Learning music the modern way - with computer games!

Who remembers going to traditional piano lessons? Where you had to go to Mrs Jones's house and sit up straight on the stool, and play the right notes or you'd get a swift ruler tap on the back of the knuckles?
Well thankfully times have changed, and (we hope) that piano teachers no longer plan to teach with a ruler as their main means of correcting students!
Still, in the last ten years a new breed of Music Education has popped up: Computer Games which are part entertainment, and part education.
Certainly there is some worth in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band When you are playing through the songs it can really feel like you are playing the instrument.
The great thing about these games is that it is giving people the opportunity who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to pick up an instrument and know what it feels like to be on stage with a guitar, or play a tune on a piano.
However these games should never be your main way of learning the instrument if you are really serious about playing music.
These games can provide excellent help with learning music, provided you use them in combination with lessons from a teacher. They certainly shouldn't be written off as having no educational value.
If you are learning to play the guitar the game can be used to help you learn the structure and form of the songs, and then you can take it to your teacher and learn the correct riffs and chords.
If you are learning drums there is some value in playing the Rock band drum kit, however its layout isn't quite the same as a real kit, which is a bit disappointing from an educational perspective.
It can also be helpful for piano students to use a computer game such as Piano Wizard. With this software you can attach a real electric piano to the computer via MIDI and play the notes on the screen in real time.
Some things to help you choose a music game:
It is best if you can use a Real Instrument as the controller for the game.This should be easy for the piano programs like piano wizard, however the technology isn't quite there for guitar yet to play the game with a real instrument.

Article Source: http://www.free-article-info.com/ArticleDashboard

Kevin Tuck is a person who is passionate about two things: Teaching music, and making music fun for his students. Kevin also edits music theory worksheets and educational music games for the Fun Music Company.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated