i know where you are going with this, mr herrmann, but i feel like you almost undermine your point with the snarky "buh video game instruments aren't real" argument that has gotten so old.

here is the thing: music video games like rock band haven't AT ALL contributed to the loss of kids knowing about good music (or "good" music). Time, and the insistence of record companies on limiting where and how you can get to music (this is not turning into a pro-piracy argument, i promise), whether new or old is to blame here.

it is really easy to say "oh kids today only know a Beatles song because it came out of their xbox," but you know what? that's not the xbox's fault. that's not rock band's fault. that is simply the fact that the beatles haven't been a band that has made popular music since long before those kids were born. hell, some of the kids playing RB and the like have PARENTS who were born after the beatles stopped being a band. think about that. we are at that point.

if nothing else, music games put music back in the hands of a totally new and different generation. those kids now KNOW a Beatles song. or a Rolling Stones song. or sure, even a terrible (IMO) Avenged Sevenfold song. it is VERY possible that without these games a lot of the people we are talking about would have simply never had access to them, or at least wouldn't have taken advantage of the access they did have. maybe now they are a new fan. maybe now they are going to look at their back catalog and are enjoying the hell out of it. maybe. this... is a Good Thing (tm).

... so kids are listening to these songs while playing plastic instruments and not real ones. would listening to the beatles WITHOUT the plastic instruments have made them that much more likely to pick up a real guitar and bring upon us a new renaissance of musicality among the youth? very doubtful. rock band and guitar hero don't make kids into real musicians, it makes them into kids (and adults, of course) who LIKE MUSIC. i think that is just as important.

anyways... i think this video is very awesome. i love that you can see on her face just how much fun she is clearly having with this. #rockbandflute