System for playing music having multi-colored musical...

Music – Accessories – Teaching devices

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C084S46400A

Reexamination Certificate

active

06831220

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to software, apparatus, and methods which create a system for converting back and white musical scores to colored musical scores that may be stored in a computer-readable medium, printed, electronically transmitted, and displayed in either a standard or linear format to correlate with colored keyboard instruments and other musical instrument overlays to facilitate and enhance a musical performance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The large number of musical scores composed in the past contain notes written in a standard musical notation format, and, are generally printed in black ink on white paper. These scores range from the simple to the extremely complex. Conventionally, the process of learning to read and play conventional music scores requires both students and teachers to devote considerable time and effort to learn both an archaic printed musical notation system having only black and white, and the location of the corresponding notes on a musical instrument. Music is also read like an English book, in a line from left to right, and top to bottom. Also, conventional keyboard instruments are almost always manufactured with only black and white keys.
Notes in the conventional music notation system are arranged into octaves, with each octave having seven whole tones or steps, and five half tones or half steps. Thus, in a musical composition, there are many tones or steps corresponding to printed notes. They range from low tones in the lower octaves of the bass clef, to high tones in the upper octaves of the treble clef. Conventional keys on a keyboard musical instruments are typically colored in black and white. White represents the whole tones A-G, and black represents the tones which are a half-tone, or half-step, up or down from the whole tones. Black and white keys only minimally distinguish between the different whole tones and half-tones of a musical composition. Much time and effort is therefore required to learn a note's location on a keyboard, or other musical instrument, and the corresponding note's location on a printed page.
Heretofore, no musical notation system has incorporated a colored musical notation system into a corresponding colored musical score and keyboard instrument. What is, therefore, needed is a new system to facilitate and enhance the process of learning to read musical notation and to associate the notes on a printed page with the location of notes on a musical instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,143 to Lang purportedly discloses a system and apparatus for piano instruction having a colored board with a single color for each key. However, Lang fails to consider the half tones which lie between whole tones. Lang merely dismisses them and assigns a single color, failing to distinguish even the half tones from the whole tones.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,800 to Johnson et al. purportedly teaches a scale-based music notation system without the use of flats or sharps. However Johnson, as with Lang, failed to distinguish the half-tones from the whole tones through the use of a color selection scheme.
Further needs are to provide methods of converting old compositions from black and white into colorized musical score compositions utilizing a color notation system and systems and apparatus for correlating such colorized music scores to the notes on musical instruments.
Therefore, there is a need for a colored music notation system for writing and playing music that further includes apparatus and methods for converting black and white musical scores into colorized scores for printing, display, storage in a computer readable medium, or electronic transmission, that correlates with colored musical instrument overlays to facilitate and enhance a musical performance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a musical notation system for creating colored music scores and colored musical instruments. The musical notation system according to the invention includes octaves, wherein the octaves include 12 tones. The 12 tones are divided into seven whole tones and five half tones. The half tones are a half step above and below whole tones. The seven whole tones include a color selected according to a master color matrix shown in Table A or Table B below, and the five half tones include a binary color set, wherein one color is selected according to the whole tone above the half tone, and the second color is selected according to the whole tone below the half tone. The colors for the half tones are selected according to either Table A or Table B.
In another embodiment, the musical notation system uses colors for the whole tones and the half tones only according to Table A.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the musical notation system uses colors for the whole tones and the half tones only according to Table B.
In another aspect of the present invention, a music score is provided. The music score includes notes which form a musical arrangement, wherein the notes representing whole tones and half tones are colored according to the musical notation system of the present invention. The colored notes are arranged on a staff. Optionally, the music score can omit the use of sharps, flats, or accidentals.
In another aspect of the present invention, a musical instrument is provided. The musical instrument includes a plurality of keys, wherein the keys define either a whole tone or a half tone and the keys include a color according to the music notation system of the present invention. The musical instrument further includes a container for holding the keys, such that the keys are arranged from the lowest to the highest tone. The musical instrument also includes means for sounding the whole notes and the half notes when the keys are played.
In another aspect of the present invention, a key overlay apparatus for colorizing a music instrument is provided. The overlay includes a sheet material having a first side and a back side, wherein the first side includes a colored area and the back side includes an applicator for applying the overlay to one or more keys of a musical instrument. The colored area is colored according to the musical notation system of the present invention. The overlay is applied so that the area is placed over a key, which defines a tone, and is matched to the color of the area.
In another aspect of the present invention, a music system is provided. The music system according to the present invention includes music scores wherein notes form an arrangement and the notes are colored in the music notation system according to the present invention. The music system includes a musical instrument having a plurality of keys for playing the whole tones and half tones, wherein the keys define either a whole tone or a half tone and the keys include a color according to the music notation system of the present invention. The musical instrument further includes a container for holding the keys from the lowest to the highest tone, and means for sounding the whole tones and the half tones when the keys are played.
In a further embodiment of the music system according to the present invention, an overlay device is provided. The overlay is positionable on a surface of one or more keys. The overlay includes a sheet material having a first and back side, wherein the first side includes a colored area and the back side includes an applicator. The colored area is colored according to the music notation system according to the present invention.
In yet another embodiment of the music system, a computer is provided to drive a display device capable of electronically displaying the colored music scores on a monitor, or a projector capable of projecting colored patterns corresponding to the notes being played on the musical instrument. The display can also include a monitor positionable on a music instrument.
In yet another embodiment of the music system according to the present invention, a student keyboard guide is provided which is capable of being positioned on the musical instrument adjacent the mu

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

System for playing music having multi-colored musical... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with System for playing music having multi-colored musical..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System for playing music having multi-colored musical... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3283792

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.