Music – Accessories – Teaching devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-29
2002-05-14
Fletcher, Marlon T. (Department: 2837)
Music
Accessories
Teaching devices
C084S47000P, C084S478000, C084S483200, C084S48500R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06388181
ABSTRACT:
FILED OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for facilitating playing music. More particularly, the invention relates to systems, apparatus and methods for providing a graphical animation for use in playing musical instruments, particularly keyboard instruments.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to automated multimedia systems, and, more specifically, to a computer-based system for prompting the player of a musical keyboard.
Playing a musical keyboard can be an enjoyable experience. Most people have attempted it, but a relative few have mastered it, largely because of the initial difficulty and the hours of dedicated study and practice required. The many competing claims on a person's time usually leave insufficient room for the regimen of keyboard practice. Parents who spend thousands of dollars on piano lessens for their children, often see their youngsters quit in frustration after a couple of years of struggle.
Various schemes, often based on computers, have been devised to assist with the learning process. Some of this software is very good at providing instruction in traditional keyboard methods in which the student learns to read the notes on the staff of a musical score, whether it be printed or displayed on a computer monitor. For example, Yamaha Corporation produces “Disklavier Pro 2000” including an LCD screen to view digital sheet music and video music performances that sync to the moving keys.
A major obstacle remaining for many students of the traditional method, however, is the large amount of continuous information processing required of the brain to translate the arcane notation of printed music into the corresponding motor commands to the fingers. Keeping track of sharps and flats amid a stream of chromatic signs, recognizing notes well above or below the staff, and executing of all the various notational nuances can be particularly daunting.
Some schemes attempt to address this problem by using a system of lights near or inside of the keys to indicate which keys are to be played at a given time, but this approach can only crudely guide the performance. The lights are unable to convey much of the auxiliary information coded in a piano score. There are about a dozen primary parameters that can be associated with a note to carry instructions as to how that note should be played. A key's light being either on or off can transmit only a fraction of this information. Another serious shortcoming of these methods is the inability of the user to scan upstream in the flow of approaching notes. This deficiency impairs his ability to smoothly position his hands in anticipation of notes drawing near their instant of play. Prior art with relevance to the present invention includes:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,734 issued to Rickey sets forth GRAPHIC/TACTILE MUSICAL KEYBOARD AND NOMOGRAPHIC MUSIC NOTATION in which a graphic/tactile musical instruction system includes a three-row equal temperament whole tone graphic/tactile keyboard and a nomographic system of music notation. The nomographic notation is correlated to the keyboard by nomographically marking the lines and spaces of the stave adjacent the key signature and similarly graphically marking the notes played on the upper or lower row with a diagonal slant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,829 issued to Furuya, et al. sets forth MULTIFUNCTION MUSICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS which includes: a unit for displaying on a screen a musical score, keyboard and tone time information to be inputted; a unit for designating the position of the keyboard, and tone time information, respectively displayed on the display unit; a unit for storing musical information produced through designation by the designating unit of the position of the keyboard and tone time information displayed on the display unit; a unit for controlling the display of the musical score, keyboard and tone time information on the screen of the display unit, and for controlling the display of a pattern of musical tone or rest on the musical score on the display unit in accordance with the position of the keyboard and tone time information respectively designated by the designating unit; and a unit for generating a musical tone by reading the musical information stored in the storage unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,911 issued to Ochi sets forth MUSIC SCORE DISPLAY DEVICE including a storage device for storing music score data, a display device for displaying the music score data for each specified section, and a comparator for comparing the musical playing data supplied from a player with the music score data. The music score display device further has a retrieval device for retrieving a playing position according to the compared result of the comparator, and a display controller for controlling display section of the display device based on the retrieval result of the retrieval device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,533,903 and 5,746,605 issued to Kennedy set forth METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MUSIC TRAINING including a method of and computer system for training a student to play a musical work having an identifiable rhythm structure, the musical work being decomposable into a plurality of variations each maintaining the identifiable rhythm structure. According to the method, a musical score of each variation is generated and then the musical scores are arranged in order of rhythmic difficulty. An animated movie is then generated, the movie comprising the music score of at least one variation, a sound recording of the music score, a graphic device that highlights the identifiable rhythm structure and a representation of how the music score would be played on a musical instrument. The animated movie is then presented to the student.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,308 issued to Owen sets forth MUSICAL EFFECTS APPARATUS AND TONE CONTROL PROCESS FOR A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. In an automated system for learning to play a musical instrument, music data and tone control data for a musical composition of an exemplary musical instrument is stored in machine readable form. An audio signal generated by a musical instrument being played, corresponding to the exemplary musical instrument, is inputted through a musical effects apparatus wherein the musical tone of the musical instrument being played is mixed with the stored music data. The musical effects apparatus is utilized, under digital control, to match the musical tone of the musical instrument being played with that of the exemplary musical instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,583 issued to Owen sets forth INTERACTIVE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT INSTRUCTION SYSTEM in which a musical instrument instruction system utilizes a CD-ROM electronic storage medium to store audio and video musical instrument instructional materials. Instructional materials are accessed utilizing a computer which provides an interactive system in which animation, voice, music, video and imagery are integrated in essentially real time and under complete control of the music student. The system permits the student to access the instructional materials in a variety of ways, and control the parameters governing the presentation of the instructional materials, including control of the tempo of the music and whether or not displays of the maimer of playing the musical instrument will be shown with a displayed notation or tablature relating to the selected musical piece. A mixer is provided for combining musical output of the practice instrument with musical output generated by the computer corresponding to the selected musical piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,496 issued to Kennedy sets forth MULTIMEDIA PRODUCT FOR USE IN A COMPUTER FOR MUSIC INSTRUCTION AND USE in which a computer is used to assist a student to learn to play a given musical work previously recorded on a master recording. A method of making the product is described which ensures that multimedia representations of the work are properly synchronized to the actual tempo variations, if any, in the master recording. A method of using the product for music training is also described.
U.S. Pat. N
Fletcher Marlon T.
Lyon & Lyon LLP
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