Ian Bogost’s “How to do things with videogames” investigates the various applications of videogames using “media microecology”. This focuses on specific components and analyses them closely to see how each part fits into society.
In the chapter about music, the series Rock Band and Guitar Hero were panned for simplifying the instruments that were used to play the games. However, the chapter mentions that a 2008 study done in the UK suggested that it was culturing an interest in music. The study’s results said that one-half of people played music games, and one-fifth took up an interest in music after playing one of these games. Frank Lantz stated that we should embrace this change. Rock Band and Guitar Hero teach music in a method other than using an instrument: rhythm. I like the fact that these games introduce the player to music by not learning how to use a specific instrument, but instead teaches them rhythm. Rhythm is probably the most basic thing in music. Without rhythm, there would be no music. Rhythm help sets the mood of the piece that is being played, along with pitch and tone. I played piano for about ten years, and my teachers always focused on the rhythm at which a piece was played. For the first month or so of learning how to play the piano, I was only taught how to listen to the rhythm of the song, not even touching a piano. I was then taught how to change between rhythms during a piece. I believe these games are a positive influence on music, as without learning how to hear or feel rhythms, you cannot play any piece of music.