Singing symbol display device and singing symbol display method

Abstract

To clearly display the relation between lyrics of a song to be sung and a pitch range of the tone.SOLUTION: An operator selects singing support symbols and specifies a range. In this case, the operator selects "na" in the same pitch range of the tone with an initial character "na" of characters "na", "i", "te" constituting lyrics. It is determined whether the singing support symbol selection and range specification are done (S61), and when so, it is determined whether there is a singing technique symbol "fake" in the selected range (S62). In this case, there is no singing technique symbol, and a singing support symbol is imparted to the range selected for the lyrics (S64). Consequently, lyrics data having the singing support symbol arranged is displayed in a display field 151.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 17

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a singing symbol display device, and more particularly to displaying lyrics in an easy-to-understand manner. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for displaying lyrics corresponding to musical notes (see FIG. 13). In this way, by writing the corresponding lyrics below the notes on the musical score, it is possible to sing the lyrics along with the melody.

[0003] For example, in this example, for the lyrics "I am here today," the first note can be sung as "today" with a "mi" sound and a quarter note length, and the second note can be sung as "until" with a "so" sound and a quarter note length. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2009-230007 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the method of displaying the correspondence between musical notes and lyrics in Patent Document 1 has the following problems.

[0006] If a musical score for displaying a melody is displayed and the corresponding lyrics are written below each note, a display area equal to the size of the notes is required.

[0007] Furthermore, when a teacher teaches students singing skills at a singing class, the students will already know the melody of the song to some extent. Therefore, the entire sheet music is not necessarily required. If only the lyrics are extracted from the notation shown in Figure 13 and simply written as "Kyou made Watashi" with spaces between the letters, students will not be able to clearly understand the relationship between the melody and the lyrics.

[0008] This problem of notation is not limited to Japanese, but is similar in other languages ​​such as English.

[0009] An object of the present invention is to provide a lyrics display device that can clearly display the relationship between the lyrics and melody of a song to be sung without displaying a musical score. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] (1) A lyric data generating and displaying device according to the present invention includes a lyric data storage means for storing lyric data, a singing support symbol storage means for storing singing support symbols that identify the range of notes that should be sung at the same pitch, a generation means for generating singing support symbol-allocated lyric data by arranging the singing support symbols in the lyric data, a singing support symbol-allocated lyric data storage means for storing the generated singing support symbol-allocated lyric data, and a display control means for reading the singing support symbol-allocated lyric data and displaying the lyric data that identifies the range of notes that should be sung at the same pitch on a display means. The singing support symbol-allocated lyric data includes singing support symbols that identify the range of notes that should be sung at the same pitch as a single group, distinguishing it from other groups. By arranging the singing support symbols that identify the range of notes that should be sung at the same pitch as a single group, it becomes easier to understand the range of notes that should be sung at the same pitch as a single group. This makes it possible to display singing symbols in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner. This allows lyrics data to be displayed that makes it easy to grasp the range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing as a single unit.

[0011] (2) The lyric data generating device according to the present invention comprises: a lyric data storage means for storing lyric data; a singing support symbol storage means for storing singing support symbols that specify a range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing; and a generating means for generating singing support symbol-arranged lyric data by adding the singing support symbols to the lyric data. When a singing support symbol adding command for adding the singing support symbol to a specified position in the lyrics data is given from the singing symbol adding means, the generating means generates lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein for recognizing a range in which the singing support symbols are uttered at the same pitch when sung as one group, and distinguishing it from other groups.

[0012] In this way, by arranging singing support symbols to distinguish the range of notes uttered at the same pitch when singing from one group as a unit and distinguish it from other groups, it becomes easier to grasp the range of notes uttered at the same pitch when singing as one group. Therefore, singing symbols can be displayed in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner. This makes it possible to display lyric data that makes it easy to grasp the range of notes uttered at the same pitch when singing as one group.

[0013] (3) The lyric data display device of the present invention comprises a lyric data storage means for storing lyric data with singing support symbols, in which singing support symbols are added to lyric data to specify the range of notes that are to be sung at the same pitch when sung, and a display control means for reading out the lyric data with singing support symbols and displaying the lyric data on a display means, and the displayed lyric data is displayed so that the range of notes that are to be sung at the same pitch can be recognized as one group and distinguished from other groups.

[0014] In this way, by arranging singing support symbols on the lyric data display medium to recognize the range of notes uttered at the same pitch when sung as one group and distinguish it from other groups, it is possible to display lyric data that is easy to grasp as a group of notes uttered at the same pitch when sung. This makes it possible to display lyric data that is easy to grasp as a group of notes uttered at the same pitch when sung.

[0015] (4) The lyric data display method of the present invention stores lyric data with singing support symbols assigned to it, which specifies the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch when sung, and then reads and displays the stored lyric data. The displayed lyric data is displayed so that the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch can be recognized as a single group and distinguished from other groups. In this way, by arranging singing support symbols to recognize the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch as a single group and distinguish it from other groups, it becomes easier to grasp the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch as a single group. Therefore, singing symbols can be displayed in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner. This makes it possible to display lyric data in such a way that the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch can be easily grasped as a single group.

