It may be difficult to entice a kid to practice a musical instrument when there are hundreds of video games available, all with realistic graphics, edgy music and fast action.
Buffy Macsherry, owner of Notable Music in Denver, has taken the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach. She's got an Xbox 360 in the front of the store.
On Fridays and Saturdays this month, Notable Music is hosting a Guitar Hero competition, hoping to encourage kids to make the transition between simulated and real guitar playing.
Prizes include guitars and lessons. Here's how it works, and I'll explain it in simple terms so all us old-timers can understand.
Guitar Hero is a video game that uses real rock songs and a controller that looks like a guitar. As the on-screen band plays the song, colored notes (dots, really) float by at the bottom of the screen.
The idea is to hit each corresponding button on the guitar controller at precisely the right moment while simultaneously strumming with the other hand. The game counts the number of correctly played notes. On harder levels of the game, the notes come faster, and you must use more difficult fingering patterns.
To enter the contest, all you have to do is play the game. At the end of the month, the top scorers will compete in a playoff.
First prize is an electric guitar -- a Fender Squier Stratocaster -- with an amplifier. Second place is an acoustic guitar, and third place is four guitar lessons.
Little as I enjoy video games, I absolutely loathe sitting around watching other people play them. So I had to at least give Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock a try.
I chose "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam and set the game to the easiest level. I thought that if I hit the note as soon as it appeared on the screen, then I was doing fine. I got kicked off before the chorus.
Since I wasn't really in the competition, Macsherry let me have another go. Let's just say Barack Obama is better at bowling than I am at Guitar Hero. So we'll leave it to the kids.
As a former elementary school music teacher, Macsherry knows how to appeal to the younger set. She's hoping that kids will come for the Guitar Hero competition and get interested in playing a real instrument. She says she's "trying to get people who wouldn't normally come in the store to see what real music is about."
Macsherry thinks that interest in music education is on the upswing. Whether the popularity of Guitar Hero has anything to do with it -- well, you'll just have to play it and see.
Notable Music's Guitar Hero competition is on Fridays and Saturdays in May. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
For more information about summer music camps or classes at Notable Music, go to www.notablemusicnc.com.
Erica Batten
