Seeing Music with Ed Tech Tools

Now here is an Ed Tech Tool that will make you smile: Creatability from Google is a collection of innovative tools which allows users to create music or drawings using different parts of their body, with their voice, or with your computer’s mouse. I used the free applications for HOURS! It is incredibly fun and interesting. The different “experiments” (Google’s name for the applications) are created in collaboration with educators, non-profit organizations, and the tech community and are geared towards giving persons with disabilities access to creating art and music. This up and coming use of tech in education is sure to make waves into the future.

In the Seeing Music feature, you can see visual images, which looks like an aura of vibrations, when you sing or make noise in your computer’s microphone. You can also see prerecorded visualizations of sounds and singing. This application would be useful for student’s with hearing loss, but also I believe any student will enjoy seeing visualizations of their voice and instruments. The tech uses web and AI technology to track your movements through your computer’s camera. Most of the applications allow you to switch which body part to track, such as your face, wrist, knee, or ankle. Students with limited mobility in parts of their body would benefit from this feature. Imagine experiencing playing a digital piano or drums with the movement of your head. I did it, and it is intriguing.

The Sound Canvas tool allows users to draw with the guidance of sound. The pitch goes higher or lower depending on where you are drawing on the canvas. Users can either draw with their keyboard/mouse or using the movement of their body. This gives students with limited eyesight the ability to draw.

Google’s Creatability appears to be in a developmental stage, but what is already on the site is powerful and can be implemented in classrooms for all students. Google is asking for contributors to the site, so there will be more upcoming experiments. I believe uses for tech incorporating AI technology will become more developed and omnipresent in future applications and technology. In addition, the use of technology to assist in the education of student’s with varying disabilities is in high demand, so I believe this tech will continue to grow and improve with time. Every child deserves access to the arts, and the tech in Creatability are powerful tools to ensure inclusiveness of art and music in education.