Introduction
In Nordic music teacher training, electric guitar and bass are typically studied both in instrument lessons and in ensemble courses.Footnote 1 As the lessons available for learning these instruments are often scarce, self-guided practicing is critical. Over the years of working in music teacher training programmes, we have observed significant differences in the amount of time and attention that the students dedicate to these instruments. In particular, students who have no previous experience in playing electric guitar or bass seem to have trouble finding time for practicing them outside the classes.
There has been an increasing amount of interest in video games in educational research (Prensky, Reference PRENSKY2007; Burn Reference BURN, King, Himonides and Ruthmann2014). Yet reports describing the pedagogical use of entertainment games in musical education have been rare (for exceptions, see Ideland, Reference IDELAND2011; Peppler et al., Reference PEPPLER, DOWNTON, LINDSAY and HAY2011, Gower & McDowall, Reference GOWER and MCDOWALL2012; Tobias, Reference TOBIAS, McPherson and Welsh2012; Hein, Reference HEIN and Schrier2014). Ideland (Reference IDELAND2011) argues that entertainment gaming can offer opportunities to apply and express musical knowledge under the condition that it is not articulated as ‘real’ music making (cf. Miller, Reference MILLER2012). Our study expands Ideland's argument, but also changes the focus to how music teachers’ professional competence develops during pre-service training. Using as a reference the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model set out by Mishra and Koehler (Reference MISHRA and KOEHLER2006) on the basis of Shulman's (1986) Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) model, we are interested in interrelationships between three kinds of music teacher's knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge (see also Dorfman, Reference DORFMAN2013; Bauer, Reference BAUER2014). We claim that the relevance of these domains is not only limited to the cognitive mapping of what can be learned when studying music education, but that they can also be understood as learner positions that student music teachers can take during their studies. We also believe that examining these domains of knowledge as learner positions can create new possibilities for understanding how music teachers’ multidimensional professional competence can be developed in pre-service training in the digital era.
Rocksmith
Rocksmith (Ubisoft, 2011, 2013) is an entertainment music game that helps the player build instrument skills. A unique feature of this game is that it allows the player to plug in a real electric guitar or bass, using a USB cable that connects to the instrument. The gamer can then choose between practicing the lead guitar, rhythm guitar, or electric bass part along with pre-recorded songs. Regarding repertoire, Rocksmith introduces a wide variety of original stereo mixes of rock songs, as well as the possibility to purchase and download new material. The game also has a two-player (or ‘multiplayer’) function. However, Rocksmith lacks an online playing mode, which restricts its use in social interaction to a specific location.
In Rocksmith, the gameplay follows a personalised study path where new songs, game modes, and challenges open up as the player's skills develop. The game has five modes:
1. Learn a song mode: In this mode, the user interface resembles those of traditional rhythm games, such as Guitar Hero. Rocksmith has a dynamic difficulty system that reads a player's skill level, adapts to it, and suggests lessons they can benefit from. A key function in this mode is the ‘Riff repeater’ that helps players practise difficult parts at a slower tempo.
2. Lesson mode: This mode consists of interactive video lessons. The player is shown a video, practises a certain skill, receives feedback, and is pointed to new challenges if they excels.
3. Jam session mode: In this mode, the game simulates jamming with a virtual band, enabling the player to practise improvisation skills. Instruments, sound, tempo, tonality, scales, and genre are selectable parameters of performance in this mode.
4. Arcade mode: This mode resembles traditional arcade games. Using the instrument as a controller, the player can practise skills and techniques such as playing the right chords or hitting the right frets while shooting alien spaceships or zombies.
5. Amplifier mode: This mode allows the player to use the game as a virtual amplifier with a selection of effects.
Rocksmith is marketed as a motivating way to rehearse electric guitar and bass outside formal music education. According to its developers, the game is designed according to the Montessori pedagogy principles, adopting an ‘approach to learning, where students learn by working with materials rather than being instructed’ (Gera, Reference GERA2013). Rocksmith offers the possibility to customise one's own learning process in ways previously unseen in entertainment music games: the player has a certain amount of flexibility and freedom to decide what to work on, where, and for how long.
