Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/07/02/Transforming_Music_Tod_Machover
Composer and inventor Tod Machover explains that even though the idea for Guitar Hero was formulated in his lab, he has some reservations over the game’s growing popularity. He cringes at the thought of an upcoming release of Rock Band featuring the music of The Beatles, fearing it will be “grotesque.”
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Tod Machover, composer, inventor, and professor of music and media at MIT, discusses the many ways in which technology is transforming music. He describes his work in making music creation more accessible to everyone, as well as upcoming projects ranging from a robotic opera to musical tools to track Alzheimer’s disease. - Aspen Institute
Tod Machover is a composer and inventor, as well as professor of music and media at the MIT Media Lab, where he also directs the Hyperinstruments/Opera of the Future group.
Machover has composed five operas and helped to develop many groundbreaking musical technologies, including Hyperinstruments, a technology that augments musical expression for both virtuosi (from Yo-Yo Ma to Prince) and amateurs, and Hyperscore, software that allows anyone to create sophisticated, original music by using lines and colors.
Many of Machover’s principles about “active participation” in music are exemplified in Guitar Hero, which grew out of his lab, as well as through the recently launched Music, Mind & Health initiative.
Among his current projects is a new opera, Death and the Powers, complete with a musical chandelier, animatronic walls, and an army of robots.
Duration : 0:2:30
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I am tired of this …
I am tired of this tired argument.
Just because someone plays this game does not mean its going to keep them from playing a real instrument.
I am 21 and I have a 8-5 job and live with my gf, I have no time to learn a instrument nor do I really want to. But I love The Beatles music so I bought the game because ITS A FUN GAME.
Plus I think this game is very important because it introduces great music to younger kids and even my peers who are stuck in the “now” with terrible music like FOB.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
wow its just a game …
wow its just a game calm down.. no one said that it was real instruments music is made to enjoy in any spectrum
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
its just a mindless …
its just a mindless game, as a musician and a game and can i can safely say that no on is gonna RB or GH for a real instrument. its just pushing buttons, and it feels nothing like acaully making music
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Amen.
Amen.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Exactly. The people …
Exactly. The people complaining about these games are nothing but snobs with superiority complexes.
These games are fantasy. You don’t see professional snowboarders complain about SSX cheapining the sport. You don’t hear hunters complain about first person shooters. You don’t hear basketball players complain about basketball games.
These musical “purists”? Screw ‘em. Let people have their fun and lighten up a little.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I always thought it …
I always thought it would be nice if there was a more realistic guitar hero that did teach you about how to play a real instrument on some level.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
“…that’s not the …
“…that’s not the goal, that’s not what music’s about.”
Whose goal?
Some people want to be professional dancers. Others play Dance Dance Revolution.
Let’s hope the game of Risk doesn’t tick off too many blood-thirsty dictators because then they’ll need to show us what world domination is “really about”.
*rolleyes*
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
but that’s the idea …
but that’s the idea is they think they can be like a musician, i agree it keeps the anti-artists out, but it also may discourage future musicians. i think there is no way to say either way it’s a matter of time Vs. pressure to see what will really happen. i am just sick of the “brittiany spears type of entertainment in this country.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
As a musician, I …
As a musician, I refuse to play it as well; but I differ in that I think its great. What a wonderful way to separate the people who are willing to spend the time to learn how to play, and the people who want the instant musicianship.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
well thank you for …
well thank you for the input “Dr. Frankenstein” thank you for this monster, as a musician i think it is appalling and i have never played it and refuse too.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
He didn’t seem like …
He didn’t seem like he was interested in demonstrations but I don’t think he came across as anti-gaming either. He was mostly complaining that they were purely interested in making profits by cannibalizing already established classic hit songs without any R&D to figure out how to make input more expressive or creative. I think video games in general play a large role in the general lack of interest in the arts, probably moreso than the education system- that’s just based on personal observation
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
We can throw …
We can throw analogies around all day but this man fails to demonstrate how a videogame is responsible for dumbing down music. He doesn’t even bother to demonstrate that music is being dumbed down! Yeah, sure, we have Britney Spears but we also have Zimmer, Dooley, Elfman, and Janis! This guy is just looking for an excuse to Villanize a videogame he doesn’t like for an opinion that isn’t even demonstrable! And if it were, we could just as easily ascribe it to society’s incuriosity toward music.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Paint by numbers …
Paint by numbers could actually be a teaching tool though since you’re using an actual paint brush. In the first two GH’s the gameplay didn’t even correspond to the rhythm of the song. It was pure button pushing.
