Image credit: The water cycle. Image by Saskia Nowicki, Nancy Gladstone, Jacob Katuva, Heloise Greeff, Achut Manandhar, Geofrey Wekesa and Geofrey Mwania. Creative Commons license 4.0
Fifth-grade teacher Elizabeth Peterson, founder of The Inspired Classroom, incorporates the arts into her teaching. But she had never had her students compose music, so she joined our Second Sunday workshop this November to try out an idea. Her class was studying earth systems, and she wanted to use the water cycle as a prompt for composing music.
We started by looking at a diagram of the water cycle, similar to the one above. We discussed the many ways water moves through the cycle and landed on precipitation – hail, specifically – as an appealing subject. We created a “hail melody” and chose an instrument, the harp, that made hail-like sounds. We enhanced the hail melody with a percussion pattern. We also made a “water melody” to signify the body of water where the melted ice would eventually end up.
We layered and built up the hail melody to suggest an intensifying hail storm. The storm subsides and the ice melts into rivulets (cue the “water melody”).
After a few listens, we decided the piece could use a bit of drama: a few claps of thunder! This was accomplished by a timpani drum, cranked up to maximum volume.
Take a listen. You can hear the entire discussion and composing process by going back to the beginning of the video.
Hyperscore lends itself beautifully to STEAM education and beyond because any teacher can integrate music into just about any subject – without needing specialized training in music education. Composing music gives students a powerful tool to express concepts, stories and feelings about what they are learning. Here are some examples from our Second Sunday workshops, all pieces composed collaboratively in one hour.
Visual art: Taking a line of music for a walk
Inspired by this Paul Klee painting and his notion that a drawing is “taking a line for a walk,” we composed a six-note motif, took it “for a walk” going down a hill followed by a second strand going up. We then came up with percussion beats to inject energy and a jazzy vibe to the tune.
Storytelling: Cappy’s Day
Invent characters for a story: what are their personalities? Where do they live? What’s the action? How does the story unfold? In this video, we introduce musical motifs for each character in this story: A jolly capybara, his happy music and footsteps, the sparkly river and a crocodile! These elements are combined to tell Cappy’s story. Listen to see if you can figure out what happens.
Harmonizing a Haiku
Set a haiku to music. We chose one by the great master, Basho:
In the autumn night Breaking into the silence Voices murmuring
Speak the lines out loud to explore the natural tonalities and rhythms of language. See what happens when the lines are repeated and overlapped. Choose instruments that express the mood and content of the poem.
A canticle for climate change: The Melt
We came across an article about recording the sound of an ancient glacier melting. You can hear dripping water and an occasional pop as primordial air bubbles are released – the sound of climate change. Can we capture this sound with music? Is it repetitive like a clock or more irregular? What instruments work best? What feelings does the sound arouse?
Social emotional skills: The Hero in You
Inspired by Harmony Hare, a picture book for young children by Tammy Vallieres. We meet little hare’s three personas: victim, villain and hero. The story encourages children to recognize these inner states. Each inspired a theme (in blue, red and yellow), and the composition brings them into relationships with one another.
History and social studies: My grandfather’s clock
An older man recalls a favorite song from his childhood in India. He hums a few bars, which we reproduced in Hyperscore. It is reminiscent of the grandfather’s clock song, which prompts the use of wooden percussion sounds. This was a delightful exercise in bringing the past to life through music.
Ecology and nature: Dance of the fireflies
An image of fireflies twinkling in the night inspired this composition. The “firefly melody” portrays the on-off flashing of lights. The jaunty melody captures the festive mood. It’s is rhythmic but irregular because this is life, not a machine. The same theme is copied and varied slightly. Other sounds portray the leaves rustling in the wind.
Technology & history: The countess of Lovelace
Ada Lovelace invented computer programming for the world’s first computer, the Analytical Machine of Charles Babbage. A video of a modern replica of the Analytical Engine inspired a young Hyperscore composer to create a piece that portrayed the clatter of the moving parts against a melodic theme reminiscent of English popular music of the time.
Math: Fraction attraction
A simple example using the length of musical notes to represent fractions. Each motif represents a specific note length: whole, half, quarter, eighths, etc. Students can see how many of each fractional note take the same amount of time as a longer note. Hyperscore can support thirds, fifths – any type of fraction!
Emotions. We love them. We hate them. Feelings of warmth and affection connect us to others and build a sense of security and trust. Anger, resentment and sadness do the opposite and drive us to lash out and isolate. Emotions color so much of our lives, yet we aren’t born knowing what they are or how they drive our reactions. An essential part of growing up is learning to recognize and manage our emotions. These socioemotional skills form the basis for healthy relationships, learning and personal development.
