This paper describes the development of a set of three video games designed to reduce the high drop-off rates associated with learning to play the piano/keyboard by gamifying rote tasks that require monotonous practice. By defining our own understanding of what musicianship is and creating a custom framework for assessment through the use of existing curriculum, we have chosen specific areas which require the most rote learning and are critical to developing motor skills and to building an understanding of music; these include learning and practicing scales, keeping in time with tempo and the basics of hand coordination and fingering styles. Existing solutions that attempt to resolve the issue of high drop off rates observed with beginner instrument learners use elements of gamification in order to enrich their learning experiences and also help increase motivation. These approaches do work but in most cases they offer short term solutions; a key issue is retaining users over long periods of time and ensuring that they practice consistently and regularly. We developed solutions which offer a way for learners to practice in an engaging and entertaining way, with the intention to reduce the drop-off rates and lower the barrier for entry to learning piano/keyboard.

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This paper describes the development of a set of video games designed to reduce the high drop-off rates associated with learning to play the keyboard by gamifying rote tasks that require monotonous practice. By defining our own understanding of what musicianship is and creating a custom framework for assessment through the use of existing curriculums and learning applications, we have chosen specific areas which require the most rote learning, are critical to developing motor skills and to building an understanding of music; these include learning and practicing musical scales, keeping in time with tempo and the basics of hand coordination and fingering styles. We developed solutions which offer a new way for learners to practice in an engaging and entertaining way with the aim to reduce the drop-off rates and lower the barrier for entry to learning keyboard. Developing games requires an iterative process of development, testing, isolating key issues and solving them through further development. Therefore, through a pilot study (using observations, screen recordings and semi-structured interviews as data collection methods), we have observed that whilst this novel method of learning and practicing using video games is positively accepted by learners and teachers alike, the games themselves and the process of validation requires refinement in order to truly gauge each game relating to engagement, motivation and educational benefit. This paper describes the findings of this pilot study regarding the improvements and changes of each developed game as well how to improve future user studies.

Ear training is a vital element in music education, analogous to taking dictation in written language. It provides musicians with a crucial skill used to identify pitches, melodies, chords and rhythms. Traditionally, the training is conducted by a tutor using a musical instrument, typically a piano. However, with new technologies emerging, several computer applications to facilitate this aspect of music education have been developed. Nevertheless, none of them utilised the VR technology, that proved to be successful in various scenarios, including educational systems, simulations, etc. In this work, we designed and developed a virtual reality ear training system for interval recognition and investigated its usability and user experience and the effect of spatialised audio in a 3D virtual environment on user performance. The results showed that the system has been successfully designed and provides users with a great experience when using it.

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