Music – Accessories – Teaching devices
Patent
1997-09-18
1999-05-25
Shoop, Jr., William M.
Music
Accessories
Teaching devices
84464R, 84464A, 84478, 84482, 84485R, G09B 1502
Patent
active
059071150
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention generally relates to a keyboard musical instrument, and in particular, to a keyboard musical instrument having a keyboard range display device for displaying the positions of player's fingers or hands on a keyboard and, as needed, for displaying a note-on position during a performance.
BACKGROUND ART
As is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 63-21903, some conventional keyboard musical instruments, such as pianos and electronic pianos, have indicators on the surfaces of keys, or near the keys, to display a note-on position and the type of the note based on the play data. Such a note-on instruction device is so designed that an indicator is ON at a position of a key to be depressed at a key-on time, or that after a preceding key was depressed, an indicator at a position of a key to be depressed next is on. In Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 63-12362 is disclosed a technique whereby a numerical sign indicator is provided for each key to display a numerical sign representative of a finger for key depression. In addition, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 7-334073 is disclosed a technique for using LEDs arranged for individual keys on a keyboard to display the positions of keys to be depressed and the positions of the player's fingers on the keyboard for playing.
A note-on instruction device of a conventional keyboard musical instrument displays a note-on position, a note-on duration and a finger number for key depression; however, when a beginner practices playing a musical instrument while looking at the note-on instruction device, in the course of playing, the player easily tends to delay key depression due to reading characters and numerals displayed or to recognizing the shapes of signs displayed.
When the positions or ranges of the hands are determined on the keyboard, the fingers to be used for key depression must likewise be determined. For a note-on instruction device that does not directly instruct the positions of the hands, however, to determine the hand positions, a player must refer to finger numbers displayed to ascertain which finger should be used for the key depression, and must then move the finger to the position of the key that is to be depressed. The problem that has arisen here, therefore, is that the movement of the hand towards an expected position tends to be delayed. Furthermore, in a conventional example used for displaying the positions of fingers, it is difficult to identify the finger positions when the both hands are located near each other.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard musical instrument having a keyboard range display device that displays the position for the hand or hands, or fingers on the keyboard and information concerning which fingers are to be used for the key depression, together with the locations of keys to be depressed, in a configuration that enables a player to intuitively perceive the displayed information.
According to the present invention, a keyboard musical instrument comprises range display means for displaying, while the keyboard musical instrument is played, a keyboard range to be covered by fingers of the player, or locations on a keyboard where the hands are to be placed. Further, according to the present invention, right hand range display means for displaying a keyboard range to be covered by a right hand or fingers, and left hand range display means for displaying a keyboard range to be covered by a left hand or fingers, are independently provided to be perceived.
With this arrangement of the present invention, an indicator, for example, is provided for each key. One indicator, lying within a keyboard range to be covered with one hand, is set to a state that differs from the states of the remaining indicators (e.g., blinking), so that a player can immediately and intuitively perceive which range is to be covered, and can easily move his hand to match the range. Thus, when a hand is move
REFERENCES:
patent: 3837256 (1974-09-01), Gullickson
patent: 5394784 (1995-03-01), Pierce et al.
patent: 5656789 (1997-08-01), Nakada et al.
Inaba Tatsuya
Kitagawa Hiroshi
Matsuda Toshinori
Matsunaga Hiroshi
Fletcher Marlon T.
Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Shoop Jr. William M.
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