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Amazon, Georgia Tech, and Pharrell Williams' philanthropic organization, YELLOW, invite you to engage your students in the Your Voice is Power learning experience and coding competition. Students will learn entrepreneurship, computer science, and social justice by remixing Pharrell's new song, Entrepreneur, on Georgia Tech's EarSketch platform. 

Are your students ready to become the next big music producer?

Do they want to use their voice to inspire change? 

The Your Voice Is Power competition is their opportunity to remix beats from Pharrell while learning to code. Yes, code. Your students will have the opportunity to use EarSketch, a free online code editor, to compose a unique song as they are learning computer science. No experience is necessary to participate. Students can also participate in the curriculum experience to develop an understanding of social justice themes to include in their song.

CODE

COMPETE

I’m in... What do my students need to know to participate?

The competition runs from January 15 to June 4 with two rounds to submit a song entry. Student songs will be judged based on quality of music, code, and messaging by a panel of industry judges. Their song should be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, include 5 unique music tracks, and a sound clip from Pharrell’s song “Entrepreneur”. 

ROUND 1

Opens January 15

Closes March 12

ROUND 2

Opens March 15

Closes June 4

GRAND PRIZE

ANNOUNCED IN JUNE 2021

WIN

Awesome, we are so excited to participate. It’s a competition…..so what are the prizes?

Five students will win a $5000 grand prize for college or to start their own business. 

Five teachers will receive $1000 for above and beyond instruction. Students will also compete for Amazon Gift Cards and some other awesome prizes.

HOW TO GET STARTED

I’m ready, how do I bring this to my classroom!

Sign up as a “Your Voice is Power” teacher. We’ll send you competition updates and training information. 

 

Check out our five day Curriculum Experience for your classroom to engage your students in social justice, music, and coding. 

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New to EarSketch? Check out our tutorials, training workshops, and recordings to get started in EarSketch

CURRICULUM

This 5-module learning experience includes curriculum to teach how music, computer science, and entrepreneurship can be tools to fight for racial equity. Each module's learning experience includes a lesson plan, slides, student notes, and exit ticket, which are accessible below and also integrated into its respective webpage for you to follow along with your students as you teach. 

 

MODULE 0

Introduction to EarSketch

Students will create an EarSketch account, learn how to navigate the EarSketch Platform, gain a basic understanding of how to utilize the coding platform, and run a basic script.

MODULE 1

Decode the Message in the Music

Students will explore how to decode the message in the music and embed messages in their code with comments.

MODULE 2

Layers of Injustice (and Music)

Students will examine the "layers" of both racism and music and will code instrumental layers in their song using variables and functions.

MODULE 3

Set your own Tempo

Students will hear the stories of amazing entrepreneurs who "set their own tempo" before learning to code their own unique 16-measure song.

MODULE 4

Song Structure:

Every Part / Person has a Purpose

Students will discover the various roles people can play in the fight for racial justice and dissect Pharrell's song structure and begin to plan/code the different parts of their song.

MODULE 5

Call to Action

Students will code a song in EarSketch, remixing stems from Pharrell's song, Entrepreneur, that uses their "voice" or includes a message to promote equity.