Last year in uni, we looked at tapping in to the controls of usb/bluetooth game controllers (xBox, Wii, Ps3) and using programming software such as PD (pure data) we were able give the buttons new parameters and control functions. It's a bit of a mind field the software, but you can get some amazing results. As a simple tester we initially turned a Wii remote in to a theremin, using the accelerometer (movement) altering the pitch of a sine wave as you tilt the controller up and down and controlling vibrato as you tilted it side to side. With this sort of technology you can more or less get the controllers to do what ever you want, whether it's using a guitar hero guitar to play a simple pentatonic scale as a solo instrument in an ensemble or to use a Wii remote to manipulate and control a piece of music by altering plug-ins and effects. I led a workshop in west wales using the wii remote as a theremin, and got the music students to compose a simple piano part as backing, and then to add in a solo with the wii. It was hard at first for the students to pitch the notes correctly, but you can also set up a predetermined list of note frequencies which will be played one by one if the student presses a certain button. This meant the student were able to write a solo part and then make it more expressive using the vibrato and by controlling the volume level of the sine wave. This is slightly different from using an actual game in a class room but it shows that music can be created using such technologies, and for some students they found it interesting as it was using something that they recognized and knew how to use.

Interesting article in the Guardian last week where Bill Wyman echoes the fears of many when he suggests that guitar games will destroy music as we know it. He reflects: "It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think is a pity, so I'm not really keen on that kind of stuff."


Guardian writer Keith Stuart thinks that these fears are unfounded. He says:
Kids learn the guitar for two key reasons: to express themselves musically and to get together with some mates, form a band and attract a solid base of adoring fans. Rock Band is no use for either of these. Sure, there are specialist nights in bars around the world where you can play Rock Band and Guitar Hero on stage, but this is the instrumental equivalent of karaoke: although enormous fun for an evening, it's not going to bring fame, fortune or creative satisfaction.


Alex Rigopulos, (co-founder of Guitar Hero) also offers an intriguing counter-argument to the Wyman hypothesis: that these games actually encourage more people to play a genuine guitar. Last year, a research project commissioned by Youth Music found that up to 2.5 million UK youngsters have been inspired to take up real instruments after playing console music titles.


Claire Davies, deputy editor of Total Guitar magazine, which is aimed at novice and intermediate musicians, concurs: "Total Guitar has received hundreds of emails over the past year since running a feature on Guitar Hero and one of the game's lead guitarists, Marcus Henderson. The majority of our readers praise the game for introducing them to an entire catalogue of music that they might not otherwise have discovered, which they have then requested tablature for, to learn on guitar.
Certainly, most young bands seem to be enthusiastic about the games. "Whenever Total Guitar does an on-the-road diary piece with a guitarist or heads backstage to their dressing room or tour bus for an interview, we always find copies of Guitar Hero among their videogames," says Claire Davies, the magazine's deputy editor. The games love them back – Harmonix has featured unsigned artists in downloadable track packs for Rock Band, and is now setting up the Rock Band Network, allowing groups to upload tracks, which can then be bought by the game's fans and played along to. The up-and-coming Welsh group Attack! Attack! has just won a competition to have their latest single, 'You and Me' included on Guitar Hero 5. Furthermore, established bands get a much better split of the revenues from a Rock Band or Guitar Hero inclusion than they would on an iTunes download and there's usually a huge boost in sales for tracks featured on the games. Apparently, Aerosmith made more money from the release of last year's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith than they did from either of their past two albums.


Critics also like to say there's no useful correlation between the experience of playing console guitar sims and the ability to make real music. But they're wrong again. For a start, the latest iterations of Guitar Hero come with a Music Studio feature allowing players to create their own basic tracks, then distribute them on the GHtunes service. Does this facility represents a vital bridge between simulation and creation?


There are also more fundamental links between the two skillsets. "The essence of maintaining rhythm, developing hand-eye co-ordination and a sense of timing that you gain from playing these games is helpful," says Davies, "and for people who have never held a guitar before, holding a controller will enable them to get used to the sensation of holding the real thing. As for the controllers, they keep getting better and more realistic: this month guitar giant Fender has released the Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster guitar controller, which is a wooden full-scale replica of the popular Stratocaster, even down to the hand painted gloss three-colour Sunburst finish."


Staurt concludes by saying: “You could complete every song in expert mode on Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you could do it blindfolded – but this pales into insignificance beside composing Smells Like Teen Spirit – as much fun as these games are, deep down, we all know this to be true. But you know what? We play anyway. Music is a powerful enough medium to allow us to continue.”

Just a postscript to my last comment.

For those interested in reading some background, there is a useful posting on Wikipedia re "Serious Games".