Music is an effective way to teach about emotions. Just think about how as children we listened to a major and minor chord and were told one is “happy” and one is “sad.” Think how powerful it would be if children could express what they are feeling by creating their own music!
This has been one of our mantras, and so we were thrilled to meet Tammy Vallieres, a kindergarten teacher and co-founder of Raising Empowered Kids. Tammy came up with the concept of “Hero Intelligence” based on children learning to listen and talk to their inner voices – the “victim” voice, the “villain” voice and the “hero” voice that inspires a person to grow into their best selves.
Tammy just published a children’s picture book, Harmony Hare and Her Three Voices, which introduces these ideas to young readers (and the adults who read to them) through the character of Harmony Hare. Harmony Hare’s three voices are represented by blue, pink and golden butterflies. On a recent Second Sunday, we invited Tammy to join us and play with the idea of turning the three butterflies/voices and their interactions into music.
The session turned out to be the perfect combo of story, art and music. You can see how we used Hyperscore to reinforce a story with emotional resonance, complexity and a sense of play.
Check out “The Hero in You”:
And here is our workshop conversation, in which we discuss the composing challenge before us, brainstorm various approaches and ultimately decide which ones to use.
As the school year winds down, keeping students engaged and motivated can be daunting. The Hyperscore Challenge offers an ideal solution – a creative, collaborative, and celebratory project that energizes students and teachers alike.
The Hyperscore Challenge invites students of all ages and abilities to compose original soundtracks for short videos using Hyperscore, a web-based application that lets users “draw” music by manipulating dots and lines on a screen. Participants can share their pieces at an end-of-year party. They can also share their compositions online on June 21, Make Music Day – a global celebration of music-making.
Keeps Students Engaged Through Creativity and Choice
Hyperscore’s intuitive, visual interface removes traditional barriers to music composition. No prior knowledge of notation or instruments required. This empowers every student, regardless of background or skill level, to participate and succeed.
Students can compose in any style, from simple melodies to complex arrangements, giving them ownership and creative freedom over their projects.
Weekly video prompts invite participants to create soundtracks and keeps the experience fresh and engaging, sparking imagination right up to the last day of school.
Builds Community and Celebrates Achievement
The Challenge culminates in a school or community concert, where students showcase their compositions for peers, families, and staff. These end-of-year performances create a festive, supportive atmosphere and give students a sense of accomplishment.
Because the Challenge is open to all ages and abilities, it fosters inclusion and teamwork. Clubs and classrooms have seen students collaborate on group pieces, support each other’s learning, and celebrate each other’s progress.
Supports STEAM and Cross-Curricular Learning
Hyperscore is a powerful STEAM tool, blending music, technology, and storytelling. Students explore rhythm, melody, harmony, and musical form while developing digital literacy and creative problem-solving skills.
The platform encourages cross-collaboration with other subjects-students can compose music to accompany stories, visual art, dance and theater, science projects, or historical events, making learning interdisciplinary and meaningful.
Removes Barriers and Boosts Motivation
Hyperscore’s design makes music composition accessible to all, including students who may not see themselves as “musical.” This boosts confidence and motivation, especially for those who might otherwise disengage as the year ends.
Teachers report that even the most hesitant students discover their creative voices through Hyperscore, leading to increased participation and a positive classroom climate.
The Hyperscore Challenge provides free access to the Hyperscore Classroom platform for all participants, making it easy for teachers to manage student accounts and share work.
Clubs and classes can start at any time, and the Challenge is adaptable for in-school, after-school, or remote learning environments.
Comprehensive resources, including recruitment flyers, video prompts, and workshops, support educators every step of the way.
A Memorable, Joyful Finale
Ending the school year with the Hyperscore Challenge transforms the final weeks into a time of creativity, collaboration, and celebration. Students leave with a sense of pride in their achievements and a lasting appreciation for music and self-expression. For teachers, it’s a powerful way to keep students motivated, engaged and connected right up to the last bell.
Ready to make your end-of-year unforgettable? Join the Hyperscore Challenge and let your students’ imaginations soar!
Welcome! We invite you to write music using Hyperscore. This web application allows you to compose music by drawing dots and lines on the screen. With Hyperscore, you can create music in any style, as simple or complicated as you want. The challenge is to complete your piece and share it online or at an in-person performance on June 21, which is Make Music Day, a global celebration of music-making.