[0016] (5) The lyric data display medium of the present invention displays lyric data to which singing support symbols are assigned, specifying the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch when sung, as singing support symbol-placed lyric data. The lyric data is displayed as group-recognized lyric data that can be distinguished from other groups by the singing support symbols that specify the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch when sung. In this way, by placing singing support symbols that distinguish the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch as a group, it becomes easier to understand the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch as a group. Therefore, singing symbols can be displayed in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner. This makes it possible to display lyric data that makes it easy to understand the range of notes to be sung at the same pitch as a group.

[0017] (6) In the lyric data generating and displaying device according to the present invention, the lyric data with singing support symbols further includes two or more types of singing technique symbols, and when the singing technique symbols are fake, the generating means generates display data that lists the singing technique symbols before and after the corresponding characters and identifies each as a separate group. Therefore, even when fake is present, it is easy to grasp the range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing as a single group.

[0018] (7) In the lyric data generating and displaying device of the present invention, the lyric data is displayed in phonetic characters, the singing technique symbols are assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique and are attached either before or after or both before and after the phonetic characters to be sung using the singing technique symbols, and the generating means displays the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are attached in the same color as the singing technique symbols. Therefore, data displaying singing techniques can be generated in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner.

[0019] (8) In the lyric data generating and displaying device according to the present invention, the group-recognized lyric data is separated by underlines so that each group can be distinguished from other groups. This makes it possible to generate data that displays singing techniques in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner.

[0020] (9) In the lyric data generating and displaying device according to the present invention, the lyric data is in the form of alphabetic phonemes, and the lyric data with singing support symbols arranged therein is further provided with liaison unit notation indicating liaison units. Therefore, even when there is a liaison, it is easy to grasp the range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing as a single unit.

[0021] The terms used in this specification are explained below.

[0022] "Singing symbols" are symbols used to convey how to sing, and are a concept that includes the "singing technique symbols" and "singing support symbols" disclosed in the previous application.

[0023] In addition, "identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden" refers to identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden in the embodiment, but also includes cases where only singing technique symbols to be displayed are identified, thereby identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0024] [Figure 1] 1 is a functional block diagram of a singing technique display device 1. FIG. [Figure 2] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration in which a singing technique display device 1 is realized using a CPU. [Figure 3] 10 is an example of singing technique symbol data and lyric data. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart for assigning singing technique symbols. [Figure 5] This is an example of a screen display when adding singing technique symbols. [Figure 6] 10 is an example of data to which singing technique symbols are added. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart at the time of display. [Figure 8] 10 is an example of lyrics data to which singing technique symbols are added. [Figure 9] 10 is a display example in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] This is another display example. [Figure 11] This is another display example. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a lyric card generating device 51 with singing technique symbols arranged therein. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between musical scores and lyrics. [Figure 14] FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a lyrics data generating and displaying device 70. [Figure 15] 10 is an example of singing support symbol data and lyrics data. [Figure 16] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between musical scores and lyrics. [Figure 17] 10 is a flowchart showing the process of adding a singing support symbol. [Figure 18] 10 is an example of a screen display when a singing support symbol is added. [Figure 19] 10 is an example of a screen display when a singing support symbol is added. [Figure 20] 10 is a flowchart at the time of display. [Figure 21] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the musical score and the lyrics data to which singing support symbols are added in the case of fake singing. [Figure 22] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between musical scores and lyrics when the lyrics are in English. [Figure 23] This is an example of a display in which singing support symbols and liaison notation are displayed in overlapping fashion. [Figure 24] This is an example of a combination of colored vocal support symbols and vocal technique symbols (Japanese lyrics). [Figure 25] This is an example of a combination of colored vocal support symbols and vocal technique symbols (English lyrics). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] A) First, the singing technique display device disclosed in the previous application will be described, and then an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0026] (A1. Overall structure of the earlier application) FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a singing technique display device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] The singing technique display device 1 comprises a lyric data storage means 3 with singing technique symbols, a display control means 5, a display means 7, a playback means 9, a specification means 11, and an accompaniment data storage means 13.

[0028] The lyric data storage means 3 with singing technique symbols stores lyric data to which two or more types of singing technique symbols are assigned. The display control means 5 reads out the lyric data and displays it on the display means 7. The lyric data is displayed as phonetic characters, and the singing technique symbols are assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique and are assigned either before or after or both before and after the phonetic character to be sung using the singing technique symbol. For phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned, the display control means 5 displays the phonetic characters in the same color as the singing technique symbols.

[0029] In this way, by displaying the characters and the singing technique symbols in the same color, it is easy to recognize the singing technique symbols to be applied and their range, thereby making it possible to display singing techniques in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner.

[0030] Furthermore, the specifying means 11 specifies singing technique symbols to be hidden from the assigned singing technique symbols. In this case, the display control means 5 does not display the singing technique symbols to be hidden, and does not display the corresponding phonetic characters in different colors.