PbN does not relegate established masterpieces into background templates for mindless button mashing where the emphasis is on following language based instructions.
The human mind just can’t soak in a Kandisnky painting with a flashing screen telling you to jump up and down etc
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
PbN~>Painting as GH …
PbN~>Painting as GH~>Music. PbN is not really painting and GH is not really music-making. PbN is not going to affect real art anymore than GH is going to affect real music.
What CAN dumb down music is a cultural inappreciativeness towards music fostered by an educational system which demotes music to a position of abject frivolity.
The mistake this guy makes is to conflate real music with GH. It is a CLASSIC case of scapegoating videogames for something with identifiable causes in society.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I’d say that your …
I’d say that your paint by numbers example would be a good counter to my counter analogy. I personally don’t see how paint by numbers could ever teach anyone about self expression since it’s literally just a matter of following instructions though. But at least that way you’re using a real paint brush and paint so you’re figuring out how to get paint to look the way you want unlike in GH whose concentration is simply in pushing the right button when the right color shows up on a TV.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Art and finance …
Art and finance aren’t analogous since a functioning analogy has to have similarities to what it’s analogous to, and the only thing your analogy has in common with Guitar Hero and Music is that A) is a game and B) is a subject the game is based on.
But that analogy can’t disprove an argument that a game can dilute art, since finance isn’t a true artform.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
By your reasoning, …
By your reasoning, I couldn’t analogize a dog and cheetah because they are not the same species. Analogy draws a comparison and my finance comparison works because the difference between Monopoly and real finance is analogous (IMO) to the difference between GH and real music.
Incidentally, I loved PbN when I was a kid and now am now a successful artist. It got me interested in real art the same way GH might get kids interested in real music. But even if it doesn’t, it’s still just a game.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Not shouldn’t, …
Not shouldn’t, can’t.
A professional dancer doesn’t have time to enjoy the music, they have to be in the right place at the right time, just as you would have to hit the right button at the right time. You can’t meditate on the meaning of a poem and hit a home run at the same time.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I don’t see any …
I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to enjoy music simply because I’m twiddling with a controller at the same time. It’s like saying dancers can’t listen to music because they are twiddling around with their feet and arms.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
“guitar hero is …
“guitar hero is actually introducing a generation of kids to music they may have otherwise never heard”
They haven’t heard that music because they were too busy blowing up aliens with their laser guns in Halo in the first place.
Think of how many people of all ages would have to drop their dumb plastic guitar controller and maybe learn to read tabulature and the math behind scales and how to express their feelings in sound if every game system in the world crashed for 5 years.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
” whole point of my …
” whole point of my analogy went sailing over your head. ”
Obviously I didn’t miss your point or I wouldn’t have pointed out why your analogy sucked — finance is not an artform.
A better analogy would be that paint by numbers paintings and paint by number remix applications are ruining art and remix projects.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
You can’t enjoy …
You can’t enjoy music at all by twiddling with a controller trying to hit the right buttons.
Go on a drive, listen to it in the shower, smoke a joint and put on some head phones and draw, you could enjoy it that way
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
guitar hero is …
guitar hero is actually introducing a generation of kids to music they may have otherwise never heard. There are some really great classic tracks in the GH and rock band games that would otherwise be lost on a generation bombarded with Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus,Brittney Spears, and what passes for hip-hop now.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
I think it’s …
I think it’s inspirational for people to find music “fun”. I’ve heard some people playing guitar hero then actually learning guitar well because of it. Not always the case, but I don’t see it really “dumbing down” music because of “The Beatles”…. lol let’s have an adult conversation now.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Guitar Hero is a …
Guitar Hero is a threat to music in the same way Space Invaders was a threat to the space program & Nasa.