Theoretical concepts and research questions
The theoretical starting points for our study are play theory (Huizinga, Reference HUIZINGA1955; Nachmanovitch, Reference NACHMANOVITCH1990), game studies (Juul, Reference JUUL2004; Salen & Zimmerman, Reference SALEN and ZIMMERMANN2004, Mäyrä, Reference MÄYRÄ2008), and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model of teacher's knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, Reference MISHRA and KOEHLER2006; see also, Shulman, Reference SHULMAN1986; Dorfman, Reference DORFMAN2013; Bauer, Reference BAUER2014). Huizinga's (Reference HUIZINGA1955) play theory is often used as a point of departure for discussing the pedagogical significance of entertainment games (Juul, Reference JUUL2004; Salen & Zimmerman, Reference SALEN and ZIMMERMANN2004; Miller, Reference MILLER2012), despite having been criticised in gaming literature (Woodford, Reference WOODFORD2008; Consalvo, Reference CONSALVO2009; Calleja, Reference CALLEJA, Sageng, Fossheim and Larsen2012). The idea behind this approach is that exploring the playful, or ludic, aspects of entertainment games may lead to an increased understanding of the expressive possibilities of the gaming media. On the basis of Huizinga's theory, it can be argued that, when being immersed in such entertainment music games as Rocksmith, the player joins a ‘magic circle’ where playing music and playing games intersect, structure her learning experience, and provide new possibilities to employ her imagination.
In turn, game studies offer a basis for understanding how the gaming experience, gamer culture, and learning overlap (Jordal Havre & Väkevä, Reference JORDAL HAVRE and VÄKEVÄ2013). While games are often judged in terms of their external qualities, it is their inner qualities that glue the gamers to play and provide a lasting motivation to learn. In terms introduced by Mäyrä (Reference MÄYRÄ2008), we can say that the ‘shell’ invites the gamer to play, but it is the ‘core’ that makes her interested in gaming. The ’core’ also functions as a common nominator of game products that share the same function. For instance, it can be argued that entertainment music games share a common ‘core’ where the goals and strategies of playing the game and playing music intersect. This hybrid activity can be understood as providing its own cultural context, where learning musical skills is valued against the ‘core’ values of gaming and vice versa.
The TPACK model (Mishra & Koehler, Reference MISHRA and KOEHLER2006; see also Shulman, Reference SHULMAN1986; Dorfman, Reference DORFMAN2013; Bauer, 2014) sets out to identify the kinds of knowledge required from educators who integrate technology into their teaching (Mishra & Koehler, Reference MISHRA and KOEHLER2006). The model highlights ‘the connections, interactions, affordances, and constraints between and among content, pedagogy, and technology’ (Ibid., p. 1025) in light of the ‘complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge’ (Ibid., p. 1014). Rather than treating these three bodies of knowledge as separate, the model emphasises their ‘complex interplay’ (Ibid., p. 1026). TPACK has caused some scholarly debate, as it affords different interpretations of its concepts (Voogt et al., Reference VOOGT, FISSER, PAREJA ROBLIN, TONDEUR and VAN BRAAK2012). One possible critique of the model is that it functions as a somewhat static map of teachers’ cognitive knowledge, neglecting idiosyncratic features of learning. In this article, we consider TPACK to provide a heuristic perspective on student teachers’ learning, specifically for developing an enriched understanding of game-based learning in music teacher education.
The empirical research question that has guided this study can be formulated as follows:
How do the participants articulate their experiences of playing Rocksmith to learn electric guitar and bass?
We have also been informed by three theoretical questions:
What kinds of theoretical understandings can be developed by examining the TPACK model from the perspectives of play theory and game studies?
In what way can such theoretical perspectives contribute to understanding how learning takes place in musical gaming?
How can these theoretical points of departure help us to understand how Rocksmith may support the self-practice of electric guitar and bass in pre-service music teacher education?
