Guitar Hero
November 13th, 2007 by jenh
I’ve played Guitar Hero a few times in the past month, and it makes me wonder, how do we music educators compete with the instant “guitar hero” fantasy that this game provides? Players can choose to be anything from a Jimmie Hendrix- to a Courtney Love-type rock star with virtual crowds getting pumped or looking bored based on how many notes are played correctly. You only need some familiarity with playing video games to play Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” and hear that YOU are the rock star, with a band backing you up. In my (albeit limited) Guitar Hero playing experience, however, an understanding of beat, meter, and duration in music and their reflection in the iconic notation that comes flying across the screen is helpful to making the game “click” and become a truly musical experience, at least from my perspective as a trained Western classical musician. Maybe we music educators are necessary after all. Could we be preparing our students to have a more musical experience playing Guitar Hero, rather than a strictly gaming experience? Perhaps future versions of Guitar Hero will allow one to control volume and timbre, begging the question, is playing Guitar Hero playing a musical instrument (or could it be) and will we, and should we, offer it in our music classes?
I have yet to play Guitar Hero, but I have seen others play it and notice similarities to Dance Dance Revolution. Both have symbols for actions that the player needs to take. If one synchs themselves to the beat they are more likely to get more points and better accuracy. I have thought that both of these games might be an effective (an unusual) tool to teach rhythm to students. Your observations are only affirming my feelings.
I am currently studying Elementary Education at Purdue University, and I have been involved in music my whole life. I have a serious desire to incorporate some music education into my daily lessons, and this brought to my attention a tool that I have not yet considered. I have been playing guitar hero for some time, and never thought of using it as an educational tool. I do believe it could work well when teaching rhythm. Thanks for the good idea!
I stumbled upon this great entry after googling music education blogs. I’m a first year music educator (teaching middle school) and I’ve wondered the same thing. It really hits home when I get some of my guitar students asking if we’ll ever play Guitar Hero or Rock Band in class. I always think to myself immediately, “yeah, that will help us play, right.” But given Lindsey’s comment, I think I would just need to think outside of the box a little more. I don’t know if you’re at all familiar with Rock Band, but the drumming simulation is, in my opinion, a pretty accurate experience. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. Possibly a great tool for both learning rhythm and building coordination for your percussionists. The challenge would be getting students away from the screen and into real notation. I will say this would probably eliminate the battle in trying to get students to practice.
In response to your final question, I don’t believe Guitar Hero is a musical instrument by itself, but rather a display in coordination. I do believe, however, that it could be used quite effectively as a musicality builder for students, comparable to electronic eurythmics. Just a few thoughts…and good luck in your endeavors.
Tyler
Guitar Hero is Dance, Dance Revolution for your fingers. It’s not a particularly music making experience. It’s DDR for kids too lazy to move their feet.
Guitar Hero can be a fun reward for class parties, if you do that sort of thing. I can’t us it since I teach elementary and, because of the game rating, I am not allowed to have it at school. I do though have DDR, which is great for teaching steady beat and even rhythmic values. You can change the settings to have each arrow a different color for each value. For example; red is quarters (one beat,) blue is eighth (or the half point of a beat,) yellow is 16th (or a 1/4 of a beat,) and so on. DDR also has options for editing tracks to create your own steps.
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This is a very interesting post. I never really saw much musical merit in Guitar Hero, but maybe I need to open my mind!
I have been pondering this as well. Its nice to know Im not alone in my thoughts! I teach a guitar class for middle school students. The class is twelve weeks long and has been presented as a beginning concepts for guitar. Giving students the resources to continue with guitar whether they seek out instruction or not. I thought about presenting guitar hero on the last day of class. Just a fun day perhaps. Maybe its not just fun though. It obviously gives students some sense of rhythm (however mechanical it may be) and maybe even aids with dexterity comparable to guitar.
I cannot, however, overcome the logistics of the game. To my knowledge, only two players can effectively play the game at the same time (battle!). For a class as large as mine (24-30), can anyone think of a way it would be effective so that most students are not sitting around most of the time?
I am currently studying to be a music teacher the University of Nebraska at Kearney and I have thought about this aswell. I think that it would be a very beneficial teaching style to incorporate videogames like dance dance revolution and guitar hero into the teaching strategy. These games help students to develop rhythm, pitch and even melodic motivs and phrases really. So I think teachers should definitely find a way to tie these games to the classroom setting.
I am currently studying elementary education and have many years of musical training - mostly vocal. I am not good at guitar hero but I love playing it when I can. I am a bigger fan of the karaoke games available. I think it is important to indroduce children to subjects by using prior knowledge. In this generation most children have a prior knowledge of video games. I think this would be a great idea to introduce a rhythm. Thanks for the suggestion!
I definitely see some merit in Guitar Hero, and even more in Rock Band. Playing the drums in Rock Band is really not too different from an actual drum kit, albeit a very small, differently laid-out kit. There are definite rhythm skills needed for all of the instruments.
I am currently an undergrad music ed student. I have played Guitar Hero on several occasions, and I love the game. I’ve noticed that having a sense of beat and rhythm definitely helps in the game. If a lesson plan could be formulated around it, (i.e. discussing rhythm, etc) I think a short segment on Guitar Hero could stimulate musical thinking. It would be awesome if game designers could somehow make the game even more musically realistic without making it overly complicated. The addition of drums to the game definitely helps - I find them hard to play!
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very great article, i love music too and would love to join a guitar hero tutorial
I do though have DDR, which is great for teaching steady beat and even rhythmic values. You can change the settings to have each arrow a different color for each value.
I have thought that both of these games might be an effective (an unusual) tool to teach rhythm to students. Your observations are only affirming my feelings.
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Thank you for your topic.
I definitely see some merit in Guitar Hero, and even more in Rock Band. Playing the drums in Rock Band is really not too different from an actual drum kit, albeit a very small, differently laid-out kit. There are definite rhythm skills needed for all of the instruments
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nice!! thanks 4 share.
I’ve noticed that having a sense of beat and rhythm definitely helps in the game.
Who is hero?
Desings like music
[Woah, just realized how old this post is. Don’t know how I didn’t realize that but I typed up a discussion anyway so here goes.]
Am I the only one who disagrees? I think Guitar Hero would be a miserable addition to the classroom - from a learning standpoint.
While I hear the point of learning beat and rhythm loud and clear - and I don’t underestimate the challenges a beginner would face in that department - so to is it a struggle for that beginner to hold the instrument correctly, to strum properly, and to get the chords down, never mind actually play the thing.
While yes, you could help foster the ability to keep rhythm on GH, so does playing music to a metronome or beat track with an actual instrument. The later has the additional benefit of the student actually learning how to play.
I’d also think it would be discouraging to pick up the guitar from the game and be playing along to classics instantly, only to go back to the difficult guitar. Then again, the challenge might motivate some students.
All this said, from a marketing standpoint it would do you really good to be the cool teacher who lets your students play guitar hero. Conversely, some parents will be pissed that you’re letting them play a game when they’re paying you to teach an instrument.
Thoughts: Most of you probably have a waiting room, why not throw the game in there. Voila, beat and rhythm mastered in off time while class time is designated for learning the actual instrument. Everyone wins.
Who is hero
These games help students to develop rhythm, pitch and even melodic motivs and phrases really.
Thanks…
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thank you about guitar