[0031] Furthermore, the accompaniment data storage means 13 stores accompaniment data corresponding to the lyrics data. The playback means 9 plays back the accompaniment data. The display control means 5 can also control the display so that the lyrics to which singing technique symbols are assigned can be recognized by sequentially displaying the corresponding phonetic characters in color as the accompaniment progresses. This makes it possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand the corresponding phonetic characters as the accompaniment progresses.

[0032] (A2. Hardware configuration of singing technique display device 1) The hardware configuration of the singing technique display device 1, which is configured using a CPU, will be described with reference to FIG.

[0033] The singing technique display device 1 includes a CPU 23, a memory 27, a hard disk 26, an input device 28, an optical drive 25, a monitor 30, a sound output unit 32, and a bus line 29. The CPU 23 controls each unit via the bus line 29 in accordance with each program stored in the hard disk 26.

[0034] The hard disk 26 has an operating system program 26o (hereinafter abbreviated as OS), a main program 26p, a lyrics data storage unit 26d, a singing technique symbol storage unit 26k, and a singing technique symbol arranged data storage unit 26u.

[0035] The processing of the main program 26p will be described later. The data structure of the data stored in the singing technique symbol data storage unit 26k is shown in Figure 3A. Each singing technique symbol is specified by an ID, name, display color, placement position, graphic, and description of the singing technique. If the placement position is "after," the singing technique symbol is added after the specified character; if "before or after," the symbol is added so that the character is sandwiched between the character to be placed. This processing will be described later.

[0036] The data structure of the lyrics data stored in the lyrics data storage unit 26d is shown in Fig. 3B. The lyrics data consists of an ID, a name, a performer, lyrics, and a word division flag. The word division flag will be described later.

[0037] The data stored in the singing technique symbol allocated data storage unit 26u is provided with decorative symbols for displaying the lyrics in color, as shown in Fig. 6B, as will be described in detail later.

[0038] In this embodiment, LINUX (registered trademark or trademark) is used as the operating system program (OS) 26o, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0039] The above programs are read from the DVD-ROM 25a on which they are stored via the optical drive 25 and installed on the hard disk 26. The programs may be installed on the hard disk from a computer-readable recording medium other than the DVD-ROM, such as a USB memory. Furthermore, the programs may be downloaded via a communication line.

[0040] In this embodiment, the program stored on the DVD-ROM is installed on the hard disk 26 from the DVD-ROM, thereby causing the computer to indirectly execute the program. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program stored on the DVD-ROM may be executed directly from the optical drive 25. Programs that can be executed by a computer include not only those that can be executed directly by simply installing them as they are, but also those that require conversion to another format (for example, decompressing compressed data), and those that can be executed in combination with other modules.

[0041] (A3. Processing when assigning singing technique symbols) A flowchart of the singing technique symbol assignment process is shown in Figure 4. The act of assigning singing technique symbols is performed by an operator such as a vocal trainer who understands where singing technique symbols should be assigned.

[0042] First, a lyric selection process is performed (step S1). The lyric selection process is a general selection process, and is executed, for example, by displaying a list of lyric data stored in the lyric data storage unit 26d and having the operator select one of the data. In the following, it is assumed that the lyric data ID "C001" shown in FIG. 3B has been selected.

[0043] The CPU 23 displays a screen for assigning singing technique symbols (hereinafter referred to as the "assignment screen") on the monitor 30 (step S3). An example of the assignment screen is shown in Fig. 5A. The lyrics of the lyrics data ID "C001" are displayed in the lyrics display field 151, and an icon for assigning singing technique symbols is displayed to the right of the lyrics.

[0044] The operator identifies and specifies the range of singing technique symbols for the lyrics data displayed in the icon lyrics display field 151. For example, the operator may specify the range using the input device 28 and click on the icon of the corresponding singing technique symbol.

[0045] As a result, CPU 23 determines that a singing technique symbol has been specified and a range has been specified (step S5). For example, to assign the singing technique symbol "vibrato" to "bo" in "bokura wa," the range for "bo" is specified and icon 155V is clicked. Since the singing technique symbol "vibrato" is positioned "after," CPU 23 adds the specified singing technique symbol to the end of the specified range and adds a singing technique symbol to the lyric data to display the selected "bo" in "red," the color of the singing technique symbol "vibrato" (step S7). In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6A, this is achieved by adding an underline to the bottom of the specified range and further adding symbols representing colors to the beginning and end of the specified range, but the addition method is not limited to this.

[0046] The CPU 23 displays the singing technique symbol in color based on the symbol added in step S7 (step S9). In this way, as shown in Fig. 5B, the singing technique symbol displayed in color is inserted at the position specified by the operator, and the character in the specified range is displayed in the same color as the singing technique symbol.

[0047] Thereafter, the CPU 23 repeats the processes of steps S5 to S9 in FIG. 4 until an end command is issued.

