Game: a guitar teaching-learning proposal development with the software Pure Data

Extended Resume
This paper presents an example of using the Pure Data as a tool for the development of an
educational game aimed at teaching and learning electric guitar, whose goal is to contribute to
technical and expressive development of the user through contact and exploration of the instrument
creating the feedback (of internal and external discovery assimilation) of musical and instrumental
elements directed through the musical improvisation.
From the second half of the century XX, the practice of improvisation has been gaining
ground within the field of music education as a method for teaching and learning of musical
language, which values creativity, experimentation, research materials and musical structures as a
way of absorption them. The musical educator Violet Gainza1 afirms that "musical improvisation is
a form of game-activity-exercise that lets you design or absorb musical elements in a constant
feedback [external and internal elements]." This definition has paved the way for the development
of a patch, yet unnamed, which covers essential coordinates of the act of improvising. They are:
improvisation materials - with what is it played; improvisation goals for what is it played;
improvisation techniques - how to play.
The patch in development is an exercise in knowledge of the fretboard topography.
Randomly generated sets of notes are, which must be located in the string defined by the user, and
subsequently improvise with them. The sub-patch called "execution mode" selects and indicates
instrumental and expressive technical resources to be exploited in the user improvisation, also
generated randomly. The sub-patch "links" helps the user by presenting a selection of links from
youtube site that show some possibilities of each drawn technique.

Therefore, the game propose groups of notes to be located in the guitars fretboard and
suggestions for exploring technical and expressive resources of performance, targeting the technical
development of the user on the instrument, stimulating creativity and research for learning music,
short of a language, which contributes to the technical and expressive development of the user
through contact and operation of the instrument, creating a feedback loop - the external and internal
discovery assimilation - of the musical and instrumental elements.

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cT6RvZMJ9Y
Abstract: This paper presents an example of using the Pure Data as a tool for the
development of an educational game aimed at teaching and learning electric guitar, whose goal is to
contribute to technical and expressive development of the user through contact and exploration of
the instrument creating the feedback (of internal and external discovery assimilation) of musical and
instrumental elements directed through the musical improvisation.
Keywords: improvisation, music education, eletric guitar, game, instrumental training.

Improvisation as an teaching method context and learning of the musical language

Improvisation is common to a variety of music praticals, through the different genres or
styles, to the "free improvisation", which seeks to break rules or idiomatics of instrumental
technique and traditional music. The late seventeenth century to the first half of the twentieth
century improvisation gave way to the rise of the composer's figure, whose production increasingly
restricted space for improvisation. During the 1950s, and especially in the 1960s, musical
movements such as jazz, free jazz and certain groups linked to contemporary music reinsert
improvisation as the main focus of their practices. Accompanying this movement, proposals emerge
in the area of music education using the practice of improvisation as the basis for the process of
teaching and learning of musical language and instrumental technical development. Among the
educators who support this proposal stand out Violeta Gainza, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, Dereck
Bailey, Vinko Globokar, George Lewis and Keith Sawyer. Gainza1, for example, states that the
"musical improvisation is a form of game-activity-exercise that lets you design or absorb musical
elements in a constant feedback." According to the author, there are two general objectives of
improvisation: (a) download (handle, express, communicate, create, recreate, repeat, exercise, etc.)
sounds in the physical level, emotional, mental and social ; and (b) incorporate and metabolize
(developing and acquiring) experience, knowledge, habits, dexterity, memory, imagination, power
of observation and imitation, sensitivity, awareness, trust and confidence in performance. Gainza
identifies four specific objectives of improvisation in education: approach and contact with the
instrument, and through the music; acquisition of elements of musical language; development of
creativity and the consolidation of instrumental technique.
From this point of view, the hypothesis defended here consider improvisation as a gameactivity-exercise that can pave the way for the design of a patch that addresses essential coordinates
the act of improvising. They are: improvisation materials - with what is it played; improvisation
goals - for what is it played; improvisation techniques - how to play. These elements combined
value creativity and research for learning music, short of a language, which contributes to the
technical and expressive development of the user through contact and operation of the instrument,
creating a feedback loop - external and an indoor assimilation - musical and instrumental elements.
In addition to enhance the musical experience of each user and create a dialogue between
different musical practices, the game proposed here, still without defined name, is an activity whose

goal is to know the topography of the electric guitars fretboard and can also be used for the guitar
by directed improvisation. In that way, the game offers groups of notes to be located on the
fretboard and suggestions for exploring technical and expressive resources of performance, aiming
the technical development of the instrument user. Initially, the player must explore one string at a
time, also considering different articulations and timbres (mechanical linked, glissando, bend,
vibrato, tremolo, etc.).
Brief games description

