Learn Music Theory on Your DS with Music

[Keane Ng]

Learn Music Theory on Your DS with Music

Videogames might get constantly ragged on for not really teaching you how to play music, but SouthPeak Games' Music on the DS does exactly that, teaching you everything from the basics to letting you write your own compositions.

Screw you, Jimmy Page. Along with countless other professional musicians, Page has derided the popularity of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band by saying they compare poorly to actually playing real instruments and are detrimental to musical education these days.

It's a silly argument for a number of reasons, but it seems especially refutable now that there actually is a videogame designed to teach you about and how to play music in an authentic way. Music, published by SouthPeak Games, is designed by Shiro Tsuji, a composer and teacher who designed simple methods for anyone to learn music and has translated his book "Anybody Can Read Music," into this videogame.

Like most educational games these days, Music teaches players through mini-games, quizzes and easy-to-understand lessons. You pass through 18 lessons and study 65 compositions, eventually getting to the point where you are apparently good enough to write your own pieces.

"[Music] transforms concepts that have been traditionally difficult into a format everyone can understand," Richard Iggo of SouthPeak said. "It's amazing to see someone start out learning the basics and end up creating their own compositions."

SouthPeak boasts that by the end, players will now the difference between "an adagio and an aria," which isn't exactly something that takes more than a couple Wikipedia searches. I'm not sure how thorough the education Music provides is, but it's good to know that the game actually exists, if only as it serves as a rebuttal to jerks like Jimmy Page. Okay, I take back that part, and the earlier "screw you." The dude wrote "Kashmir." I can't say anything bad about him.


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[Paulrus_Keaton]

Music Age: Learn Your Notes in Minutes a Day!

 

[Arrers]

That Sounds like a great idea. I'd buy it (if I had a DS).

 

[Florion]

SouthPeak boasts that by the end, players will now the difference between "an adagio and an aria," which isn't exactly something that takes more than a couple Wikipedia searches.

On the other hand, how many people consciously go to Wikipedia and say, "Gee, I don't know enough about music. What is the difference between an adagio and an aria?" It might help to have a game that you're actually committed to finishing.

Mind you, I don't know who thought that a game about music theory would be fun. I slogged through 6 weeks of theory courses one summer and vowed to never do it again. And then they made me do it again because I take Vocal at school.

 

[Zimbum]

I play games for fun. I don't want to play a game that is teaching me crap. That's what school is for.

 

[Keane Ng]

SouthPeak boasts that by the end, players will now the difference between "an adagio and an aria," which isn't exactly something that takes more than a couple Wikipedia searches.

On the other hand, how many people consciously go to Wikipedia and say, "Gee, I don't know enough about music. What is the difference between an adagio and an aria?" It might help to have a game that you're actually committed to finishing.

Mind you, I don't know who thought that a game about music theory would be fun. I slogged through 6 weeks of theory courses one summer and vowed to never do it again. And then they made me do it again because I take Vocal at school.

Oh, yeah, good point. One thing I'm pretty sure about is that this won't be like, real hardcore music theory, but you know, basic ideas about music. Anyone I knew who went through theory absolutely hated it, except for, you know, the real music nerds.

 

[Zetona]

First thing I thought when I read the title was "wow, original name".

Any teaching people what makes good music is good; maybe, just maybe, we can get some classical onto the Top 40.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Just have to say, it's not a silly argument, it's an opinion. If it were an arguement it would be backed with evidence to prove it's factuality. So I'll make the argument that playing a fake plastic guitar compares poorly with playing a real instrument on two essential levels.

1. The only sound the fake plastic guitar makes is "click clack click clack". A real acoustic instrument generates vibration at the point of interaction, a synthesizer at least generates tone from hardware processing intelligent input from the user.

2. To play at a level of musicianship heard on most recordings takes years of practice and personal development. Even programmed music (techno, hip-hop, etc.) takes a particular creative spark and craftsmanship to bring it into existence. Thanks to easy mode, a guitar hero track can be mastered in an afternoon, at most, without any particular inspiration.

So that all doesn't have much to do with the software discussed in the article, but I don't think Jimmy Page would give a shit about that program either. I've found that some of the music theoretically-inclined musicians are also some of the worst and most boring to listen to.

 

[Jumplion]

You know, I might just actually buy this game. I play some intruments myself, piano most prominently, and I'd imagine I'd have a lot of fun with this.