[0048] If the singing technique symbol to be added is located "before and after," the specified singing technique symbol is added before and after the range-specified characters, and a singing technique symbol for displaying the selected characters in the color of the singing technique symbol is added to the lyrics data.

[0049] When the operator has completed adding all singing technique symbols, he / she clicks on the end icon 159 in Fig. 5A. As a result, the CPU 23 determines that an end command has been issued (step S11), and stores the lyrics data in which the singing technique symbols have been placed as lyrics data in the singing technique symbol-placed lyrics data storage unit 26u (see Fig. 2) as lyrics data in which singing technique symbols have been placed (step S13). An example of lyrics data in which singing technique symbols have been placed is shown in Fig. 6B.

[0050] In this embodiment, the lyrics data with singing technique symbols arranged therein is constructed by providing colored display tags indicating colors before and after the lyrics to be sung with the specified singing technique symbols, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0051] (A4. Display processing of lyrics data with singing technique symbols placed) The display process using lyric data with singing technique symbols already placed will be explained using Figure 7. This display can be used not only when a vocal trainer is teaching a student how to sing, but also when a student is learning singing technique on their own. Note that in the following embodiment, we have described a case where singing technique symbols and corresponding lyric letters are dynamically displayed in color in accordance with the progression of the lyrics, but the same can be applied to a static color display on a screen or paper.

[0052] When the lyric selection process is executed (step S21 in FIG. 7), the CPU 23 reads out the corresponding lyric data with singing technique symbols placed thereon from the lyric data with singing technique symbols placed thereon storage unit 26u and displays it in color (step S23). The color display is the same as the process in step S9 in FIG. 4. As a result, the colored lyric data with the singing technique symbols added thereto is displayed on the monitor 30 (see FIG. 2). FIG. 8 shows an example of colored lyric data displayed on the screen. Note that the lyric selection process can be performed by allowing the operator to select from a general list display.

[0053] A play button (not shown) is displayed on the screen, and when the operator clicks the play button, the CPU 23 determines that a play command has been issued (step S25 YES in FIG. 7), and reads out the accompaniment data for the lyrics data from the lyrics data storage unit 26d (step S27).Then, the colored display and the display of the singing technique symbols in step S23 are turned off (display reset) (step S29).

[0054] The CPU 23 starts playing back the accompaniment data (step S31), and displays the singing technique symbols and lyric data in color in accordance with the progress of the accompaniment data (step S33).

[0055] A method for displaying the singing technique symbols and lyrics data in color in accordance with the progression of the accompaniment data can be to adopt a technology for displaying lyrics in color in order to teach the user of the karaoke device when to pronounce the lyrics in accordance with the accompaniment in a conventional karaoke device. For example, each character of the lyrics can be stored in association with the elapsed time from the start of playback.

[0056] In this embodiment, the range of lyrics to be displayed in color can be specified using color display tags. Therefore, since the device can grasp this range when reading, in the case of a normal karaoke device, the timing for changing the color of lyrics does not have to be exactly right. Instead, the color of the lyrics up to the character before the next color display tag can be changed at the same time as the color of the character after the previous color display tag. For example, in the case of "Bokura wa..." in Figure 8, when the color of the first "ha" in "ha..." changes, the color of the following "..." is also changed.

[0057] When the operator wishes to end the performance of the accompaniment, he or she may click the end button (not shown) displayed on the screen, in the same manner as in issuing the playback command, which causes the CPU 23 to determine that an end command has been issued (YES in step S35), and to end the playback process.

[0058] In this way, the singing technique display device 1 can dynamically display singing technique symbols and corresponding lyric letters in color as the lyrics progress, making it easier for students receiving vocal training to understand which letters in the lyrics should be sung with which singing technique.

[0059] As with regular karaoke, pauses and other interruptions may be possible, allowing the user to repeat the same part of the song and practice.

[0060] This lyric data with singing technique symbols can also be printed out for use. For example, in a vocal class, colored paper can be handed out to students for singing instruction. By displaying this lyric data with singing technique symbols on a display medium, students can easily learn singing techniques.

[0061] In this embodiment, the seven singing technique symbols shown in Fig. 5A are used, but the present invention is not limited to these symbols, and other singing technique symbols, such as shouts and falls, may be displayed in the same manner.

[0062] It is also acceptable to always start a new line when a breath symbol is used. This makes it easier to recognize the position of the breath. In this case, it is okay to not start a new line when using a "breath that requires instantaneous force."

[0063] In this embodiment, the lyrics data with singing technique symbols arranged therein is stored as lyrics data that combines the type and position of the singing technique symbols. However, this is not limited to this, and it is also possible to store only data that specifies the type and position of the singing technique symbols without the lyrics data.

[0064] Furthermore, instead of storing data for such colored display separately and dynamically generating colored lyric data with singing technique symbols arranged therein, static colored lyric data with singing technique symbols arranged therein may be generated and stored with the singing technique symbols, and the data itself with the added singing technique symbols and the corresponding characters displayed in color may be stored.

[0065] In this way, the data for displaying the lyric data with colored singing technique symbols placed thereon can be either indirect data that is completed by combining multiple pieces of data, or data that displays lyrics with colored singing technique symbols placed thereon using only one piece of data.

