TY - JOUR

T1 - Gaming musical instruments.

T2 - Music has to be hard work!

AU - Claussen, Jan Torge

PY - 2020/9/17

Y1 - 2020/9/17

N2 - This article addresses the relationship between labour and learning apopular musical instrument like the guitar in the specific context ofa video game. Most gamification theories promise that using a videogame makes it easy to learn (Kapp 2012; Deterding et al. 2011). Evenif this holds true, I argue that this kind of playfulness causes somebacklash, which I observed during an experiment in which studentsplayed the music video game Rocksmith 2014.Learning and playing the guitar through the medium of a video gamecomes with diverse experiences as well as expectations that are closelyrelated to the dichotomies between play and work, often discussed ingame studies based on the famous texts by Johann Huizinga (2004)and Roger Caillois (1960). Learning any traditional music instrumentrequires much effort in several skill areas, for example, dexterity,hearing, sight-reading, and performance. In other words, it seems tobe hard work and not at all playful like a video game. In this article,the various aspects of playful work and labourious play, found inboth music education and guitar games, will be discussed against thebackdrop of empirical findings including data from online interviews,research diaries and video recordings

AB - This article addresses the relationship between labour and learning apopular musical instrument like the guitar in the specific context ofa video game. Most gamification theories promise that using a videogame makes it easy to learn (Kapp 2012; Deterding et al. 2011). Evenif this holds true, I argue that this kind of playfulness causes somebacklash, which I observed during an experiment in which studentsplayed the music video game Rocksmith 2014.Learning and playing the guitar through the medium of a video gamecomes with diverse experiences as well as expectations that are closelyrelated to the dichotomies between play and work, often discussed ingame studies based on the famous texts by Johann Huizinga (2004)and Roger Caillois (1960). Learning any traditional music instrumentrequires much effort in several skill areas, for example, dexterity,hearing, sight-reading, and performance. In other words, it seems tobe hard work and not at all playful like a video game. In this article,the various aspects of playful work and labourious play, found inboth music education and guitar games, will be discussed against thebackdrop of empirical findings including data from online interviews,research diaries and video recordings

KW - Digital media

KW - Music education

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/21b987e7-5374-3067-a784-898c6c75c9c9/

U2 - 10.14361/dcs-2019-0208

DO - 10.14361/dcs-2019-0208

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 5

SP - 121

EP - 130

JO - Digital Culture & Society

JF - Digital Culture & Society

SN - 2364-2114

IS - 2

ER -