ABSTRACT

Music games are becoming increasingly pervasive in the wider musical world of the learner. However, the practices and processes of participation and their potential to support and enrich formal music education, has been largely neglected. This chapter presents a case study from a 24-month EPSRC funded project titled ‘Music-Games: Supporting New Opportunities for Music-Education’, which aims to:

Identify educational opportunities and outcomes of employing music games in the classroom and informal learning contexts, highlighting the potential of music games to support and enrich academic, personal, and social development.

Present recommendations and materials for educators to guide the effective and innovative employment of music games in and out of the classroom.

Highlight music-game processes, experiences, and features that support authentic and inclusive music-making opportunities: game mechanics, narrative, aesthetics.

Investigate the flow experience for music-game participation and its relevance to music education and wider academic, personal and social development.

It is asserted that music games are a valuable vehicle to connect formal and informal music participation in the twenty-first century, embodying fundamental musical concepts in game play and authenticating formal participation to the wider musical world of the learner