[0066] In this way, singing technique symbols, each having a color corresponding to each singing technique, are attached to either or both of the front and back of the phonetic character to be sung using the singing technique symbol, and the phonetic character to which the singing technique symbol is attached is displayed in the same color as the singing technique symbol, thereby making it easy to recognize the singing technique symbol.

[0067] When changing colors dynamically as described above, the vocal technique symbols themselves may also be displayed dynamically as shown below. For example, in the example in Figure 8, the normal lyrics "Bokura wa Kitto Matteru" (We're definitely waiting) are displayed without any vocal technique symbols or color coding, and the vocal technique symbols "(Bo~) Kura wa~~V" are dynamically displayed and the color changes as the accompaniment progresses.

[0068] In this way, the color may be displayed dynamically a few seconds before the exact timing to vocalize. This is because, at the exact timing of vocalization or performance, the relationship between the lyrics and singing technique symbols to the right or ahead of the exact timing has already been recognized, and the brain is already in a state of preparation and waiting to vocalize.

[0069] The time (several seconds) displayed in color just before the exact timing for vocalization represents the time the brain spends preparing and waiting to vocalize. The waiting time varies depending on the tempo of the song, the singer's ability, and other factors. Therefore, it would be beneficial to make the time adjustable. For example, the default could be set to 0.5 seconds, and a bar for adjusting this could be displayed on the screen, allowing the user to extend the time to 1 second or shorten it to 0.2 seconds. In response to this instruction, the time just before the exact timing could be displayed in color.

[0070] Furthermore, as already explained, if a line break is always initiated at a breath mark, the color display may be applied to the line following the line at the exact timing.

[0071] (A5. Second embodiment) In the above embodiment, the case where Japanese kana characters, which are syllabic characters, are used as phonetic characters has been described, but the present invention can be applied to phonetic characters such as alphabets. Fig. 9A shows an example of colored display of lyrics displayed in alphabet form.

[0072] In addition, if the lyrics are in alphabetical order, each word is displayed as a unit. Therefore, each word can be displayed in color. Figure 9B shows an example of a display in which each word is displayed in color.

[0073] In this embodiment, when the operator selects one of the words in step 5 of Fig. 4, the entire word is designated as a range. This simplifies range specification. However, instead of this process, the operator may specify the range as in the first embodiment.

[0074] In this way, the phoneme characters are made up of words separated by spaces, and by displaying each word in a different color, singing technique symbols can be understood while keeping the words in mind.

[0075] Also, the selection is not made on a word-by-word basis, but a part of the word may be displayed in color. For example, only the part containing the accented vowel may be displayed in color as follows:

[0076] When the normal display mode is switched to the vowel highlighting display mode, accented vowels may be displayed in a different color or enlarged. Whether a word is a vowel or not can be determined, for example, by storing phonetic symbols for each word in a correspondence table, and when a word appears, determining whether the word contains an accented vowel by checking the phonetic symbols.

[0077] In this case, not only the accented vowels but all the vowels may be displayed in different colors all at once.

[0078] To switch between the normal display mode and the vowel-emphasized display mode, a switch button may be displayed on the screen of FIG. 5A so that the operator (trainer) can select the mode.

[0079] Also, instead of automatically changing the color of all the items at once, the items may be displayed as candidates and the operator (trainer) may decide on one.

[0080] Such processing allows for focused training on vowels or consonants.

[0081] Also, instead of using the table described above, an AI engine may be used to distinguish between vowels and consonants.

[0082] Also, since not all the letters that make up a word are displayed in different colors, it is possible to make it easier to visually understand only the pronunciation part.

[0083] In this way, when selecting by word, the operator can manually select only the relevant portion, or the entire word can be automatically selected. In this case, the color display is limited to the selected range in the former case, but the color display can be the entire word or part of it in the latter case. When automatically selecting an entire word with one click, for example, the system detects each character in front of the clicked character until a space is found, and then detects the preceding space. The same is done in the backward direction. The area between two spaces can be determined to be one word.

[0084] In this way, the method of selecting the range and / or determining the corresponding part when selected may be automatically switched depending on the language of the lyrics. Specifically, a word division flag indicating whether the lyrics data in Figure 3B is divided into words or not may be stored, and this flag may be read out to make the determination.

[0085] In this way, the ability to apply the above-described emphasis process to any character, such as a consonant, allows for more appropriate singing training. This is because appropriate emphasis of consonants contributes to improving the song's comprehensibility, rhythmic sense, emotional expression, and stylistic features. Therefore, how consonants are handled when singing has a significant impact on the overall impression and effect of the song.

[0086] (A6. Other Embodiments) In the above embodiment, some singing technique symbols are assigned not only after the character in question, but also before and after the character in question. For example, "spontaneous power" is an example. For the character "bo" shown in FIG. 8, the singing technique symbol [ ] indicating "spontaneous power" is assigned before and after the character "bo". By assigning symbols before and after in this way, two or more singing technique symbols can be assigned to some characters. For example, two singing technique symbols ("vibrato" and "spontaneous power") are assigned to the character "bo".

