Monday, February 21, 2011

Can a Video Game Determine Your Vocal Abilities?

I have always loved to sing to my favorite songs for as long as I can remember.  I do not necessarily sing because I think I am skilled, but I enjoy singing to almost any song.  However, I do try to improve on my singing, even if it is a failed effort to do so.  I have a video game that is a few years old now called Rock Band for XBox 360 (They have a second and third version of the game out now).  This video game has a microphone that players can use to sing to the rock songs.  I have many favorite songs on this game and I always have fun singing along with them.  The game determines your pitch and trys to match it to the song to see if you are on key.  There are several difficulties ranging from easy to expert.  The best part about the vocal portion of the game is the fact that it does not matter what octave you sing in as long as you are singing with the right pitch.  At the end of each song, the game will grade your performance by giving you a percent (100% being the highest).  My real question is whether or not receiving an excellent grade on expert difficulty (say 95% or better) can determine if a person is at least a relatively skilled vocalist.  Being a fan of the game and music in general, I always like getting high scores, especially on my favorite songs.  Personally, I believe the vocal portion of the game is built to decipher whether a person is in pitch or not.  As a result, if a person can score well on a high difficulty, they most likely have a good ear for pitch in music.  However, this fact does not necessarily mean that the person should pursue career in singing.  There are many other intangibles and factors in singing and performing that the game cannot grade.  Overall, I will always enjoy musical games, but I will not rely heavily to determine my vocal skills.

No comments:

Post a Comment