Shared “Scores”: Building Community Through Digital Game-Based Learning in Music Education

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Digital games are increasingly present in young people’s musical lives, yet their use in music classrooms can easily become individualized through scores, rankings, badges, and separate devices. In this column, I examine how digital game-based learning can support community-building in music education when teachers move beyond competition as the primary design principle. Drawing on research on digital game-based learning and music games, I offer examples and strategies, including composing for video-game scenes, structured improvisation games, multiplayer music participation, and students’ existing engagement with virtual music worlds. The goal is not to gamify every lesson, but to use play and game design to build musical community through shared participation, culturally responsive practice, and creative meaning-making.