Music – Instruments – General features
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-12
2001-04-17
Nappi, Robert E. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
General features
C084S439000, C084S442000, C084S443000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06218601
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to musical instruments, and more particularly to instruments having multiple finger-operated actuators.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Numerous types of musical instruments are played by using the fingers. Manipulating the fingers a certain way causes the instruments to produce corresponding notes of a musical scale.
Many instruments utilize a keyboard containing multiple actuators. In such instruments, there is normally a different actuator for each of the notes that the instrument can produce. In a piano, for example, the fingers strike keys that in turn actuate sound-producing strings. In other instruments, such as pipe organs, piano accordions, and concertinas, the fingers press actuators that enable air to move through sound-producing passages. A third category of keyboard instruments includes the electric keyboard, in which finger-operated actuators cause different electronic circuits to produce desired notes.
A goal of most instruments is to produce as many notes as practical. To achieve that goal with a keyboard instrument, a large and heavy instrument is usually required. The piano is a prime example. Since by their nature concertinas and piano accordions are portable, the number of actuators and therefore the number of notes that can be produced is intentionally limited. The keyboard of an electric keyboard can occupy as much space as a piano keyboard.
A further characteristic of keyboard instruments is that they require every actuator to be playable by every finger in order to adequately play the instrument. The fingers typically move all over the keyboard during the normal course of playing. A problem that flows from the prior keyboard designs is that a person must memorize the relation between every actuator and its corresponding note independent of the fingers a person might use to play the actuators. There is nothing on the keyboards that assists or guides the placement of the player's fingers. On the contrary, the placement of the player's fingers on the prior keyboards is random. Only in the context of the particular music being played does the actual placement of the fingers acquire any importance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an in-line keyboard is provided that greatly simplifies playing musical instruments. This is accomplished by apparatus that includes perpendicular rows and columns of actuators, each of which causes an instrument to produce a single musical note.
In its simplest form, the in-line keyboard has four columns and two rows of actuators. The eight actuators and the rest of the instrument are designed such that playing the actuators produces one octave of notes. The first row contains the four lowest notes of the octave. The second row, considered to be a higher row, contains the highest notes of the octave. Preferably, the in-line keyboard and instrument are designed such that consecutive actuators in the first row produce notes that ascend according to a musical scale of natural notes. The actuators of the second row correspond to notes that are a continuation of the scale.
For maximum versatility, the in-line keyboard has five columns of actuators. For an in-line keyboard with two rows of actuators, the instrument can play ten notes. Additional octaves are available by adding more rows of actuators.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention with five columns of actuators, the musical note corresponding to the actuator in the first row and last column is the same note as is produced by the actuator in the second row and first column. In that situation, pairs of adjacent actuators in a column correspond to perfect fifths of a scale. For example, notes C and G may be in the same column in adjacent rows. The same applies to notes D and A, E and B, or G and D. Accordingly, playing pairs of adjacent actuators in a column simultaneously produces a harmonious chord.
Any of the rows of actuators can be considered to be a home row of actuators. When the player's five fingers are over the actuators of the home row, the fingers are considered to be in a home position. From the home position, the player moves his fingers only up and down the actuators within the associated columns. All the actuators of a particular column are thus played only by a single finger. For a keyboard having four rows, for example, each finger plays only the four actuators of the column associated with that finger.
Further in accordance with the present invention, actuators that correspond to sharps and flats of a musical scale are incorporated into the in-line keyboard. The sharp and flat actuators are located in columns between the columns of the corresponding natural note actuators. According to one aspect of the invention, the sharp and flat actuators have a different tactile feel then the natural note actuators. The sharp and flat actuators provide guides that aid in keeping the player's fingers in the proper columns at all times.
The method and apparatus of the invention, using actuators arranged in perpendicular columns and rows, thus enables a musical instrument to play a wide range of notes from a compact keyboard. The keyboard is very easy to learn to play, since each finger plays only a few actuators and those actuators are located in a single column.
Other advantages, benefits, and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5581484 (1996-12-01), Prince
patent: 5841052 (1998-11-01), Stanton
patent: 5907115 (1999-05-01), Matsunaga et al.
Cayen Donald
Lockett Kim
Nappi Robert E.
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