Method
Our research project was designed as a case study (Stake, Reference STAKE1995; Yin, Reference YIN2014). Usually aiming at deep understanding, case studies are suitable for theoretical generalisation (Flyvbjerg, Reference FLYVBJERG1991), meaning that such studies can identify fundamental issues and questions regarding the phenomenon examined (Yin, Reference YIN2014). The main focus of our study was on our participants’ reported experiences of practising electric guitar or bass with Rocksmith. We collected qualitative data over a one-year period, studying how the participants experienced their gaming, how they reported playing Rocksmith to learn musical skills, and how they reflected on their learning, as well as on the musical, pedagogical, and entertainment value of the game. The participants exchanged experiences and ideas in focus groups interviews, in a closed Facebook group, and in a learning jam (see Pässilä, Owens & Pulkki, Reference PÄSSILÄ, OWENS and PULKKI2015).Footnote 2 We used multiple data collection methods, such as participant observation, group interviews, and self-reports. The focus of this article is particularly on the data from the interviews and self-reports.
Our research group (n = 16) consisted of 11 students and five teachers/researchers from three Nordic music teacher education institutions, including two Finnish universities and one Norwegian university. All students and teachers/researchers volunteered for the study, and participated actively in data collection. As gender, age, and nationality were not in our focus, the participants are here given unisex English pseudonyms. See Table 1 for the pseudonyms of the participants, the instrument they focused on in the study, their previous experience in playing the instrument, and their role in their academic community.
The participants in the study, grouped after instrument and previous experience with the instrument. S = Students, T/R = Teachers/Researchers
Based on a broad reading of our data, we constructed four positions to capture the ways in which the participants related to the game and described their gaming experiences. We then used these positions as general types to inform a closer reading of the data. In what follows, we have added quotations from individual participants under each position, with the purpose of describing general attitudes rather than individual stances. The positions should thus not be interpreted as typecasts of individuals; rather, they should be understood as theoretical constructions made on the basis of the interpretation of the data as informed by our conceptual points of departure.Footnote 3
Four gaming positions
The Musician
The Musician relates to Rocksmith primarily in musical terms. For instance, (s)he judges the sound quality of the game to be high and authentic, as illustrated by Casey: ‘Even if you play badly . . . it sounds rather good compared to practicing alone.’ The Musician also finds it motivating to know at least some of the songs in advance: ‘When you know that it is possible to play this song [by Guns N’ Roses] and to be Slash, it gives you a lot of motivation’ (Gray). However, the game's heavy emphasis on rock music appears restricting to The Musician; (s)he would welcome a variety of musical genres and styles to make the game more inviting in aesthetic terms.
For the novice Musician, the game provides possibilities for developing basic skills before entering the classes. This is illustrated by Casey: ‘I think the game has made it easier to play, as we began playing [it] before our [electric] guitar and bass lessons. Then on the first bass lesson, I was like “Here we go . . . ” It felt natural to change the position. As a kind of pre-teaching I think it has been good.’ However, the game also seems to offer challenges for a more experienced Musician: ‘When you play the game in the Jam Session mode you in a way build on the knowledge and skills you already have on the instrument’ (Alex). Interestingly, from The Musician's perspective, the game makes learning almost too easy, concealing the fact that playing an instrument requires a resilience that can be only developed over a longer period of time. As Sam puts it: ‘As a musician, you would not want it to be just children's play. It is not that easy.’
Technical issues seem to be rather frustrating to The Musician. An example is Casey's irritation with the in-game tuning system: ‘Anytime I start to play I need to re-tune it, even if the bass is completely in tune, and [the game is] like, ‘No, you are not in tune it's way too low!, and I am like, no it's not, trust me!’.’ This points to a tension between the game's technological aspects and The Musician's aesthetic sensibilities. Another example is how latency in connection with the audio set-up was judged to be problematic in some cases: ‘It's pretty much nothing you can do if you have latency. If you don't have the setup right . . . you can't learn any songs’ (Kennedy). Navigating the user interface of Rocksmith also causes The Musician some trouble, for instance when (s)he is trying to understand the virtual scoring system of the game, or when (s)he laments the default position of the virtual guitar/bass neck, which is the reverse of how the strings are represented in standard tablature.Footnote 4
Overall, The Musician perceives Rocksmith as a useful aid in acquiring various musical skills, such as learning chords and bending. (S)he reports increased instrument management as a result of playing the game. Yet (s)he also thinks that one cannot develop musical skills merely by playing the game. As Gray puts it, ‘Because you watch a screen you forget to listen . . . You can see, when you play the song, if you are right or wrong, but you don't really listen. I forget to use my ears when I play it’. Another point is made by Alex who states that the game ‘misses the inter-human connection, which is a very important part of learning to evolve as musician.’ Freddie agrees: ‘I think it is important to remember that music is something social, and not just something technical where you have to play right every time.’
