Meet Your Makey
Using Makey Makey to Teach Music and Coding
TEAM MEMBERS: James Broome , Khadijah Nixon , Alex Smyntyna , Hieu Dinh
ADVISORS: Dr. Anca Doloc-Mihu , Dr. Cindy Robertson
TECH: makey-makey , Godot
DIFFICULTY: Intermediate
TARGET AUDIENCE: K-12 , Middle-school , High-school , College
DURATION: 60 minutes
CURATOR(S): Elijah Santiago , Kelechi Ariwodo ,
PUBLISHED DATE: May 12 2025
CREATED IN SEMESTER: Fall 2019
Read more on
- Our project uses the Makey Makey invention kit to teach the basics of circuits and programming in a fun and creative way. Students design custom instrument layouts (e.g. banana piano, playdough drums) that connect to their computer and interact with our Godot application. This hands-on activity helps them explore electrical circuits, user input, and the logic of event-driven programming.
The Technology Ambassador Program at GGC aims to make IT accessible and engaging for all students through creative outreach workshops.
See Github for more details!
Team members
James Broome, Khadijah Nixon, Alex Smyntyna, Hieu Dinh
Outreach Activities:
- Super Saturday Series – November 9, 2019, Georgia Gwinnett College
- TAP Expo – October 10, 2019, Georgia Gwinnett College
- Class Workshops – November 11, 13, and 15, 2019, Georgia Gwinnett College
Materials List:
| Amount | Materials |
|---|---|
| 1 | Collection of Makey Makey Kits |
| 1 | PlayDough Collection |
Technology
Project Setup & Installation:
- Meet-your-Makey Step-by-Step Setup Guide
- Here is a quick video to set up the project.
Usage
Instrument Controls
- W, A, S, D, F, G, Left Arrow, Right Arrow — Play instrument notes and animate icons
- Pressing a key triggers a sound and visual response
Volume & Pitch Control
- Up Arrow / Down Arrow — Rotate icons and shift pitch
Music Player
- Play — Starts music from the Music.gd script
- Next Song — Moves to the next track
- Reset — Stops music and resets the timer
Recorder Functions
- Record — Captures key input with note, time, and duration
- Clear — Clears the recorded data
Instrument Tab
- Cello — Switch to cello
- Drum — Switch to drum
- Violin — Switch to violin
- Piano — Switch to piano
Workshop and Materials
- Synthetic Instrument Workshop Slides
- Workshop Instructions Video
Technologies Used
Gallery
