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One day my drum student Amanda walked into her lesson, sat down at the kit, and played a fast single-stroke roll - a skill she’d never demonstrated before. I asked Amanda if she’d practiced a lot in the past week. With a sheepish grin on her face, she admitted, “No, but I played Rock Band every day.”

Andy Ziker, Modern Drummer Magazine

There has been so much hype around the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games which, let’s face it, are way more interesting than the karaoke style Singstar (which is still loads of fun just missing something).  However, what I find most interesting is that with the addition of the drum-pad controller, these games now help develop skills that can potentially translate to a ‘real world’ instrument… That’s right, pushing buttons on a plastic guitar does NOT count!

In the Teachers’ Forum article in this months issue of Modern Drummer Magazine, Andy Ziker, professional musician and teacher, takes us through his re-introduction to games (since his Ms. Pac-Man arcade adventures), with Rock Band on XBox 360 and his opinions on the games potential influence including:

1. Increasing the pool of young drummers
2. Promoting live music
3. New platform for recorded music
4. Education tool

“Over the course of just one week, Rock Band helped Amanda improve her drumset and reading skills and she gained confidence in her ability to play ‘real’ drums”    Andy Ziker, Modern Drummer Magazine

My man Dave teaches drums to students of varied ages and skillsets and one of the challenges he often comes up against, particularly with the younger students, is managing short attendtion spans.  Keeping kids interested for long enough to teach them the essentials that allow them to move on to the more exciting stuff must be such a massive task given how overstimulated kids are with their entertainment these days. i.e. Facebooking, IM-ing, and studying whilst watching TV and txting all at the same time!  Could these games provide the link between recreation and practice that might just make it easier to hang on to the attention of those that are too young to really have that fire in their belly??

Also, many students do not have access to a drum kit outside of lessons because of space / noise or $$$ restrictions which makes it difficult to practice.  The drum pad controller is like a more exciting version (sorry Dave) of a practice pad…or four - a mid way mark between no kit and first practice kit.

Hmmm, I think we may need to purchase these “teaching tools”!

The sad thing is we actually have drum kits at home but I’m too self conscious to play but I really think I would find my inner Rock Chick with a drum-pad controller!  (feeling a little bit like the South Park boys right now see Guitar Hero ep.)

According to Ziker “This game (Rock Band) is likely to have a similar effect on drummers that CDs/DVDs, drum machines, electronic drums, Pro Tools, iPods, and the internet have had in the past.”

Can’t wait to see the result.  Rawk on!

more related links:

CNN: Is Guitar Hero saving Rock n Roll?

WIRED: Battle of the Bands

Wall Street Journal: Complete Rush Album