The full patch design features three sub-patches. (A) Tuner; (B) Player and (c) Play mode.
The Player audio function is to be an external stimulus to the user in his improvisation. The sounds
chosen for these tracks try to be an external stimulus to activity, being different from the traditional
play-a-long, which suggests a tonal-modal rhythmic-harmonic base, stylistic and should decorate
the harmonic sequence and use scales relating to the harmony apply the melodic patterns, etc.

In it, the proposal to relate to textures or loops that are not classified in a particular style aims to
create a situation where attention must be in sound result, in seeking something that the user find
interesting without the worry of knowing the codes of a language specific musical. Finally, the play
mode is a tool that selects and indicates instrumental and expressive technical resources to be
exploited in the user improvisation, also generated randomly. In order the assist the user, the subpatch contains a repository of video links showing some possibilities of each technique, seeking a
broad cut of musical aesthetics, in order to relate elements common to different practices and their
sound results.
The current version of the patch has the instructions of the game, the options of which string
is to be played, the amount of notes drawn randomly and the sub-patch to the execution mode
(Figure 1). At the bottom we have the representation of the fretboard, to assist the user in the
location of notes on the arm (Figure 2). In fact, sub-patches and tuner player, mentioned above are
still in developing, because of that are not available in the current version of the game.

Figure 1Instruction Set; which string options the user will play and how many notes will be used in
the improvisation; sub-patch to Play mode; bang to clear the display of notes on the fretboard

Figure 2 Sub-patch play mode; two execution modes generated: Staccato and Dynamics: mezzo
piano.

Figure 3: Portrayal of the fretboard, using toggles. The notes C, C#, F, F#, G# are selected.
Final Considerations
With the current version of the game, the next step is the use of it in guitar lessons taught by
me and distributing a test version to a group of students and selected guitar professionals, in order to
register criticism and suggestions. Subsequent to this stage of the research, the goals are the
improvement of the same, with the inclusion of sub-paths presented above mapping of two or more
strings and development of other patches that offer the use of other materials such as musical scales
and chords. The practice of improvisation in music education has the power to stimulate creativity,
absorb and internalize musical materials and develop the musical language. With the focus in the
process of instrumental learning it is a tool for technical and expressive development, a stimulus for
the contact and instrument of experimentation.

References:

Bailey Dereck Improvisation: its nature and practice in music [Livro]. - Ashborune, England :
Moorland Pub. in association with Incus Records, c1980.

de Brito Teca Alencar Hans-Joachim Koellreutter:msico e educador musical menor [Peridico]. Londrina : Revista da Abem, 2015. - 35 : Vol. 23.
GLOBOKAR Vinko Rflexiones sobre la imrpovisacin [Peridico]. - Iztapalapa, Mxico : Pauta,
1982. - 2.

Goodrick Mick The advancing guitarist - Applyig guitar concepts & techniques [Livro]. - Milwauke :
Hal Leonard Corporation, 1987.

Hemsy de Gainza Violeta La improvisacin musical [Livro]. - Buenos Aires : Melos de Ricordi
Americana, 2009. - Vol. 72.
Lewis George E. Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice - Improvisation and Pedagogy:
Background and Focus of Inquiry [Peridico]. - [s.l.] : Critical Studies in Improvisation / tudes
critiques en improvisation, 2008. - 2 : Vol. 3.
Sawyer Keith R. Improvisation and Teaching [Peridico]. - [s.l.] : Critcal Studies in Improvisation /
tudes critiques en improvisation, 2008. - 2 : Vol. 3.