The Teacher
The Teacher is first and foremost interested in Rocksmith as a platform for musical learning. For her/him, the game offers motivational advances as a learning tool, presenting a progressive way to learn instrumental skills. The Teacher also relates the functions of the game to her/his own experiences from instrument lessons: ‘I think the riff repeater is very good . . . Because my teacher also . . . tells me that “Okay, repeat these two bars for a while, just repeat them”’ (Sam). According to The Teacher, the different modes of the game offer flexible opportunities for learning. For instance, Billie says: ‘I like the feedback system, . . . it suggests paths for me to follow to improve my skills.’ The options for tracking your own progress are also appreciated by The Teacher, as illustrated by Alex: ‘You can go to the Riff repeater and turn the game back to where you started two hours ago. Then you can actually see your progress. It is hard to do that by yourself if you look at the tablature or chords, and [it is] also hard to do as a teacher’. The ability to choose one's own learning pace is seen as an important motivator for playing the game.
Developing a sense of mastery and sonic authenticity when ‘playing along’ (Miller, Reference MILLER2012) with the game also seems to provide a motivation boost for The Teacher. For instance, (s)he perceives the game as offering easy access to ‘sounding good’ from the start: ‘You kind of fool yourself to think that you can play the guitar’ (Kris). The Teacher also sees Rocksmith as a potentially motivating learning tool for children: ‘Anything that makes kids play music is good!’ (Casey). All in all, The Teacher relates positively to using Rocksmith in his/her own teaching, considering workshops and group tuition as the best options for using the game in a general music classroom. (S)he also sees the game as a useful supplement in one-to-one tuition: ‘I've used [it] when sitting next to a person, saying “try holding your hands like this or try to do it like this”’ (Alex).
Yet, in line with The Musician, The Teacher thinks that there is a lack of human interaction within Rocksmith: according to him/her, the students also need qualitative feedback in addition to the ‘algorithmic’ information provided by the game. Ellis says:
I guess it could be very motivational to work to increase the score. That could make you spend many hours . . . trying to move up to [the maximum score of] 100, even if you know it's almost impossible. And I doubt that the feedback from the guitar teacher could make you practise that much.’ ‘Yet at the same time’, (s)he continues, ‘if you're not able to improve your score, maybe your guitar teacher would be able to help you understand what you're doing wrong. And that could actually be quicker . . . I guess there are ups and downs to both [approaches].
How, then, could the game be improved to become more accessible? From The Teacher's perspective, Rocksmith would benefit from a tutorial mode. Furthermore, (s)he thinks that the Lesson mode could be a more integral part of the game. As Max points out: ‘[The videos] are indeed quite clear . . . besides it is good that they teach you the symbols and colours used in the game.’ Like The Musician, The Teacher comments upon the Rocksmith repertoire, but from a slightly different angle. Rocksmith gamers have to buy songs to widen the repertoire, and ‘the prices [are] rather high’ (Andi). Thus, the balance between the game's commercial nature and its pedagogical value seems to be of some concern to The Teacher.
The Technician
The Technician is primarily concerned with the technical matters such as installation, connecting the instrument to the hardware, setup and adjustment options, as well as the user-interface of the game. Not surprisingly, The Technician reports having only few technical problems. As Riley says: ‘I have not ever had any latency [playing the game] on a Mac, going directly to the AV receiver.’ The Technician also recognises that playing Rocksmith requires some degree of technical know-how; thus, (s)he is concerned that having to deal with technical issues may have a demotivating effect on inexperienced learners. For instance, Andi says: ‘The latency problem may be isolated and limited, but [it] may be not completely solved, which may impact the way of learning inxs the game.’
