The new “Play for Your Life” musical action-adventure game with Warner Iveris wrapped up last week. In the universe of the game, most of the towns are named after Greek muses from antiquity (see the map) and the people in each town are experts in that particular muse’s specialty. For instance, the three young Hochstein musicians all came from Euterpe, named for the muse of music.
During the class, the kids traveled to various places and got other muses on their side and also battled evil forces, using their musical talents. They traveled to the town of Terpsichore (named for the muse of dance), where they met the very highly regarded Mr. Footloose and his dance troupe. They accompanied a dance in the town and that got the inhabitants of that town on their side for battle.
They also had the support of Mrs. FluffyGeorgeWashingtonJellyfishHedgehogDragon (the wise elder of their town, so named by the students, and also a Euterpian), who was instrumental in helping uncover the royal family’s plot to deprive humanity of all inspiration!
The kids played a variety of music from Bach and Suzuki to Europe’s “The Final Countdown.” They composed a song for a woolly mammoth called “Woolly mammoths are cute and cuddly,” as well as a song alerting the inhabitants of their island that there was an incoming invasion, entitled “Humans are coming! Alert! Alert!”
One parent said that her son, Corwin, “looked forward to playing their ‘role-playing music game’ every week and would practice his ‘battle songs’ so he could win battles in the game. He was so inspired by Warner, he decided that he wants to be a musician and conductor when he grows up.”
His sister Arwen, one of the other students, turned out to have a knack for composition and she wrote her own song, “Moon Warrior’s Adventure Theme,” which you can listen to here.
Warner tells us that the muses have returned to Earth as a result of their efforts and are inspiring our greatest musicians, writers, and poets as we speak!
He added, “The next time you hear a particularly inspired performance, take a moment to appreciate these three brave souls. They didn’t just play for their lives, they played for your lives too!”