You can start at any time. Just be sure to plan well ahead if you want to involve others to help arrange and perform your piece on June 21.
Get started
Recruit students to join the Challenge team! Use these:
Everyone participating in the challenge will receive a Hyperscore account with all features available for the duration of the challenge. If you want to lead a team, fill out the form below. A team can be just you, or you plus others. Only the leader should submit the form. We will send you an email with instructions to set up your Hyperscore account and join the Hyperscore Composing challenge. Once you have your group leader account, you can invite your team members through the Hyperscore team dashboard.
Children age 13 and younger will receive instructions to get their parent/guardian’s consent at the time they create their account.
Prompt reveal
Every week, we will release new video prompts here. They include classic silent movies, animations, and video game clips. Our Hyperscore Challenge system lets you synch your composition to the action in the video. Many people find a prompt to be helpful. But using the prompt is not required. We don’t want to get in the way of your creativity!
Get practice and advice
You can exercise your musical imagination at our Second Sundays composing workshops, a zero-pressure, safe and fun Zoom meeting where we collaborate on composing a new piece in just one hour. It meets on the second Sunday of each month at 10:00 a.m. ET. Sign up here for the link and monthly alerts.
Hear your piece performed live!
It’s amazing to hear musicians perform music you created. Here’s what you need to do:
Music composed with Hyperscore can be downloaded as an audio (mp3) or MIDI file.
The MIDI file can be uploaded to software that takes MIDI input (such as GarageBand, Sibelius, SoundTrap, Soundation, NoteFlight, Ableton Live) and converts it into standard notation.
You will need to arrange the score for the ensemble that will be performing it. If you don’t know how to do this, you could ask a music teacher for help.
OR, you can download an MP3 audio file and play it as a digital soundtrack.
We encourage you to find collaborators in your area. It could be a music teacher, a friend who plays in a band, college students majoring in music… If you can’t find a way to have your piece played by musicians, you can share the digital version. We will post your composition on the Hyperscore YouTube channel and share it in a gallery on our website. Check out our showcase of the pieces you submitted last year!
Support us!
We are a nonprofit organization. Your generosity makes the Hyperscore Challenge possible and enriches lives by enabling individuals of all ages and backgrounds to engage with music as active listeners, learners, creators, and connectors.
Max Addae is a regular volunteer with New Harmony Line who has mentored kids at Hyperscore workshops at the Boston Children’s Museum and UP Academy. He also oversees the team that is creating a brand-new musical experience at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which will feature a room-size version of Hyperscore. The Dallas installation opens to the public next month.
Max is also an inventor. A recent graduate from Tod Machover’s Opera of the Future group at the M.I.T. Media Lab, Max created VocalCords for his masters thesis. His invention won First Place at the 2024 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
VocalCords “explores the design of a new digital music interface inviting tactile interaction and performance with the singing voice,” Max explains. “The interface makes use of physical rubber cords, acting as stretch sensors, which are pulled and manipulated by the hands of the singer as they vocalize to augment and modify their voice in real-time – as if they were able to physically ‘touch’ their own vocal cords. This approach allows for expressive, tactile control over the singing voice, which suggests a striking relationship between physical and musical tension. Through a series of prototyping iterations and a public performance with the interface, I explore the potential of touch-mediated vocal performance, as well as how this added tactile interaction may alter our experience with, and perception of, our singing voices.”
Machover, head of the Opera of the Future research group, noted, “From the very first time that Max showed me the initial concept for VocalCords, I could see that he had found a uniquely powerful and personal way to combine his singing, composing, computing, and performing skills. The mature system is so effective because it unleashes both the expressivity and the fragility of the human voice in ways that are simultaneously simple and profound. I am so proud of Max for winning first prize in the prestigious Guthman Competition, the only award in the world for visionary musical instrument design, and can’t wait to see how he continues to develop VocalCords for his own artistic purposes and also so that others—and especially young people—can experience the joy of vocal creativity and discovery.”
Max’s achievement is a great example of the motivation and ingenuity that is in the DNA of Hyperscore and so many other inventions coming out of the Opera of the Future group. We’re proud to be part of the family!
Here’s a CBS news story about the 2024 Guthman prize.
We were recently invited to participate in a STEM festival at the UP Academy, a public charter school in Dorchester, Massachusetts. We were honored and excited to participate, but not without a frisson of trepidation. The school strongly emphasizes STEM subjects and has an excellent reputation for teacher quality and engagement by the community of predominantly African American and Hispanic families. The program directors were excited to have us introduce music composition with Hyperscore technology. Every student had a Chromebook, wifi, and email.
