How’s this for Music Education? Rock Band and Guitar Hero Good for the Future of Music

So many people have dreams to be the next starving musician due to band games coming onto the market. But just how likely are these games to train musicians?

Remember the electronic game Simon? With a similar theory, different colors and shapes moving across the screen that match buttons on your instrument. Or take the Vocal Mic where words move across the screen like the Karaoke machine. The point of the game is to copy what you see happening on the screen.

It has been proposed that such computer games do nothing to contribute to music. That games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero are simply that ” games ” and they are not really good for anything.

I disagree.

Yes I would say that these games don’t teach musical skills so much as they are about play-acting being in a band and having fun. They are geared towards family fun and having a good time.

Although there can be more to it than that. Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero can inspire a young person to take an interest in music. It can improve hand-eye coordination that is needed when playing a real instrument. Students can improve the dexterity and can learn a better sense of harmony, rhythm and tone. I like Rock Band especially and recommend to my drumming students as it helps them with limb independence (picture rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time as an example.)

Some argue that such games turn students away from learning a real instrument. I feel in fact the opposite is true. Lets face it, you’re only going to get so far with a plastic guitar and cheap, artificial drum pads. If you are at all serious about music, the limitations of the game eventually force you to turn to real instruments in order to achieve your fix, and you will graduate to the real thing.

Over and over again there are students who have played such games and wanting more have moved on to the real instrument such as the drums, guitar, or bass. Many vocalists have have overcome their stage fright and moved on to discover a talent they had only dreamed of.

Such games are more than simply having fun. They create in people the desire to be more involved in music. Maybe even motivate a young person to learn a ‘real’ instrument for the first time. And isn’t that the whole point?