1. What makes this musical expression unique/non-traditional?

All of their music playing is coming from their phones and their own voice, or stuff most people have already. There is some amplification material but nothing that you would think of a traditional band with a full set of instruments.

2. What musical conventions and traditions does this musical example disrupt? What musical conventions and traditions does it integrate?

A normal band normally plays with a full set of instruments such as a guitar, keyboard, mics, and amplification system etc. But instead of buying thousands of dollars of equipment they are using technology just found on their phone. They are using electronic playing of instruments instead of normal instrument playing. That type of playing, guitar and drums on your phone requires a certain set of skills that needs to be practiced in order to sound good. This is not something that could be pulled together with no work. They also need to work on playing all the parts together, as there could be a delay or tactic needed to make sure all the parts line up together. I personally do not have much experience in music like this as there are probably a lot of other techniques that I do not know about that need to be addressed as well. Everyone at the end can still sing the music the same exact way, just the background is different.

3. What new philosophical questions does this video raise about how we think about music?

What do we need to make music? This really could be considered bedroom music on steroids. Most people now have the capability to have a full band at their fingertips if learned correctly. We also have to make sure that people understand this is a skill that took practice and time to learn. It is not just a video game for fun, that this can be serious and practiced like a traditional instrument.

1. What makes this musical expression unique/non-traditional?

All of their music playing is coming from their phones and their own voice, or stuff most people have already. There is some amplification material but nothing that you would think of a traditional band with a full set of instruments.

2. What musical conventions and traditions does this musical example disrupt? What musical conventions and traditions does it integrate?

A normal band normally plays with a full set of instruments such as a guitar, keyboard, mics, and amplification system etc. But instead of buying thousands of dollars of equipment they are using technology just found on their phone. They are using electronic playing of instruments instead of normal instrument playing. That type of playing, guitar and drums on your phone requires a certain set of skills that needs to be practiced in order to sound good. This is not something that could be pulled together with no work. They also need to work on playing all the parts together, as there could be a delay or tactic needed to make sure all the parts line up together. I personally do not have much experience in music like this as there are probably a lot of other techniques that I do not know about that need to be addressed as well. Everyone at the end can still sing the music the same exact way, just the background is different.

3. What new philosophical questions does this video raise about how we think about music?

What do we need to make music? This really could be considered bedroom music on steroids. Most people now have the capability to have a full band at their fingertips if learned correctly. We also have to make sure that people understand this is a skill that took practice and time to learn. It is not just a video game for fun, that this can be serious and practiced like a traditional instrument.

1. What makes this musical expression unique/non-traditional?

All the music is coming from the controller and steps of musical notes already programmed on Minecraft. You basically are playing the game of creating a structure than can sound like music.

2. What musical conventions and traditions does this musical example disrupt? What musical conventions and traditions does it integrate?

This music has no traditional notation written down. There is no traditional writing down of notation and notes, but all transcribed into the Minecraft world. A computer also plays it, there is no human that makes this music a program does it. But there are still concepts of notes and rhythm in how you place the blocks, and people would know what sounds nice or a little weird. You still need to be creative in order for this to work.

3. What new philosophical questions does this video raise about how we think about music?

What is music? Video game music is music. It takes time to practice and make a composition that sounds good. This is just a lot more visual than traditional music notated. Kids are composing based on what they like and sounds good to them and how it is meaningful. It also can get them to add visuals as well to make programmatic music in Minecraft as well.

Discuss how you might incorporate this new expression into a musical activity in your own music classroom

I think this is a great way to get kids into your program that maybe wouldn’t be interested in music. There are so many kids that play Minecraft and other similar video games and to they should be included in music. It also is a good catch to get kids interested in your program, if you show that you are willing to adopt to them they should feel better about joining. I would write to kids that we are having a video game mini concert. Where people can write music based on Minecraft or any other gaming software and at the end everyone listens to the music. When they are done with their piece they could even create a Minecraft visual/design to go along with their work as well.

1. What makes this musical expression unique/non-traditional?

All the music are from beats, which are made solely online. There is no music or rhythmic notation written down.

2. What musical conventions and traditions does this musical example disrupt? What musical conventions and traditions does it integrate?

How normal songs are created with no “paper”. There is a lot of collaboration between different artists which is very unique. But even though there is a lot of new ways there is still musical theme such as motifs and repetition in this song. I bet during the process of the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus there was someone who notated the music for both of them to know when they were supposed to sing.

3. What new philosophical questions does this video raise about how we think about music?

Music creators can create electronic music and still be considered musicians. They have a talent that is needed to create popular music. When people look down this type of music as not skilled or creative enough they really need to look how this was created. People took the time to figure out a melodic motif that sounds cool and interesting to them and is able to make it into something even more creativ