Wii Music

My family got this game for Christmas and we've been playing it almost constantly since we unwrapped the box. We're musicians, so we may be biased in favor of it -- but that also means that we can see the potential in the game.To play the basic form of this game, you choose a piece of music and an instrument each for up to four players. The number of available songs and instruments increases as you play -- we've just added a sitar to our collection. Players are divided up into melody, harmonies, and percussion (if you choose -- you can also do "Ode to Joy" on Dog Suit and ukelele if you want to) and everyone plays. You can have "sheet music" to guide you if you like, but in any case, all players can control tempo and phrasing of the piece and otherwise add their own creative touches.You can play with friends or lay down multiple tracks and put everything together to make videos. You can conduct the orchestra of Miis -- several conductors together can work to achieve "chemistry" together, too, a surprisingly challenging task. There are also games to work on pitch and rhythm, all of which were fun and which would also be excellent for ear training or music classes.There are options involving the Wii balance board, too -- that's an addition to our wish list, for sure.As you play, "lessons" are offered to you. Doing well with them leads to more options in the game. I assume that this means the game will grow with the players.Kids can certainly play this game, adults will find the skill tests challenging, and trained musicians will get a kick out of it.

I'm a music teacher, and bought this game for my 5 year old daughter as she requested it for her birthday. She and my 6 year old son have been loving it for the past 3 days. I've loved what I've seen so far! I really didn't know much about the game before I purchased it, other than what I read on here, and have been pleasantly surprised. It is a "gentle" game and I like that it isn't super loud and raucous. It is also very educational in the music field, while also being a lot of fun for the kids. It does require a lot of reading, but my 6 year old has been able to do that, and for the younger kids a parent or older sibling can do that for them. Its a GREAT family game, esp. if you have 4 remotes. You can save your "jam sessions" and add to them, create videos, play games that are in essence fun quizzes about music topics, play songs with simpler "rock band" type song sheets, and play just about every instrument out there using the wii remote, nunchuck, and balance board. (I'm sure there is more, but that's all my kids have figured out on their own to this point.) Your Miis are automatically brought over in cool new looks. While I think its great for families, and anyone can have fun with the game, my highest rating and appropriateness would be for the elementary/middle school level.

This was the biggest disappointment - what a dull, boring game. I can't even call it a game - it's more of a single player learning experience. And what you learn is not necessarily what you might want to learn... the songs are simple (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... ). The instruments couldn't be more uninteresting to play. I was hoping to be able to learn how to play the cello, for instance - oh no, I am forced to learn drums and piano, and forced to play along with characters in a band to stupid songs I don't want to learn or hear. It's just not fun... If there is a way to choose which instrument you actually get to go through the process with, it's not obvious. I dont' want to play drums. I don't want to play the piano. I don't like being forced to go through the lessons without being able to 'test out' of them. I know all about rythmn, I know all about beat, blah blah blah.... I already play a real instrument. There's no way to override the boring, simplistic stuff to get to the better, more fun stuff. I've given this so-called game several tries, even friends and family have tried it - but it just isn't the least bit entertaining.If you've never picked up an instrument, you might like this program. You learn all the stuff that new musicians learn. But if you know something about music already, you'll be bored, bored, bored.