Hip-hop music fit like a glove around lessons in coding at a Hack-A-Thon hosted at the Banded Peak School in Bragg Creek on Mar. 23.

Eighty-eight select students from the middle school, as well as Airdrie's W. H. Croxford High, took part in the Your Voice is Power program that combines computer science, music, entrepreneurship, and creativity while increasing awareness of Indigenous realities.

They used Ear Sketch, a web-based music program, to remix music from Indigenous artists, such as Dakota Bear, who participated in the day-long session.

Christine M'Loc, who helped developed the curriculum and was part of a team there from TakingITGlobal, says it's designed to get students excited about coding, and music was a great way to make that connection. Skills learned can help lead them to future careers in such fields as software engineering, web development. app development, and video game development.

"We combined hip-hop and coding to remix a song. So they can, for example, take a drum beat from one song, maybe the vocals from another, and then they code these pieces into a new song."

M'Loc says the Indigenous component is designed in a manner that provides insight for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

"It exposes students to Indigenous role models and this is good for our Indigenous students so that they can see themselves in this curriculum and see themselves as being capable coders. But then it's also good for non-Indigenous students to gain respect and maybe understanding for Indigenous people in the country."

Lila McleanGrade 8 student Lil Mclean, right, working on mix.

Grade 8 student Lila Mclean enjoyed learning more about coding, having a chance to express herself through music, and hearing Dakota Bear's story.

"It's a really neat event where our students can come and they can really just express themselves through music with lots of different artists and genres."

Lila says it has inspired her to further explore coding and music.

"I am not very musically talented and I think this kind of pushed me to go out of my comfort zone and I really enjoyed that. I can see myself getting more into this."

Hawk SuttonGrade 7 student Hawk Sutton, centre, working on his coding.

Grade 7 student Hawk Sutton says he enjoyed learning how to use the new controls to create his own music. He's already formulating ideas on how to expand upon what he created that day.

"What I plan to do is made a really fast one and then make up a rap for it."

For him, the bottom line is to create music that will make people feel good when they hear it.

Dakota Bear spoke of how his passion for social justice and music are a powerful blend and gave a performance.

"I think learning to code is really important these days, especially for young Indigenous people to get involved in a technology that is continuing to advance in today's society," he said in an interview on Your Voice is Power.

Students can submit their unique songs to the Your Voice is Power national competition. After being judged by a panel of industry experts, two students will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship or grant to start a business. Entries are judged based on the quality of music, code, and inclusion of social justice themes.

Miguel MoycaMiguel Moyca was part of the team at Banded Peak School from TakingITGlobal. 

M'Loc says they have led hackathons across Canada, where they provide a condensed version of the curriculum's eight modules.

There's also a free online version of the full curriculum available for teachers who want to provide it to students in their classroom at whatever pace works into their lesson planning.

"It's completely free. Teachers don't need to sign up. It's literally on our website so they can access all eight learning modules. We want to make it as accessible as possible for teachers. Each module has a student workbook, a teacher workbook, all the presentation slides, and even a script for teachers so they can do this with any prior coding knowledge."

Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon Music, and TakingITGlobal sponsor the program. 

You can find more information on Your Voice is Power and the curriculum here.

performanceStudents were treated to a performance by Dakota Bear, left. (Photo/Simon Pols)