[0087] The following describes how to handle cases where multiple vocal symbols are applied to a single character. For example, as shown in Figure 10A, the lyrics "My eyes began to swell" are all enclosed in < >, which indicates the vocal symbol "falseto," and some words are also marked with the vocal symbols "vibrato" and "long tone."

[0088] In this embodiment, when multiple singing technique symbols are applied in the same way, the symbols that come before and after them (i.e., the singing technique symbols that come at the beginning and end) are displayed in a different color for that singing technique symbol only, and for the characters that follow, the other singing technique symbols "long tone" and "vibrato" are applied preferentially instead of the color that comes before it.

[0089] In this embodiment, the lyrics "began to," which do not contain overlapping singing technique symbols, are not displayed in different colors, but as a rule, they may be displayed in different colors using the color of the falsetto symbols.

[0090] In this way, when multiple singing technique symbols overlap, the priority (e.g., high priority, medium priority, low priority) can be stored in the singing technique symbol data shown in Figure 3A, and the CPU can make the decision as to which should be prioritized.

[0091] The priority may be determined based on the degree of difficulty. Singing technique symbols are roughly ranked in order of difficulty as follows:

[0092] "Breath", < "Breath requiring instantaneous power" < "Instantaneous power (impact)" < "Long tone" < "Vibrato" < "Fake" = (almost the same) "Falsetto" Furthermore, when multiple singing technique symbols are applied at the same time, for example, in the case of < [a] >, there are overlapping vocal parts (complex techniques) that require "spontaneity" and "impact" even while singing in falsetto, or when singing "fake" in falsetto, such as < ^a^ >, the difficulty level increases.

[0093] Furthermore, for syllabic characters (for example, Japanese kana characters), there are two types: a character that is a vowel only (for example, "a"), and a character that is a combination of a consonant and a vowel (for example, "ra"). In the latter case, when using the above-mentioned vowel color-coded display, a new vowel may be added and displayed in a color that is complementary to the color of the character immediately preceding it.

[0094] An example of such a display is shown in Figure 10C. In this figure, the character "bo" is displayed as the character "BO" in alphabetical order. Therefore, the character "O," which is the vowel part of the character, is added after the character "bo" and displayed in green, which is the complementary color of the red color of the preceding character "bo." This can be achieved by storing vowels for characters that are combinations of consonants and vowels in a correspondence table, and when displaying the characters in different colors, reading out the corresponding vowel and adding it after the character that is a combination of the consonant and vowel.

[0095] In this example, the vowels are displayed as alphabets, but they may be characters of the same kind (for example, the Japanese character "o" in this case).

[0096] Furthermore, when phoneme characters are displayed in different colors for each word, the vowels therein may be displayed in a color that is complementary to the color of the preceding character.

[0097] This method can be applied not only to adding vowels to Japanese, but also to alphabet lyrics.Whether or not to display in complementary colors can be determined by, for example, displaying a complementary color display button on the screen so that the trainer can specify the corresponding character, and when the corresponding character is selected, the setting can be memorized.

[0098] When determining the complementary color, the color to be the complementary color may be determined by also referring to the background color, which is not limited to, but may be white or black, or may be other colors.

[0099] For example, in this case, the complementary colors of the colors of each singing technique symbol and the background color may be stored in a correspondence table, and the complementary colors may be read out and displayed.

[0100] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the lyrics to which the singing technique symbols are assigned are displayed so that they can be recognized by sequentially displaying the corresponding phonetic characters in color as the accompaniment progresses. In addition, the display may be controlled so that the singing technique symbols are displayed larger. An example is shown in FIG. 11A. In this case, the word "stated" is displayed in an enlarged manner in accordance with the progression of the accompaniment. Note that in this example, if the word has a singing technique symbol assigned to it, the singing technique symbol is also displayed in an enlarged manner, but this is optional. In this way, when the corresponding singing symbol is to be uttered, the singing symbol is displayed in an enlarged manner, making it easier to recognize and understand the character to which the singing technique symbol is assigned.

[0101] In addition, in the examples of Figures 9A and B, individual words and parts of words are displayed in color, but when enlarging this, rather than enlarging individual words as in Figure 11A, it is also possible to enlarge parts of words in the same way as in Figure 9A, where parts of words are displayed in color.

[0102] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9B, in the case of English, it is possible to enlarge the image either by word or by part of a word.

[0103] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, all singing technique symbols are displayed in color, but some singing technique symbols may be displayed without coloring by changing the font size. For example, in the colored display of the above embodiment, the display is as shown in FIG. 11B. In contrast, characters to which the singing technique symbol "explosive power / impact" is assigned may be displayed larger than the other characters (for example, 1.5 times the font size) (FIG. 11C). In this example, the characters "a," "hi," "no~~," "ga~," "^ko^," and "ru???" are displayed in a large font size.