A serious game is a software application developed with game technology and design principles for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. There is no single definition of serious games, though they are generally held to be games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education. A number of examples of serious games that have been used in education can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game.

Hi Vanessa

Not really an area of expertise for me, although I do think guitar hero could offer something interesting?!

If it's just games in general, then one thought that occurs to me is any possibility of simply making use of the sound track from a game? I don't know the KS2 curriculum at all really (perhaps I need to read it?) but I am guessing that it will state somewhere that pupils should perform/compose/listen. Play the soundtrack and act out the game. Simply listen to the music from a game to identify musical features/elements. Watch the game without the sound and compose new music - live in the class and/or with aid of technology.

If the game had another focus - say it was 'environmental' then it could become part of a larger cross-curricular project?

I may be way off-mark with these ideas though?

Mark

Hi Vanessa

Perhaps a little disappointing that there have not been more responses here – but perhaps not altogether surprising. You are way ahead of the game! I’m sure that if we were to revisit this topic say in two years time, there would be a lot more that could be said.

I am sure that this is something that is going to become a big factor in education. Interesting to note that the Innovation Unit in its “Pedagogic Change Themes Learning Futures” document

http://www.innovation-unit.co.uk/images/stories/files/pdf/learning_futures_change_themes.pdf


An acknowledgement that simulations, gaming theory, social networking (and e-communication generally) are beginning to transform the learning landscape
Proposals and ideas in this area took a number of forms, but three clear strands of thinking emerged:

* Virtual environments have demonstrably been very effective in reengaging many young people deemed ‘lacking ability or motivation’, as well as having appeal for a wide range of learners.
* Effective technologies and collaborative tools can move us towards long-held pedagogic aspirations - learner-designed pathways and routes, just in time learning and any-time engagement, all-age peer learning, etc.
* Beyond these virtual tools, the learning models and principles underpinning their design have much to offer schools more generally.

In the meantime, keep us posted via your homepage re developments. there are many of us who will follow with keen interest!

I will be following your research with interest Vanessa.

I hope to contribute a little more over the coming months as my company (Charanga) has obtained the educational rights to an existing Games format (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?) and will soon be releasing quizzes with rather more educational content than the usual trivia type versions. Sony Pictures who own the rights to this format through their 2WayTraffic company have been very accomodating in allowing us to amend the format to suit educational use. Existing feedback from teachers this has already resulted in some useful amendments - such as the option for fewer number of questions (so quiz doesnt take up the whole lesson!), the incorporation of multimedia stimuli (rather than just straight text multiple choice) which is of particular interest to music educators, the possibility of including feedback and so on.

Perhaps of most interest is the fact the we will be providing tools for teachers to upload their own content and configure their own quizzes.

I am really interested in other peoples experiences using games as teaching tools both from the teachers and the learners perspective. I would hope to offer teachingmusic a sneak preview of the kinds resources we are proposing before our launch at the BETT show in January and would love some feedback from the community.

I always find it interesting to remind pupils of their dexterity at home playing computer games (Wii, Playstation....) when they complain about not being able to (EG) clap back a rhythm etc. Often then they will rise to the challenge and perform better. I think making more links with the skills pupils have on their games consoles by bringing them into the classroom is extremely important. I liked the idea of them acting as an 'additional learning context'. Bringing them into the classroom would also help to break down barriers between pupils' values about Music in-school and Music outside-school.

Hi Vanessa

Great to see some one doing some serious work in an area of music education which is long overdue. I have the feeling that there is great potential here.

Even before the computer age, there were some fascinating examples of use of games to generate structure and form in music - from John Cage through the music of john Zorn. George Self has produced some interesting examples for classroom use which I have adapted. (See my article in NAME’s book Sound Progress and also forthcoming edition of NAME magazine.

Tim Rylands has done some excellent work with the Myst Exile game, using the interactivity and graphics to stimulate high level achievement in literacy in his primary school. This is well documented on the net. I am considering using this programme for use in music classrooms and have made a tentative start with this - I’ll let you know how I get on. The wonderful graphics in these sorts of programmes and the control you have over manipulating these graphics can provide a wonderful stimulus for creative music making in a multimedia environment.

Regarding using games controllers in music. I have had some success with Hand2hand’s adaptation of playstation controllers to control midi generated music. It is worth going onto Jonathan Savage’s website to find out more.

Regarding the use of Wii controllers. I think that it is a real step forward to bring the use of games controllers for music to a wider audience. Many of our students will own these sorts of controllers and will have developed a sophisticated range of techniques in using them to control information parameters.

The next and possibly the most exciting step will be when it becomes straightforward to use these as generic midi controllers which can control musical parameters in such programmes as Ableton and Audiomulch.

Do keep us posted with developments……