Beginning in 2020, programming education will be required in elementary schools in Japan. In addition, it is necessary to consider how to programming education can be implemented in music classes. This paper discusses the importance of tinkering in music-making activities during programming education in elementary schools. First, “tinkering” was defined and some characteristics considered. Some aspects of tinkering in music-making activities were considered in addition to some advantages of tinkering with computer software. Although tinkering greatly differs from computational thinking, the possibility of adapting them was considered. Finally, the significance of tinkering in both music and programming studies is pointed out.