Music-games: A case study of their impact

Abstract

Music-games present a highly pervasive new platform to create, perform, appreciate and transmit music through peer and online communities (e.g., Peppler, Downton, Lindsay, & Hay, 2011). While learners are increasingly engaged with such digital music participation outside the classroom, evidence indicates learners are increasingly disengaged with formal music education (e.g., Abril & Gault, 2008; Dillon, 2003; Lamont & Maton, 2008). The challenge for music educators is to utilize digital music participation as a tool to create new opportunities to inspire and engage learners with music in formal and informal learning contexts (see Hargreaves, Marshall, & North, 2003). The music-game synergy presents a unique, yet relatively untapped, platform to investigate the processes and outcomes of both music and video game participation in a comprehensive context. On one hand, previous research highlights the power of music education to enrich intellectual, social and personal development (e.g., Hallam, 2010), while on the other a growing body of work highlights the educational potential of digital-games to scaffold and enrich learning (e.g., Wastiau, Kearney, & Van den Berghe, 2009). This warrants investigation of the potential of game-based technology to promote engagement with music, and the wider benefits of music-game participation in the lives of learners. In this light, we present a single exploratory case study of a learner’s encounter with Rock Band 3, addressing the learner’s attitudes toward music-games and the music-game experience. It is asserted that music-games are a valuable vehicle to connect formal and informal music participation in the 21st century, embodying fundamental musical concepts in gameplay and authenticating formal participation to the wider musical world of the learner.