In Wii Music you can control tempo, tone, arrangement, dynamics and even composition itself. Sounds advanced, but this isn’t some bastard child of reason, pro tools and a Wiimote. No, the interaction is very simplistic and that turns out to be a good thing. That’s because Wii Music encourages variety, experimentation and incredibly, improvisation. Improvisation, in my view, is at the heart of creating many important and expressive types of music like jazz, rock and turntablism. Improvisation is the foundation of many deep, complex and sophisticated forms of music and it’s also the foundation of Wii Music.
rock the bells
It’s not surprising that Wii Music has been overlooked since gamers usually dismiss toys that masquerade as video games. And I’ll gladly concede that Wii Music may not be a good video game, but when I compare Wii Music to Rock Band I can’t help but see Rock Band for what it is; not a music game. That’s because nothing the player does is musical. No, Rock Band is a rock star game and I think most of us can agree that being a musician is not a requirement for rock stardom. If you think about it, even the drums and singing are just fancy controllers for matching colored bars. Wii Music encourages musical creativity where Rock Band does not. If you or your kids want to ‘play musician’ instead of ‘playing rock star’, try Wii Music.
Let me put it this another way. Everyone has music that they enjoy for simple entertainment value, personally that explains my collection of 80’s pop. Many people can also appreciate the musical contributions of specific group(s) or genre(s) on a much deeper level, that’s my Miles, Hendrix, Kid Koala, etc.. Music is not just about fun and entertainment and neither is Wii Music. Rock Band is all about fun, entertainment and maybe even ‘music exploration’ as Harmonix’ founder suggest. Harmonix’ founder also calls Haromonix a music company and Rock Band a music game. But how can Rock Band be about musical if we can program a robot to do it better than a human?
Last thing, I know some will say that Rock Band can teach you to play the drums. I agree and think it’s a great tool for learning some basic coordination. But learning to play the Rock Band drums (or the recorder) does not make you a musician even if it might start you in that direction.