Music Is Not for Insects

Ok- you have to stop what you are doing right now and head on over to The Berliner Philharmoniker Cello Challenge (after you read my post)…

When you get there you will see the following directions as you get ready to hear The Swan in a whole new light:

YOU VS. CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
There are one million possibilities to get tones from a Cello. Will you manage to get the right ones?
Take the bow and lead it with your mouse.

Move the mouse in the rhythm of the music and be sure to keep the small ring in the centre of the large ring.
When you do it wrong, you’ll hear it.
Do it correct and you’ll get points.

Here is a screen shot to give you an idea:

And thus begins the latest diversion for me in the past hour…here’s my high score:

Not bad for a knuckle-dragging-trombonist….

ME BLOGGER CHALLENGE-

Let’s see which ME blogger can get the highest score. Send me your scores in a comment to this post and the instrument you play in real life…all for fun. No need to take a screen shot-we’ll trust you (unless you want to show off a bit). Have fun!

Guitar Games Push Digital Music Sales

Christmas is over, but we are still rocking out with our new Guitar Hero III for the Wii here at home, and in our virtual stadium crowd thanks to some photoshop fun…

Several of the music-ed bloggers I subscribe to (see my blogroll) have discussed the idea of using video games to teach kids how to read music. Check out Engadet blogger Nilay Patel’s post on a company that has a created a “guitar hero like” game that uses a real guitar and gaming technology to teach kids how to read music.

And, if you really can’t stand playing GH with a plastic guitar controller, check out how to build your own custom full-sized Guitar Hero controller like the modified Strat in the picture below. File this under projects labeled “when-I-have-too-much-time-on-my hands…”

Frets on Fire according to the game ’s developers “is a game of musical skill and fast fingers. The aim of the game is to play guitar with the keyboard as accurately as possible.” It’s basically a freeware version of Guitar Hero where your computer keyboard acts as the “guitar” controller. Check out the short video of my son giving it a test run on his Vista computer. Notice how he is holding his keyboard like a guitar- right hand pressing the enter key in time with his fingers on the left hand pressing the function keys (I tried downloading the MacOSX version, but it caused my intel based iMac to crash…) UPDATE: Check out my post on how we got the game to work on my iMac.

In addition to the pre-loaded songs, you can also “compose” new songs with the game’s built in song editor and Ogg Vorbis files. I had a blast trying to play Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. It’s surprisingly well done for a freeware program.

Last night my son showed me the video review (see below) of a hot new video game called Rock Band by MTV Games. I am familiar with the video game Guitar Hero and have played it at the local electronics store (with out much success) and thought it was nothing more than a fun game and an exercise in coordination set to music.

But after watching the video of Rock Band, I was wondering if this kind of technology could really be used to teach music. There can be as many as 4 players in your band- Each player uses a controller in the shape of a guitar, microphone or drum set and has to “pluck”, “sing”, and “hit” in time with the music and lights that appear on the screen.

Check it out and tell me if you think this kind of technology could be used to teach an aspect of music…rhythmic accuracy perhaps? I do think the multi-player approach to “making music” is what sets this game apart.