Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-08
2001-08-28
Witkowski, Stanley J. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S47700R, C084S478000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06281422
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a music performance assisting system and, more particularly, to a music performance assisting system for teaching a sequential use of the fingers for a tune, a method used therein and an information storage medium for storing a computer program representative of the method.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A music teacher teaches music students through a lecture, and gets the music students to practice musical instruments. If a piano is used for the music education, the music teacher teaches the music students the arrangement of the keyboard and the fingering on the keyboard. Thus, a large amount of time and labor is consumed in the music education.
In order to assist the music teacher in the music education, an electric tutor has been proposed. A prior art electric tutor has an array of optical indicators provided along the keyboard, and selectively illuminates the optical indicators on the basis of pieces of music data information representative of a tune. The prior art electric tutor gives notice of a key to be depressed through the illumination, and guides the trainee in the fingering on the keyboard.
A prior art music data analyzer for fingering is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application (laid-open) No. 7-261750. The prior art music data analyzer fetches pieces of data information representative of the pitch names of tones to be generated, and analyzes the pieces of data information for fingering. The prior art music data analyzer takes the distance between the keys to be successively depressed, the kind of keys, i.e., either white or black key and unordinary fingering such as a transient fingering and a transition of position into account, and determines the fingers to be used for depressing the keys. The prior art music data analyzer memorizes pieces of position data information representative of the fingers to be used for depressing the keys together with the pieces of music data information, and instructs a trainee to depress the keys with the particular fingers.
A prior art guide system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application (laid-open) No. 10-49152. The prior art guide system stores a table, which defines relation between pieces of melody and appropriate patterns of the fingers or relation between patterns of the fingers and pieces of memory available for the patterns of fingers. The table is formed for all the combinations of five tones in an octave. The unordinary fingering is taken into account. The prior art guide system analyzes a tune to be performed, and divides the tune into plural sections. The prior art guide system searches the table for appropriate fingering, and determines the fingers to be used for depressing the keys.
The following problems are encountered in the above-described prior art systems. The prior art electric tutor illuminates the optical indicators at short notice, and the trainee feels the guidance through the illumination hard to follow.
The prior art electric tutor guides the trainee in the fingering through the illumination. However, the optical indicators sequentially radiate the light at short intervals, and the trainee hardly follows the prior art electric tutor. Although the prior art electric tutor teaches the sequence of the keys to be depressed, the prior art electric tutor does not indicate the fingers to be used for depressing the keys.
The prior art music data analyzer disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 7-261750 determines a sequential use of the fingers in playing a tune. The prior art music data analyzer teaches the fingering. However, the sequential use is imperfectly matched with the standard sequential use of the fingers in playing the tune. Thus, the problem inherent in the prior art music data analyzer is a low hit ratio.
The prior art guide system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application No. 10-49152 also teaches the fingering. However, the prior art guide system requires a large amount of database for all the combinations between the use of the fingers and pieces of melody, because a sequential use of the fingers is determined on the basis of the database. The problem inherent in the prior art guide system is a great production cost due to a large amount of time and labor consumed in the preparation of the large database.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a music performance assisting system, which is fabricated at a low cost for exactly teaching a sequential use of the fingers for a tune.
It is another important object of the present invention to provide a method used in the music performance assisting system.
It is yet another important object of the present invention to provide an information storage medium for storing a computer program representative the method.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a music performance assisting system associated with a music instrument having plural manipulators manipulated by a player for producing tones, and the music performance assisting system comprises a memory for storing pieces of data information representative of a series of notes and rests forming a tune, a divider for dividing the series of notes and rests into plural groups each having at least one note, a finger assignor selectively assigning the aforesaid at least one note of each group to fingers of each hand of the player in accordance with rules of fingering for determining a use of fingers and a guide for teaching the use of fingers along the tune to the player.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for teaching a use of fingers along a tune to a player, and the method comprises the steps of a) storing pieces of data information representative of a series of notes and rests forming a tune and rules of a fingering, b) dividing a series of notes and rests representative of a tune into groups each having at least one note, c) selectively assigning the aforesaid at least one note of each group to fingers of each hand of the player in accordance with the rules so as to obtain a use of fingers, d) repeating the steps b) and c) until the end of the tune, if necessary, and e) teaching the use of fingers to the player.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage medium for storing a computer program representative of a method for teaching a use of fingers along a tune to a player, and the method comprises the steps of a) storing pieces of data information representative of a series of notes and rests forming a tune and rules of a fingering, b) dividing a series of notes and rests representative of a tune into groups each having at least one note, c) selectively assigning the aforesaid at least one note of each group to fingers of each hand of the player in accordance with the rules so as to obtain a use of fingers, d) repeating the steps b) and c) until the end of the tune, if necessary and e) teaching the use of fingers to the player.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5392682 (1995-02-01), McCartney-Hoy
patent: 5907115 (1999-05-01), Matsunaga et al.
patent: 6087577 (2000-07-01), Yahata et al.
patent: 7-261750 (1995-10-01), None
patent: 10-49152 (1998-02-01), None
Morrison & Foerster
Witkowski Stanley J.
Yamaha Corporation
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