[0104] Furthermore, instead of enlarging the relevant portion, it may be possible to highlight the portion, etc. In this way, by highlighting the portion, it becomes easier for students of singing techniques to recognize the characters to which the singing technique symbols are attached.

[0105] Furthermore, such prominent display is not limited to the colored display of the first embodiment, but can also be applied to, for example, displaying singing techniques in black and white. When singing technique symbols are displayed on the screen in black and white, the corresponding lyrics and singing technique symbols may be displayed in color as prominent display.

[0106] It is preferable that the prominent display be slightly earlier than the timing at which lyrics are displayed in color on the karaoke machine.

[0107] The singing technique display device of this embodiment may be configured as follows: A singing technique display device comprising: a lyric data storage means with singing technique symbols arranged therein for storing lyric data displayed in phonetic characters and to which two or more types of singing technique symbols are assigned; an accompaniment data storage means for storing accompaniment data corresponding to the lyric data; a playback means for playing back the accompaniment data; and a display control means for displaying the lyric data on a display means, wherein the singing technique symbols are assigned either before or after or both of the phonetic characters sung using the singing technique symbols, and the display control means controls the display so that the corresponding phonetic characters and / or the singing technique symbols are dynamically and prominently displayed in accordance with the progress of the accompaniment, thereby making it easy to recognize the assigned singing technique symbols.

[0108] The operator may be allowed to specify whether or not to highlight such symbols, so that singing technique symbols that are difficult for each learner to master can be highlighted.

[0109] Furthermore, from the disclosure of this specification, the invention can also be understood as follows.

[0110] a lyrics data storage means for storing lyrics data represented in phonetic characters; a singing technique symbol storage means for storing two or more kinds of singing technique symbols, each having a different color corresponding to each singing technique; a singing technique symbol assigning means for assigning singing technique symbols to designated positions between phonetic characters in the lyrics data; a generating means for generating colored display specific data when the phonetic characters in the range to which the singing technique symbols are assigned are identified; A singing technique symbol-added lyric data generation device comprising: the colored display specification data is data for displaying the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned in the same color as the singing technique symbols; A device for generating lyrics cards with singing technique symbols, characterized by:

[0111] In this embodiment, all assigned singing technique symbols are displayed in color, but it is also possible to specify which singing technique symbols to hide or display, and for those singing technique symbols to hide, the corresponding phonetic characters are not displayed in color. This allows the display of singing techniques with varying difficulty levels depending on the student's singing technique.

[0112] In this case, the operator may select the singing technique symbols to be displayed to identify the singing technique symbols to be hidden, or may select only the singing technique symbols to be displayed to ultimately identify the singing technique symbols to be hidden.

[0113] In this case, when displaying each singing technique symbol, the operator may select which singing technique symbols to display or not.

[0114] Alternatively, instead of the operator selecting the symbols, the device may automatically identify them based on rules. For example, singing technique symbols may be assigned ranking flags such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced versions, and when the beginner version is selected, the singing technique symbols K1, K2, and K3 may be hidden, and when the intermediate version is selected, the singing technique symbols K1 and K3 may be hidden.

[0115] FIG. 12 shows a functional block diagram of a device 51 for generating lyrics cards with singing technique symbols.

[0116] The singing technique symbol-added lyric card generating device 51 includes a lyric data storage means 52, a singing technique symbol storage means 53, a singing technique symbol adding means 54, a generating means 55, and a result storage means 56.

[0117] The lyric data storage means 52 stores lyric data displayed in phonetic characters. The singing technique symbol storage means 53 stores two or more types of singing technique symbols, each assigned a different color for each singing technique. The singing technique symbol assignment means 54 allows the operator to identify the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols have been assigned. Once the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols have been assigned have been identified, the generation means 55 generates them as colored display specification data. The result storage means 56 stores the colored display specification data. This colored display specification data is data for displaying the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols have been assigned in the same color as the singing technique symbols. This makes it possible to generate a lyric card with singing technique symbols.

[0118] In the above embodiment, the functions shown in Fig. 1 are realized by software using the CPU 23. However, part or all of the functions may be realized by hardware such as a logic circuit. Note that part of the program processing may be performed by an operating system (OS).

[0119] A7 (Disclosure of invention in earlier application) (1) The singing technique display device of the present invention comprises a lyric data storage means for storing lyric data to which two or more types of singing technique symbols are assigned, and a display control means for reading the lyric data and displaying it on a display means. The lyric data is displayed as phonetic characters, and the singing technique symbols are assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique and are assigned either before or after, or both, the phonetic characters to be sung using the singing technique symbols. The display control means displays the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned in the same color as the singing technique symbols. In this way, displaying the characters and singing technique symbols in the same color makes it easier to recognize the singing technique symbols to be applied and their range. Therefore, singing techniques can be displayed intuitively and clearly.

