Well, if it wasn't for video games to train our Starfighters, we'd all probably be slaves to Xur, anyway.

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Unless they have to replace the Wii several times.

Kids probably aren't going to steal a xylophone, but you put hard to find and expensive (for a kid) game system in the classroom, and you're going to have a security issue.

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...but for some odd reason I always have better track where I am on the neck of my guitars/bass than on the 5 plastic buttons on the GH controller...

Also, GH: World Tour and Rock Band are more than adequate learning tools for drums.

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The average cost of a student flute from Yamaha, Selmer, Armstrong, and Gemeinhardt is about $600 new. Per flute. Used you might be able to find them for $300 or so.

A 3 octave bell kit typically runs at $150.

These instruments are not cheap.

Your argument is a straw-man anyways. Wii Music is not replacing traditional instruments, it's another tool for instructors to generate interest in music.

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I think it's the other way around. You'll be much more successful in RB/GH if you have a sense or rhythm and tempo, whereas you really don't need to have much of a sense of rhythm and tempo to play Wii Music.

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Wii music is a shallow game, yes, but it is also educational. You learn about instruments, you have a freestile mode where you record and learn how different rythms sound and what happens when you go out of tempo.

There's also very easy rythmn games, and games where the game teaches you to diferentiate higher and lower tones as well as major and minor chords (if i'm not mistaken).

The game really teaches a bit of music theory, however shallow it may be. And little kids seem to love it.

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From how I understand Wii Music, it would be impossible to play it on mute...as you would be unable to hear the musical consequences of your actions.

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