As a writer who came of age during Beatlemania, I was wary of musical video games. It seemed to me that the plastic guitar-like shells resembling Fender Strats sold with these games mocked the dedication it takes to master the real thing. Games don’t encourage learning chords or intricate finger picking. I remained skeptical.
Then came 09.09.09, the release of Beatles Rock Band. The Beatles and Beatles heirs who agreed to allow the music to be used predicted the game would introduce Beatles music to an entire new generation. Time will tell how effective this will be, but here’s what I do know.
On a recent trip to Liverpool, two days before the Beatles Rock Band release, I witnessed young gamers demo-ing the game on stage during a festival of Beatles tribute bands. The players were quite enthusiastic as they played “Day Tripper.” In their minds, they were reliving a ’60s Beatle’s show.
Watching these young performers, I had a flashback to playing my saxophone along with 45 rpm records in my bedroom in the ‘60s. Today, when guitar-playing young people get tablature instantly on their laptops, or learn Jimmy Page’s “Stairway to Heaven” solo by printing out the notes from music websites, the appeal of these music games hit me.
A music game isn’t sophisticated enough to replace the real deal of studying and mastering an instrument, but it does uniquely encourage music appreciation. These games move an entire new demographic closer to the music—and isn’t that the important thing?
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I would doubt that years from now society will find itself with a shortage of ‘real’ musicians due to the current popularity of Rock Band. If anything, we’ll have more. I can’t think — with the often cut arts programs in public schools — it’s a bad thing that kids are spending their own time ‘playing’ music. Ironic that game developers are providing more arts education than many of our schools.
games are immersive experiences. But surely there was more to your post than this?