The Technician likes to explore the modes of the game. For instance, (s)he appreciates the high quality of the Amplifier mode, observing: ‘Perhaps the game could provide a cheap amplifier rack for someone who does not have gear home’ (Riley). The Technician is also impressed with the adjustment options of the game, for instance those found in the Tone designer, which she describes as offering ‘so many possibilities’ (Riley). Furthermore, (s)he judges the Jam session mode as technically advanced: ‘You don't really feel like playing with others, but it's close!’ (Gray). The Technician likes the way the game ‘reads’ the player's skill level and provides accurate and neutral feedback of her progress. While (s)he easily finds her way around in the game, (s)he judges ‘the interface on the game, the user-friendliness on the game’ as ‘low . . . it should be easier to find what you are looking for’ (Alex).
The technical evolution of Rocksmith is also of interest to The Technician: ‘It could be great to compare the differences in latency in different versions [of the game]’ (Kennedy). The Technician is future-minded; (s)he is curious about how upcoming versions of the game will turn out and has plenty of suggestions for developing and improving the product. An example can be found from Riley's thoughts: ‘Maybe some sessions in the future could be online and people could join them and play their instruments and then the others can perhaps listen and comment?’
The Gamer
The Gamer has a quick understanding of the medium, is able to relate Rocksmith to other games, and appreciates its ludic aspects. In other words, The Gamer sees Rocksmith principally as a game: a rule-based system of entertainment that presents a progressive continuum of challenges for which one needs to develop more and more advanced skills. As Sam puts it: ‘the game provides a lot of possibilities [and] challenges at different levels, even for the very beginners.’ When it comes to technical complications, The Gamer thinks: ‘it's not fair towards the game to judge it by the technical . . . difficulties’ (Alex). (S)he understands the possibilities and limitations of entertainment games, as illustrated by Sam's comments on the Learn A Song mode: ‘It is like Singstar. It does not tell you if you are a good singer. If you improvise, you lose points; you cannot jam as you like.’
To The Gamer, the relationship between the effort, challenge, and reward of playing Rocksmith seems to affect whether (s)he perceives it as a successful learning platform. Here (s)he also applies his/her understanding of other games. For instance, Sam argues that Guitar Hero has more of a gaming feeling because of its ‘easiness’, while Rocksmith is ‘harder’ and more ‘serious.’ In turn, Sam judges Rocksmith to be ‘extremely entertaining, even if you sometimes you get angry with it’, thinking that ‘it is more about gaming than serious music making . . . It's like, “I am not practicing; I only play around a bit.”’
For The Gamer, playing Rocksmith seems to be akin to being immersed into the ‘magic circle’ of play, as illustrated by Kennedy: ‘That is the best thing in such games, because you are hooked . . . and want to play it all the time!’ Yet from The Gamer's point of view, experiences of mastery and success are not only related to being absorbed in playing, but also to succeeding in the competition (see Caillois, Reference CAILLOIS1961). For instance, when playing Rocksmith, Austin competes with him/herself: ‘I would go on at least one and a half hour per song, and go like: “high score, high score . . . ”, and whatever the game throws at you, you go on. When it says “let me think . . . ”, I am like “whatever, shoot!”’ The Gamer thus relates the ludic aspects of Rocksmith to experiencing oneself as being capable of playing both in the musical and gaming sense. However, The Gamer also recognises that, for learning to take place, the player has to enjoy gaming. As Billie states: ‘I would be a perfect guitarist now if I would've had this game when I was 10 years old, because I loved playing games!’
Discussion: Playing to learn or learning to play?
We originally intended to explore the pedagogical potential of Rocksmith to motivate music education students to practise guitar and bass as part of their studies. However, our project gradually transformed from a pedagogical case study to a more thorough reflection of how music gaming could change the perspectives of musical learning and teaching in the context of music teacher training. This guided our theoretical reflection from play theory and game studies to teacher's knowledge. On the basis of our empirical data, we ended up reflecting on the competencies required of music teachers with regard to using gaming technology in pre-service education.