 

[HobbesMkii]

I generally disliked learning theory, although I always wished I'd been a better student of it. Sight-reading is always far more useful than you think it's going to be. So, I think this game sounds pretty slick. Games can be pretty useful for teaching stuff, and children learn stuff easiest, which is great, because most of these games' target audiences are children.

 

[Gerazzi]

Is it by SouthPeak or did they just publish it?
If they made it I refuse to play it.

Actually, this doesn't sound like fun at all, just learning.
Or can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[InvisibleSeal]

Would have been useful before... (if I had a DS, which I don't)

I think it's a very good idea. Finally they are doing something actually helpful for people. I'm not sure if this method would work with other subjects though.

 

[Ancientgamer]

players will now the difference between "an adagio and an aria,"

Not to be an ass, just thought I'd point that out.

It'd be fun, fun, fun if it goes into Serialism.

 

[Dusty Donuts]

Hopefully it isn't as bogus as some educational games I know. My friend who plays guitar is not very good at guitar hero, and says it's not good because it's completely localized to one hand and string, although the point is to keep it simple. Some problems with educational games is that they end up being like an endless grind to get the highest score or it only has one or two minigames for each division of skill, resulting in an excellent proficency at that certain minigame, but not necessarily at that whole skill which really misses the point. For example, a typing game where they get you to type ! over and over again, til you get the point. But then, you would have to do that for every individual key, which is just grinding.

 

[JackrabbitSlim]

That actually sounds like a hell of an idea. Being the massive band dweeb that I am, I might have to pick it up.

 

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

But if I can play Van Halen on guitar, I don't think I need this.

Interesting though. I don't think it will sell to well. I don't think educational games sell that well anyway...

 

[randommaster]

Music Age: Learn Your Notes in Minutes a Day!

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. All I can say is that this is about as far from Brain Age as you can get. This is for people interested in spending time learning something, not a quick burst of activity. It's not something you give to grandma, and most of the people who buy this will probably be interested in music already.

But if I can play Van Halen on guitar, I don't think I need this.

Interesting though. I don't think it will sell to well. I don't think educational games sell that well anyway...

Anybody can learn to play a sequence of notes, but knowing why that particular sequence is awesome requires some knowledge/appreciation of music, which is what this game is trying to teach. It's not a game where you learn to play music, it's a game where you learn to compose music.

I think this is awesome. Being able to teach people music theory without boring them to death is an accomplishment in itself.

 

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

Music Age: Learn Your Notes in Minutes a Day!

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. All I can say is that this is about as far from Brain Age as you can get. This is for people interested in spending time learning something, not a quick burst of activity. It's not something you give to grandma, and most of the people who buy this will probably be interested in music already.

But if I can play Van Halen on guitar, I don't think I need this.

Interesting though. I don't think it will sell to well. I don't think educational games sell that well anyway...

Anybody can learn to play a sequence of notes, but knowing why that particular sequence is awesome requires some knowledge/appreciation of music, which is what this game is trying to teach. It's not a game where you learn to play music, it's a game where you learn to compose music.

I think this is awesome. Being able to teach people music theory without boring them to death is an accomplishment in itself.

I wish I had that. Music Theory was very boring to learn. I had a friend that thought I knew nothing about music theory, and started explaining it to me, most of what he said was wrong too....anyway, yeah, I guess this will be cool.

 

[randommaster]

Music Age: Learn Your Notes in Minutes a Day!

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. All I can say is that this is about as far from Brain Age as you can get. This is for people interested in spending time learning something, not a quick burst of activity. It's not something you give to grandma, and most of the people who buy this will probably be interested in music already.

But if I can play Van Halen on guitar, I don't think I need this.

Interesting though. I don't think it will sell to well. I don't think educational games sell that well anyway...

Anybody can learn to play a sequence of notes, but knowing why that particular sequence is awesome requires some knowledge/appreciation of music, which is what this game is trying to teach. It's not a game where you learn to play music, it's a game where you learn to compose music.

I think this is awesome. Being able to teach people music theory without boring them to death is an accomplishment in itself.

I wish I had that. Music Theory was very boring to learn. I had a friend that thought I knew nothing about music theory, and started explaining it to me, most of what he said was wrong too....anyway, yeah, I guess this will be cool.

Yeah, spending a semester learning something boring is a *****, and trying to teach it to those people is a *****-and-a-half, so this seems like a good thing to be able to point budding composers towards. I might get it, because this kind of thing is really cool, but I have classes starting soon, and I'm not going to have free time for a while.