Building the Case for Video Games in Music Education

Considering educational games as interactive metaphors for learning material, we suggest in this paper that PlayStation-like gamepads are appropriate user interfaces that enable students to play with music concepts without being hindered by their own instrumental limitations. Our proposal builds upon current pedagogical research that shows that fun games increase learners’ motivation and foster collaboration, crucial issues in music practice. We survey key technologies that are currently been used to support music teaching, together with their pedagogical underpinnings. We then discuss a general framework within which games can be seen as proper vectors for music material. Finally, to substantiate our claims and follow “learning by doing” constructivistic principles, we introduce a specific example of a two-player jazz game aiming at improving students’ abilities to express their own musical creativity. We intend to implement a version of this game focused on teaching sound control, improvisation and musical exploration within a Java-based game platform.