Machine and method for teaching music and piano

Abstract

A system for teaching music with input and output devices, musical representations presented on vertically and horizontally oriented musical staffs, output responsive to selective application of input data, confirmation of propriety of input choice, and scrolling presentation of sequential musical representations constituting music. A method to develop a positive association of correct learning input to music representation presented and a negative association of improper response, to music presented in a scrolling manner along a center bar for timing visual change in musical representation upon input. Musical representations such as notes, lines and bars may be presented and the user is required to make choices through input devices to correctly identify or play the musical representation. The system and method use both visual and audio responses to input and uses color and graphical associations between the staff and notes to teach intervals and music.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is based on U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 363,451, filed on Mar. 11, 2002.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not ApplicableDESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED APPENDIX[0003]Not ApplicableBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]This invention relates generally to the field of music and more specifically to a machine and method for teaching music and piano.[0005]The learning of music in a systematic approach has been the goal of music teachers for centuries. The typical method of teaching music involved hours of rote learning of notes and their proper location on the Bass and Trebles staffs accompanied by hours of repetition with the particular musical instrument. The piano has often been the instrument of choice as it is capable of playing a tremendous variety of music from the most simple melody to complex symphonic composition. Written methods for teaching the piano abound and largely rely on rep...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0028]The primary object of the invention is to provide a simple method for teaching music to children.

Problems solved by technology

Numerous prior art systems and methods have attempted to improve on the teaching of music but generally fail to provide an interactive system and method that effectively works with beginners, particularly children.

Other systems have attempted to develop teaching aids and graphical devices to aid in learning the notes of a scale but still have failed to associate the teaching methodology with the sounds of the musical notes and their proper location on a keyboard.

Further, there has been no useful method for introducing and associating the proper musical intervals with their relationship to the treble and bass clefs and the keys of a keyboard instrument.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,947 issued Dec. 20, 1921 to E. Fennell shows an indicator for musical instruction that associates the notes on the staffs with the notes on the keyboard and provides an audible buzzer when the correct association is made but does not provide real time association with proper note and rhythm by audio and visual means to signify correct and incorrect choices while playing a piece of music.

The prior art does not show a fully automated and interactive teaching system that utilizes real time presentation of music on a display medium such as a computer screen and that provides ongoing correction and affirmation of a student's choice of key depression that corresponds with the musical piece being learned.

Further, none of the prior art shows a variety of games that stimulate musical learning by using the interactive qualities of a computer and its association with responsive video and audio signals to represent proper and incorrect association of notes with the keys of an instrument interconnected to the computer system.

No prior art system provides a teaching system that presents music in interactive shapes and colors, shows the music in a vertical orientation to the keyboard and associates they musical staffs with the keys of a piano.

Nor does any prior art system make use of the aural association between the sounds of the notes and their proper location on the keyboard or musical staffs.

Further, no prior art system has used color coded graphics for the lines and spaces of the staffs and notes in a coordinated method for teaching beginners to recognize the proper notes and their location on the musical staff.

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