The four gaming positions described above emerged from the participants’ ways of articulating their experience with playing Rocksmith, and through analysis as informed by our theoretical points of departure. In a simplified way, the first three positions reflect the three basic dimensions of the TPACK model (Mishra & Koehler, Reference MISHRA and KOEHLER2006): The Musician examines Rocksmith from the standpoint of content knowledge, The Teacher is mostly interested in how pedagogical knowledge helps one to understand learning in the game, and The Technician interprets the game through the lens of technological knowledge. In turn, for The Gamer, the main pedagogical benefit of Rocksmith seems to be related to its fun-factor as an entertainment product, and the motivating effect of its ‘core’. We believe that these four positions can provide a context for reflection on how the three areas of knowledge of the TPACK model intertwine and overlap in music educators’ professional thinking, or ‘music educatorship’ (Elliott, Reference ELLIOTT1995) when applying gaming technology. We also think that such reflection can aid us in developing music teacher training for the digital era, taking advantage of the popularity of entertainment games as digital (and musical) media.
On the basis of our study, The Gamer's perspective may be of crucial importance for such reflection, for it is The Gamer that best recognises the ludic aspects of learning while also relating these aspects to the high degree of motivation that entertainment games can offer for musical learning. To assume the position of The Gamer may be helpful for a music education student, as it may open ‘safe spaces’ (Huizinga, Reference HUIZINGA1955) that help her to experiment with new ideas, concepts, and attitudes regarding what it means to be a music educator. In this respect, the learning jam provided the most interesting data, as some participants commented that playing Rocksmith and playing music with Rocksmith together helped them realise the importance of the social dimensions of musical learning that cannot be utilised when playing the game alone or using the two-player function.
Yet to assume that Rocksmith appeals to its players simply by opening up a ‘magic circle’ should not be taken as self-evident fact. As mentioned above, several gaming scholars have argued that there are more complex issues at work in how entertainment games motivate their players. While there is no space here to delve deeper into this discourse, we recognise the need for more nuanced analysis to clarify the relationship between entertainment music games as platforms for ludic and ‘serious’ activities and how the relation of these activities explains their appeal as learning environments. In this discourse, scholarly work of applying video games in other educational fields might be helpful, for instance in relation to literacies (Gee, Reference GEE2003). Yet it may also be acknowledged that music presents its own discursive tradition where the relationship between ‘playful’ and ‘serious’ activity has a characteristic interpretation that might be only partially applicable to other domains.
To conclude, we suggest that such entertainment music games as Rocksmith can expand the reach of what can be considered as ‘playful’ and ‘serious’ in music teacher education. Such an approach can guide our thinking about how different areas of music teachers’ professional knowledge merge into a multidimensional competence, paving the way for further discussion about how music educatorship can be constructed in the digital era. More specifically, experimenting with games such as Rocksmith may offer ways to understand that popular music pedagogy can be more than acquiring musical, pedagogical, or technical skills in the context of ensemble performance (see also Väkevä, Reference VÄKEVÄ2010, Reference VÄKEVÄ2012). Making musical learning a game in itself could support a more ludic culture of instrument pedagogy, suggesting new ways to position one's identity as a musical learner, without losing the motivational factor that derives from structured learning experiences that are characteristic for rule-based games. Thus, game-based music pedagogy could perhaps support a transformation from the traditional teacher-dominated structure of studying an instrument towards a more open approach, where the students would be more collaboratively involved in the choice of repertoire, working methods, and assessment.
Concluding remarks
Based on our study, we would like to argue that playing entertainment music games in music teacher education can contribute to transforming our perceptions and experiences of what musicianship and music educatorship can be, and help us construct new kinds of learning practises where the line between playing music and ‘playing with’ music becomes thin. Entertainment video games that utilise real instruments in learning real musical repertoires may offer options for bridging these two approaches. Another way to work across these two domains might be to reflect on the importance of the social aspect in entertainment music game culture. In subsequent studies, it would be a good idea to build on the participants’ musical-social skills as a critical basis for constructing an understanding of the significance of entertainment video games as collaborative learning platforms. This could imply a further shift of focus towards the cultural and social dimensions of music learning.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude for the contribution made to this project by our colleague Sakari Antila (1978–2015), who was intended to be one of the authors of this article.
This publication has been funded by Centre for Arts, Culture, and Communication at Western Norway University of Applied Science, and also undertaken as part of the ArtsEqual project, funded by the Academy of Finland's Strategic Research Council from its Equality in Society programme (project no. 293199).
