I got into a conversation today with someone, let's call him Horace, regarding whether Rock Band and Guitar Hero can measurably increase one's appreciation for music. Horace purports that mimicing someone doesn't lead you to appreciate them more and that it may in fact lead a lesser appreciation because things which were previously unknown are now known.
This argument is shit.
Yes, mystery is a good thing (to a degree) and yes i do have a great deal of respect for other's skills when it comes to being able to do things that i cannot--for instance, i cannot play nice with others when they say stupid things--but there is a world of difference between mimicry and creation and, being unable to play an instrument with any real skill yet being able to "wail" on my "axe" in GH/RB, to say that i appreciate what a guitar player can do less because i can play their song in RB/GH is ridiculous. Do actors appreciate Shakespeare less when they're in a Shakespearean play because they're mimicing and reproducing his words?
But that only gets us halfway there--you don't appreciate music less because you can mimic it in a rhythm game, but that also doesn't mean you appreciate it any more.
Confession: i suck at guitars (i can play on medium and sometimes on hard) but i can sing on expert and i bang the drums like a champ. One of the best songs to play on the drums is Welcome Home, by Cohead and Cambria. Playing that song on drums on medium difficulty is a challenge. I can play it on hard if i've got some folks with me. Playing it on expert is just not happening. I love that song. I generally don't dig C&C (the nordic music factory) and i'm not a big fan of the wailing nordic rock anthems. (Fun Fact: Cohead and Cambria's songs are all part of a giant epic poem regarding two nordic heroes, Cohead and... Cambria... "and now for a song from our new album, NibelungelRöCK) (by the way, i would totally listen to that album). But that's my point; RB has caused and appreciable increase in my level of musical appreciation for a band because it has opened me up to music that i otherwise would have passed over, or, if i had listened to it, wouldn't have really dug into.
On a different level, playing the drums in RB has caused me to re-examine and re-listen to a number of songs. I can pick out the foot and hand parts and how it's syncopated. i dig that. That is a band-non-specific increase in my musical appreciation. Shiiiiit, come on, how can you argue with that?
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