Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-20
2003-02-25
Fletcher, Marlon T. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S104000, C084S111000, C084S41100A, C084S600000, C084SDIG001
Reexamination Certificate
active
06525259
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to musical percussion instruments and, more specifically, to a Cadence-Providing Drum Practice Pad Assembly and Method
2. Description of Related Art
A drum practice pad is commonly used by drummers and students of drumming to assist them in the development or honing of their drumming skills. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the conventional drum practice pad
10
comprises a flexible mat
12
(made typically from rubber) that is designed to be lain across a table or other flat surface (including a person's lap). Protruding from the top surface of the flexible mat
12
is a striking pad
14
. The striking pad
14
typically consists of a hard core, such as from metal or wood, and a covering of the same material as the flexible mat
12
.
In using the practice pad
10
, the drummer strokes his drum sticks in a constant continuing formation, known as rudiments. These rudiments are stroking exercises which develop the drummer's speed, coordination, timing and technique. When learning to play a particular “drum line” (or drum portion of a piece of music) or rudiment, the drummer first listens to the rudiment or drum line, and then attempts to imitate it on the practice pad
10
. This describes an audio learning process (i.e. first hearing a desired act, and then attempting to imitate it); the problem with this strictly audio learning process is that it has been proven to be substantially less effective than visual learning (i.e. first seeing the desired act, and then attempting to imitate it), or a combination of both audio and visual learning processes.
If we now turn to
FIG. 2
, we can examine another practice device for drummers.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view of a conventional electronic drum synthesizer
16
. The synthesizer
16
comprises a base
18
, upon which are located a plurality of detector pads
20
. When the user strikes one of the detector pads
20
, the electronics built into the synthesizer
16
will generate a sound from built in speakers
22
(or output the sound signals to headphones or external sound amplification equipment). The synthesizer
16
can be programmed to provide many different sounds in response to the striking of each detector pad
20
, and in some models, it can actually play music from its speakers (to which the drummer can play an accompaniment).
The functioning of the conventional synthesizer is depicted as a flow diagram
300
in FIG.
3
. As can be seen, the user first strikes a detector pad
302
, at which time the detector pad generates and output signal
304
. The synthesizer logic (embedded in the electronics package of the synthesizer) receives the output signal from the detector pad
306
. The synthesizer logic then converts the detector pad output signal to an audio signal
308
. The problem with this device and system is that even though very high quality sounds can be produced, it does not really provide any additional benefit over the practice pad to the drummer in practicing or learning rudiments, since it too employs an audio learning process. What is needed is a drum practice system and method that employs visual learning techniques.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In light of the aforementioned problems associated with the prior devices and methods, it is an object of the present invention to provide a Cadence-Providing Drum Practice Pad Assembly and Method. The preferred assembly will combine a practice pad and a cadence generating device in the same body. It is an object that other embodiments provide visual prompting to the user on the striking pad. It is yet another object that the device of the present invention include a local repository of cadence programs, as well as the ability to retrieve and play cadence programs stored in remote cadence repositories, such as on a computer network or a portable storage media. It is a further object that the device include a mounting aperture that is offset from the center of the striking pad so that the pad will have a more realistic feel. It is yet a further object that the device be provided in the form of a conga practice pad.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3837256 (1974-09-01), Gullickson
patent: 4418598 (1983-12-01), Klynas
patent: 4479412 (1984-10-01), Klynas
patent: 5739457 (1998-04-01), Devecka
patent: 5850048 (1998-12-01), Ruf
patent: 6018121 (2000-01-01), Devecka
patent: 6075197 (2000-06-01), Chan
patent: 6399869 (2002-06-01), Sagastegui
Fletcher Marlon T.
Steins & Associates, P.C.
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