CCB Magazine

Will the digital revolution replace the music teacher of tomorrow? Andreas Schneid founded the start-up GroovIT and launched the innovative learning game “Drum Revolution” - and was awarded the 2024 Culture and Creativity Pilot Award for his work. We spoke to him about the idea and concept, digital learning methods of the future and why the best tool still can't replace music lessons.

INTERVIEW  Juliette Holtz

CCB Magazin:Hello Andreas, with the digital game “Drum Revolution”, you want to make music education easier through gamification - players simply connect your own drum kit to the computer to learn how to play drums via the digital jump'n'run game. There are already numerous programs and apps that offer digital music lessons in a fun way. What's new about your game?

Andreas Schneid:There is currently no comparable solution on the market for learning to play the drums - most digital learning platforms focus on the piano. "Drum Revolution" is first and foremost a learning game that integrates gamification as a playful approach, whereby the gamified aspect is secondary - we are more interested in the learning effect. But we are not a gamified sheet of music. And most drum-learning apps are based on the “Guitar Hero” principle, which enjoyed great success over 20 years ago as a “rhythm game” for the Playstation: they are based on a “reaction principle”. In our game, on the other hand, the player is in an active role - the game reacts to the player's actions, not the other way around, which is the crucial difference.

Drum Revolution is an educational game that integrates gamification as a playful approach - we are interested in the learning effect

CCB Magazin:How did the idea come up? What inspired you? Were there certain challenges in music education that you wanted to solve with gamification?

Andreas Schneid:After 25 years of teaching drums and the publication of my didactic textbook for children, it occurred to me that it would be really exciting to transform learning content into a new digital format. While there are already numerous educational videos on YouTube, I noticed that children today like to play computer games a lot. The big advantage of a game is that there are no negative consequences for mistakes - on the contrary, players see mistakes as part of the challenge and are motivated to do better next time. I am working with a game designer and an animation studio to implement this concept. We are the first to fully integrate the learning concept into a game, which in the future will also be supplemented by a story in the style of a classic platform game.

CCB Magazin:But how can one imagine this in practice? I am person XY and would like to use your tool: What do I need? What happens?

Andreas Schneid:The requirements are very simple: you need an electronic drum kit and download the game from the Internet via the Steam platform. After connecting the laptop to the drum kit using a USB cable, you can get started. In the game, the player controls a green monster that runs through an underground world full of colorful pipes that are reminiscent of a sewer and run upwards like a staircase. At the beginning, it's all about intuitive trial and error: Depending on where you hit the drum kit, the character on the pipes jumps up or to the side. The special feature: There are no instructions, which makes the game particularly adventurous. Many people, myself included, just want to get started straight away without having to read long tutorials first.

Learning to play the drums made easy - the start-up GroovIT wants to make it possible. Photo © Michael Bause

CCB Magazin:14.3 million Germans play music or an instrument in their free time, 18.8 percent of the population aged 6 and over. Since the coronavirus pandemic at the latest, there have been more and more apps on the market that promise to make it possible to learn an instrument digitally.

Andreas Schneid:Our main target group are children between the ages of five and twelve. However, 70-year-olds can of course also play the game. Together with my game designer, we developed the game so that it is simple and self-explanatory. This makes it more fun and the first small successes motivate learners. During development, I sent the prototype of our game to a friend who is an occupational therapist and works with stroke patients in a rehabilitation clinic. The patients really loved it and he thought Drum Revolution could also be a really great tool for the rehab sector.

I myself love music schools as places and by no means want to replace the teachers there, the game is an additional tool that can usefully complement the lessons

CCB Magazin:You say that you are committed to making music education accessible to everyone - regardless of where they live or their financial means. Couldn't the exact opposite happen, that you take the job away from those who earn money with music lessons?

Andreas Schneid:I wouldn't say that. Classical music lessons are mostly aimed at the middle class and cost on average between 60 and 120 euros per month for half an hour to three quarters of an hour. This is often unaffordable for families with several children. With our game, we can offer the learning experience for significantly less money. What's more, it's also fun to immerse yourself in this fictional learning world with the little green monster. Getting started is a different experience to attending a music school, which for some is also difficult to reach geographically. I myself love music schools as places and in no way want to replace the teachers there. I see playing as an additional tool that can usefully complement lessons. In my opinion, personal interaction in lessons will continue to exist because we humans are simply social beings.

CCB Magazin:There are over 36,500 music teachers at music schools in Germany, but not all of them can make a living from teaching alone and have to earn some extra money on the side or switch to elementary school. How do you finance your project?

Andreas Schneid:There is a free demo version to download. The current game is in the beta version and costs 29 euros. We are currently financing the project through investors and grants. However, our long-term goal is to finance the project entirely through the revenue from purchases. To this end, we are currently working on online advertising to promote the game.

CCB Magazin: I imagine practising with a computer program gets a bit lonely in the long run. Doesn't it take away the personal moment of practicing together and the direct feedback from teachers, which is often what makes learning a new instrument so much fun? Will there also be opportunities in the program to network and play together with others?

Andreas Schneid: The topic of multiplayer has been on our agenda for some time and I hope that in the future there will be opportunities to challenge each other in the game, for example. One idea would also be to form a band via the game. However, I'm not yet sure whether this is really attractive, as I personally find it better when people meet in real life in the rehearsal room and play music together.

CCB Magazin: The right technique is particularly important when playing the drums. How do you make sure that students don't pick up the wrong habits if no one is watching them?

Andreas Schneid:Beginners, especially children, can't concentrate on technique at the beginning. I always say: “Pick up the sticks and don't worry about what you're doing.” At the beginning, you simply don't have the capacity to pay attention to the exact sitting position, the stick position and the music at the same time. The precise technique can be learned later in lessons, our aim is to motivate the players - and have fun doing it.

CCB Magazin: How do you want to make GrooveIT more popular? Are there already collaborations planned with music schools or other institutions to integrate GrooveIT into regular music lessons?

Andreas Schneid: Through my network of percussionists and fellow teachers, I am in constant contact with them. One idea is that teachers can use a “level generator” to create their own levels that they can give their students as homework. We can also imagine working with schools and youth clubs where children and young people can try out the game on an electronic drum set, similar to table football or darts.

CCB Magazin:AI is currently changing the market and turning everything upside down: where do you see the potential and the dangers of AI for learning instruments and where do you want to go with the project in the long term?

Andreas Schneid:AI has not been an issue in the development of our game so far, but as it is becoming more and more relevant in many areas of our lives, I am generally open to it. If an AI were to be able to relieve us of tasks such as creating levels or make them easier, I would of course be delighted - but at the moment that is still a dream of the future for us.