So why our trepidation? These were middle school students. Thirty of them, a mix of boys and girls. In some ways, they are our ideal audience. They are ready for the music concepts and technology we’d be introducing. But this is also the peak age for self-consciousness and peer judgement. Would they be willing to set aside any discomfort to explore their musical imaginations? Would they be able to carry on independently and in small groups for the 75 minutes of the workshop without things devolving into chaos?
To our relief, the students got right down to work. Fingers tapped away at the touchscreens, shaping melodies and percussion patterns. Faces erupted in smiles (or frowns) as the budding composers reacted to the sounds they were making. We soon discovered that many had missed the point of the Sketch Window so we coached them individually, explaining how it worked. Note to ourselves: When teaching Hyperscore, it would be better to introduce each type of window separately, have students practice with percussion, then with melody, before introducing how to combine these musical building blocks in a Sketch Window. It is conceptually so different from how the Melody and Rhythm Windows work and is too much to get across in a single “overview” talk.
Finally, we tried to coax the students to share their work. That was a bridge too far! Their self-consciousness took over. Some of the kids didn’t mind letting us listen over headphones, and that was enough. We wrapped up the day feeling we had given the students a tantalizing glimpse of what Hyperscore could enable them to do. It was a solid beginning, and we hope to build on this relationship.
In our recent podcast (see video below), our director of education, Cece Roudabush, walks new teacher Sydney Pratt through the practical process of preparing her classroom to learn music composition with Hyperscore.
In developing her music curriculum, Sydney wondered how to incorporate the music creation standards from the national standards for arts education. “Most of the standards that I’ve applied only revolve around performance,” she notes. “Students never get to create anything, and I didn’t know how to incorporate it. Hyperscore seems like the answer.”
Roudabush begins with a great example of a composition created by a fifth grader using only four notes. “It’s a beautiful example of inverted pedagogy,” she says. Instead of teaching chords and intervals as abstract concepts, Hyperscore lets the student stumble across them while creating music. The student learns the concept more deeply because they discovered it by themself.
Next, Roudabush introduces a handy series of checklists and classroom materials that she has perfected through her years of teaching with Hyperscore and leading professional development trainings for educators who are new to Hyperscore. Watch:
This month, our team had an interesting challenge, to devise a short workshop for the F2F Music Foundation’s summer camp, which serves underprivileged kids in the Houston area. The camp supports youths in developing and honing instrumental performance skills. F2F’s founder, the multifaceted Hammond organist and composer Vel Lewis, was keen to give the campers hands-on experience with technology while introducing them to Hyperscore as a tool for composition. And he wanted the campers to produce an original piece that would be performed on instruments during the camp’s final concert.
The campers range in age from seven to 17, and several participated in last year’s summer camp, so they would be able to help the novices with Hyperscore basics. But what could we do in the few hours allotted to the workshop that would be rewarding and relevant?
The camp has a jazz orientation, so we decided to start with a jazzy melody. The campers’ job would be to add accompanying melodies, bass, and percussion. While the idea sounded good in theory, we had not actually tried it out ourselves. So that’s what we decided to do at this month’s Second Sunday Zoom workshop. We composed a bebop-inspired melody in advance. Here it is:
This is what it looks like transcribed into Hyperscore:
While easy on the ears, it’s rhythmically complex, with grace notes, syncopation—elements that make a melody “swing.” We decided to start by adding a bass line, something that could underpin the melody by marking the beat against which the melody would be syncopated. We wondered whether there was a chordal structure to work from, but as we were racing against the clock, we said “let’s just use our ears.” (Plus, we don’t know the rules of jazz harmonies…) We started with a basic descending scale with some jumps, a few eighth notes thrown in among the quarter notes, and a little “grace note” beat at the very end of the phase so that when we looped it, there’d be a nice little flourish to propel us sonically into the next cycle.
Once we got a bass line that sounded good to us, we wanted to add a second melody that could weave in and out. Maybe something that “echoed” parts of the main melody. To make the “echo”, Peter copied part of the melody and plopped it into a new melody window, positioning it right after the trombone melody plays. We chose a vibraphone (yellow melody window) for the instrument because it is a bright sound that contrasts and complements the trombone nicely.
