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Music and sound

Kids learn how a song is built and how to ask for exactly the sound they hear in their head, then they make songs, loops and live sets.

Running in our studio todayStudiosMusic

What they learn

  • How a song is built. A beat, a chorus that comes back, verses that tell the story, and a rhyme that makes it stick.
  • Asking well. The first version is rarely the right one. Kids learn to ask again, better, and to choose between two versions with a reason.
  • Layers and timing. Two sounds at once, in sync, and playing on the beat instead of just pressing buttons.
  • Low and high, slow and fast. Notes, rhythm and scales, learned by playing with them.

How they learn it

Example mission

Your first song

Step 1 · Chispa · ages 7–9

A song about something of yours: your dog, your neighborhood, something that happened. You decide what it says and how it sounds; the machine plays it.

  1. 1Tap a beat: kicks first, then the snare where the kick is not.
  2. 2Write what the song is about in one sentence.
  3. 3Write a two-line chorus, short enough to sing, and two verses that tell the story.
  4. 4Make two lines rhyme, then order the song so the chorus comes back at least twice.

What they build

Example of finished work

A song with your own lyrics, saved as a file you can share.

Also: a game soundtrack with a calm, a tense and a victory loop, a recorded DJ set, a remix.

Skills it develops

FinishingCommunicatingJudgment

How it grows with age

Ages 7–9

Songs about your own things, a board of bouncing balls that plays notes, a game soundtrack.

Ages 10–11

A live DJ set with two decks and pads, and a song you ask for until it comes out right.

Ages 12–14

Remix and samples, and a song that combines music with your own voice.

Tools they use

Tools they use

Real tools, with one line on what your kid does with each.

  • Music studioCHIP studio

    Builds a song step by step: beat, lyrics with verse and chorus, melody and their own recorded voice.

  • Chrome Music LabOpen source

    Plays with rhythm and sound to understand what a song is made of.

  • MuseScoreOpen sourceIn the toolbox

    Writes sheet music and listens to it.

  • AudacityOpen sourceIn the toolbox

    Records, cuts and cleans audio by hand.

  • CHIP's private song generator (ACE-Step)Open sourcePlanned

    Turns their song into a produced track without the lyrics leaving CHIP.

Every outside tool is used with a workshop account. A kid never creates or uses an account of their own.

See every tool

Let's talk
about your kid.

Request an interview. We will write to set it up, and your family goes first on the list for the first cohort.

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Next · What they learnImages, video and storiesStories with a voice, short videos, images that explain themselves.