Music games: a case study of their impact

Music-games present a highly pervasive new platform to create, perform, appreciate and transmit music through peer and online communities (e.g., Peppler, Downton, Lindsay, &amp; Hay, 2011). While learners are increasingly engaged with such digital music participation outside the classroom, evidence indicates learners are increasingly disengaged with formal music education (e.g., Abril &amp; Gault, 2008; Dillon, 2003; Lamont &amp; Maton, 2008). The challenge for music educators is to utilize digital music participation as a tool to create new opportunities to inspire and engage learners with music in formal and informal learning contexts (see Hargreaves, Marshall, &amp; North, 2003). The music-game synergy presents a unique, yet relatively untapped, platform to investigate the processes and outcomes of both music and video game participation in a comprehensive context. On one hand, previous research highlights the power of music education to enrich intellectual, social and personal development (e.g., Hallam, 2010), while on the other a growing body of work highlights the educational potential of digital-games to scaffold and enrich learning (e.g., Wastiau, Kearney, &amp; Van den Berghe, 2009). This warrants investigation of the potential of game-based technology to promote engagement with music, and the wider benefits of music-game participation in the lives of learners. In this light, we present a single exploratory case study of a learner’s encounter with Rock Band 3, addressing the learner’s attitudes toward music-games and the music-game experience. It is asserted that music-games are a valuable vehicle to connect formal and informal music participation in the 21st century, embodying fundamental musical concepts in gameplay and authenticating formal participation to the wider musical world of the learner. </jats:p

GCU Inaugural Professorial Lecture: Personal Music, Engaging Technologies, Promoting Wellbeing in Everyday Life and Applied Contexts.

In her inaugural Professorial Lecture, Professor Cassidy explores the potential of Personal Music Technology as a powerful tool for wellbeing in everyday life and health-care contexts including dementia. The talk draws upon a growing body of evidence, including Professor Cassidy’s own research and insights through projects such as the Playlist for Life app for wellbeing in dementia, RockBand and musical identity, and the SingFit app for singing in healthy aging. Professor Cassidy argues that to maximise potential wellbeing benefits of Personal Music Technologies, we need to increase multidisciplinary dialogues and develop co-designed and evidence-based technologies. Such technologies, she argues, should also be evaluated for their impact in contemporary health-care contexts, and related to both existing and novel frameworks of care