Could Video Games Teach Us to be Musicians?

With all the musical titles available on all games consoles, it is likely that you’ve given music a go through the medium of video games, be it from uncoordinatedly failing on Guitar Hero to a very out of tune rendition of your favourite song on Singstar. Although video games have been scientifically proven to help excel in many areas, with it sometimes being used specifically as a learning tool, it leaves the question; can my Xbox make me into the next big pop star?

For this piece, we won’t consider the dance games, mainly because they are awful, but also due to the fact that dancing is not a requirement of a musician; it helps, but is not a requirement. To begin we’ll discuss a staple for a musical artist, the singing. Most, in the privacy of their own home, probably consider themselves quite the singer, however when put into the bright lights of the karaoke set, tragically crumble. However with the vast number of singing based game which have been released, on nearly all consoles, the humble karaoke machine has been made redundant. But do these games help our singing, the answer; no. The reality is, these games are merely glorified Karaoke machines, which due to a clever marketing team, has got you needing a $300 console to play it on. The likes of Singstar and Singit, despite their misleading titles, require no singing ability, just the ability to read lyrics as they are thrown across the screen. With no actual tutorials or guides, they are utter duds in the teaching department.

Even though it has become less apparent in our current musical climate, instruments were once a big part of a musicians career, take for example the likes of Jimi Hendrix, who honestly, would not have had a career without …read more

Source:: Music Think Tank