Now onto percussion! Percussion often follows the rhythmic pattern of the melody. We heard in our heads a quarter beat alternating with triplet eights. Again, copying and pasting from the main melody into the percussion window saved some time. At first, the resulting beat sounded a bit too mechanical and lacking in swing, but upon listening, it wasn’t half bad. We adjusted the volume and changed to a cymbal with a more resonant vibration and liked that much better. We threw in some other percussion instruments at various points for emphasis:
We gave it a couple more listens and enjoyed what we heard! Here it is:
We realized afterward that the process we used was a great example of motific composing, in which we copied and pasted bits from the original melody to create the other parts. This was true even as we were guided only by what we heard, not by theory.
Some pro tips: The original melody was locked using keyboard command Ctrl – shift – L (L for “lock”). That way we couldn’t accidentally change it. Also, if you watch the full video of how we created this piece, you’ll see how we stacked various windows with the bars aligned so that it was easy to see the time relationship among the different parts.
Finally, while our team managed to collaboratively create our piece in one hour, we felt this would be a very challenging project for a workshop with kids. We decided to provide more supports, including showing the chords. Unfortunately, just as we were planning this camp workshop, Houston was hit hard by Hurricane Beryl, with electrical power for much of the city knocked out for days. The camp was postponed. We hope Vel and the kids are safe and look forward to composing with them in the near future.
Here’s the full video of our Second Sunday session:
Does your robot have a name? What is its personality?
What journey has your robot been on? Where is it going?
These were some of the questions we asked the elementary and middle schoolers participating in a Junior Botball robotics camp this summer. The campers were surprised by our questions. They had been so intent all week on getting gears to mesh properly and software commands debugged, that they hadn’t thought about naming their robots at all. But the metal, plastic and rubber contraptions were soon given monikers and endowed with personalities that “keep going” and “want to get the job done.”
Warming up to the idea of creating music to tell their robots’ stories, the campers were soon working on percussion riffs. They explored the different sounds made by the Rhythm Window. We talked about how the beat establishes a personality–steady as clockwork or cautious and exploratory. If fast, the tempo conveys urgency. If slow, the mood might feel deliberate or even dangerous.
When they were satisfied with their beats, the campers tackled the next layer, melody. One camper had designed a dancing robot that cycled between twirling and moving back and forth. While the movements were repetitive, the music was anything but. The beat was spiky and the tune careened chaotically, triggering much joyful head bopping by the composer.
Once melody-making was well under way, we introduced the Sketch Window and discussed how the campers could assemble their melodies and rhythmic motifs into a larger story–much the way they had taken a pile of loose parts and snapped them together to construct their robots. Each robot was programmed to go through specified movements. The more advanced robots navigated through a maze, picking up balls, blocks, and “moon rocks” along the way and delivering them to the moon lander. The campers needed to think about their robots’ stories. How does it start? What happens in the middle? Are there moments of tension, for example when a robot is trying to carry out a tricky task? How does it end? In triumph or disappointment?
For the final layer, we introduced the harmony settings and Harmony Line, and encouraged the campers to try listening to their pieces in the None, General, and Classical harmony modes. Did they like one more than another? Soon the campers were oohing and exclaiming, visibly excited to realize Hyperscore had more powers for them to explore.
By the end of our three-hour workshop, each camper had completed an original composition for their robot. The final assignment was to edit videos of their robots and layer in the audio soundtrack, which they downloaded from Hyperscore as MP3 files. We look forward to seeing the videos soon on YouTube!
Recipe for success
The camp ran smoothly because the campers’ Hyperscore accounts had been set up in advance. We had also trained a group of high-school student mentors in Hyperscore ahead of time. The camp director had set up the campers’ daily routines in a way that fit their ebbing and flowing levels of energy and focus. The campers themselves had some experience with computers and algorithmic thinking, so it was easy for them to learn the interface and grasp the basic ideas behind motific composing.
What Hyperscore added to the robotics camp was a way for the campers and mentors — a dozen high-energy elementary, middle and high school kids — an opportunity to reflect on and express the emotions and ideas that were until then an undiscussed, unexplored dimension to their experience. They were all eager to participate and quickly became focused and engrossed in the composing activity.
We hope that our workshop awakened the campers to new facets of their own creative potential. One camper in particular made an impression on us. When he was working on his rhythm motifs, he kept frowning and shaking his head. It was the start of something but he wasn’t satisfied. He continued to work with focus and intention and composed a piece that had a ear-worm of a theme and an impressive build that effectively captured the robot’s drama. A composer is born!
We are grateful to camp director Elaine Griggs and the Junior BotBall Summer Camp through CS4Youth in Pembroke, MA. Thank you for welcoming us and giving us this wonderful opportunity to work with you.
