well, i don't really care about what's happening to the kids playing these, but i AM concerned with what these games are doing to the music.
What is happening due to RockBand and Guitar Hero videogames?
- One: younger kids are listening to more of a variety of music then would be played on the radio ( I think? i'm only saying this because i was impressed that Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover made it to a Guitar Hero.)
- Two: music is fundamentally regarded to have the same value for practice and discipline as any form of fine arts or karate, ... clicking buttons a half second out of time with a shred solo is not shredding.
But, the above is water under the bridge, but the new RockBand video game is more like water destroying the bridge.
Ann Powers writes about generations. She states how young kids enjoy music written decades earlier then their existence. Right Ann, i agree, she also says that the new The Beatles Rockband both bridges generational music gaps, simultaneously proving that these bridges exist. I don't like to pretend to play music, but even when your pretending to play music, kids are forced to listen to the music their mimicking right?
Personally: I play many instruents and i've always resented Guitar Hero and its counterpart. Recently i've been learning a little more about it and as someone who apperictes music, i can def apericate Guitar Hero and Rock Band's deal with providing gamers and younger kids with music they normally wouldn't hear on the radio.
Just last week, my young brother, an avid Guitar Hero(er) asked me to teach him how to really play guitar. I feel like this is the best possible scenrio of those games, or at least, my brother understood those games in the right context. It may be fun to play a muti million dollar song without ever actaully learning how to play an instrument, but sometimes the ends jsutfiy the means.
The fact that my brother started with a game, then evolved to a physical guitar is encouraging to say the least.
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