those in Korg’s synthesizers. The kit’s even compatible with the littleBits platform, enabling infinite combinations of audio, visual, and sensory experiences as well as connecting to a jack to create a homemade amplifier! Combining the inventive potential of littleBits with the well-rounded addition of music in a STEAM curriculum is super easy and fun using the Synth Kit. 

Music Starter Bundle

Finally, we’ve gotten to the best music option for orchestral educators and it’s one that we’ve created ourselves. If you’re familiar with our signature bundle customization service or have ever browsed our store, you might know that we create custom EdTech bundles based on what teachers have, need, and are trying to accomplish in the classroom. We’ve also created some bundles on our own that cover various STEAM concepts at each grade level. One of those bundles is our Music Starter Bundle. Designed to incorporate technology into music classes for students at a young age, this bundle features a number of beginner-level tech tools, including a couple we’ve touched on earlier in this post. Using this technology, kids can compose their own creative sounds, collaborate with their classmates, and truly achieve a well-rounded STEAM experience!

Using this bundle, students can connect the tech experiences they enjoy with bolstering their artistic creativity through music. We really feel that learning music skills through active enjoyment will foster a new level of appreciation in students who may not have ever necessarily enjoyed music classes. The Music Starter Bundle allows teachers to blend music production and technology to unlock new elements to music classes. Rather than singing songs for 45 minutes, students can gain some valuable STEAM skills by also creating their own beats and rhythms. It helps maximize learning and engagement by bringing two different worlds together with technology and, thanks to the intuitive nature of the tools in this bundle, it’s super simple to get started!

So, what are the tools in this bundle? As we said, there are a couple we’ve already discussed, including the Makey Makey and the littleBits Synth Kit, so we’ll focus on the other three to wrap up the post. The coolest one in the group, if you ask us, is the jamstik guitar. It’s an electronic guitar that pairs with a tablet and uses a variety of apps to actually teach kids how to play with real-time instruction! They’ll learn where to place their fingers, when to strum the strings, and all about the different notes! Then, there’s the Electric Paint jar, which is generally used in combination with the Makey Makey. Kids can paint their own circuits, connect them to the Makey Makey’s alligator clips, and make interactive instruments out of paint! Finally, the DIY Synth Kit is just that—a hands-on way for kids to build their own mini synthesizer using guided instructions and intuitive materials.

Be sure to check out each of these inspiring music technologies as well as our other offerings on the Eduporium store! For the latest EdTech, STEM, and 21st century education news, follow Eduporium on Twitter and Instagram. Like us on Facebook, too, or sign up for our newsletter for our latest product announcements and offerings. If you have an idea for the next Eduporium Weekly theme, send us a message on any of our social media accounts or comment below.