[0120] (2) The singing technique display method of the present invention displays lyric data to which two or more types of singing technique symbols are assigned on a display medium, the lyric data being displayed as phonetic characters, the singing technique symbols being assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique, and being assigned either before or after, or both, the phonetic characters to be sung using the singing technique symbols, and the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned are displayed in the same color as the singing technique symbols. Displaying the characters and singing technique symbols in the same color in this way makes it easier to recognize the singing technique symbols to be applied and their range. This allows for intuitive and easy-to-understand display of singing techniques.

[0121] (3) The lyrics display medium with singing technique symbols according to the present invention displays lyrics data to which two or more types of singing technique symbols are assigned. The lyrics data is displayed in phonetic characters, and the singing technique symbols are assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique and are assigned either before or after, or both, the phonetic characters to be sung using the singing technique symbols. Phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned are displayed in the same color as the singing technique symbols. In this way, by displaying the characters and singing technique symbols in the same color, it is easy to recognize the singing technique symbols to be applied and their range. Therefore, singing techniques can be displayed intuitively and clearly.

[0122] (4) The device for generating lyrics cards with singing technique symbols according to the present invention includes a lyrics data storage means for storing lyrics data displayed in phonetic characters, a singing technique symbol storage means for storing two or more types of singing technique symbols, each of which is assigned a different color for each singing technique, a singing technique symbol assignment means for assigning singing technique symbols to specified positions between phonetic characters in the lyrics data, and a generation means for generating colored display data for phonetic characters within a range to which the singing technique symbols have been assigned. The colored display data is data for displaying the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols have been assigned in the same color as the singing technique symbols. This makes it possible to generate data that displays singing techniques in an intuitive and easy-to-understand manner.

[0123] (5) In the singing technique display device of the present invention, the phonetic characters are Japanese kana characters, which are syllabaries, and among the characters displayed in the same color as the singing technique symbols, characters that contain vowels in their pronunciation are additionally displayed. This makes it possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand that important vowels should be sung using the singing technique symbols.

[0124] (6) In the singing technique display device according to the present invention, the added vowel is displayed in a color complementary to the color of the character immediately preceding the vowel. This makes it easy to understand that the vowel has been added.

[0125] (7) In the singing technique display device of the present invention, the phonograms are phoneme characters, and the phoneme characters are composed of words separated by spaces, and are displayed in different colors for each word. This makes it possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand the correspondence between each word to which the singing technique symbol is assigned and the corresponding singing technique symbol.

[0126] (8) In the singing technique display device of the present invention, the phonograms are phoneme characters, and the phoneme characters are composed of words separated by spaces, and characters including vowels in the words are displayed in different colors. This makes it possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand the correspondence between important vowel parts in singing and their singing technique symbols.

[0127] (9) In the singing technique display device according to the present invention, the complementary color is determined by taking into account the background color. Therefore, even if the background color is changed, it is possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand the correspondence between the characters and the singing technique symbols.

[0128] (10) In the singing technique display device according to the present invention, the background color is white or black. Therefore, even when the background color is white or black, it is possible to provide a singing technique display device that makes it easy to understand the correspondence between the characters and the singing technique symbols.

[0129] (11) The singing technique display device of the present invention further comprises a specifying means for specifying which singing technique symbols are to be hidden from among the applied singing technique symbols, and the display control means does not display the singing technique symbols to be hidden, and does not display the corresponding phonetic characters in different colors. Therefore, since it is possible to switch between display and non-display, it is possible to provide a singing technique display device that is easy to understand.

[0130] (12) The singing technique display device according to the present invention further comprises accompaniment data storage means for storing accompaniment data corresponding to the lyric data, and playback means for playing back the accompaniment data, and the display control means controls the display so that the corresponding phonetic characters are displayed in color in sequence as the accompaniment progresses, allowing the lyrics to be recognized with the singing technique symbols. Therefore, a singing technique display device can be provided that makes it easy to grasp the corresponding phonetic characters as the accompaniment progresses.

[0131] (13) The singing technique display device according to the present invention further comprises accompaniment data storage means for storing accompaniment data corresponding to the lyric data, and playback means for playing back the accompaniment data, and the display control means controls the display so that the corresponding phonetic characters are displayed sequentially as the accompaniment progresses, allowing the lyrics to be recognized, and controls the display so that the singing technique characters at the singing positions are displayed large. Thus, a singing technique display device can be provided that makes it easy to understand the corresponding phonetic characters as the accompaniment progresses.

[0132] In addition, "identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden" refers to identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden in the embodiment, but also includes cases where only singing technique symbols to be displayed are identified, thereby identifying singing technique symbols to be hidden.

[0133] In the above embodiment, the functions shown in Fig. 1 are realized by software using the CPU 23. However, part or all of the functions may be realized by hardware such as a logic circuit. Note that part of the program processing may be performed by an operating system (OS).

[0134] B. Disclosure of the Invention FIG. 14 shows a functional block diagram of a lyrics data generating and displaying device 70 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0135] The lyric data generating and displaying device 70 includes a lyric data storage means 72, a singing support symbol storage means 73, a generation means 75, a singing symbol assignment means 74, a singing support symbol-placed lyric data storage means 76, a display control means 77, a display means 78, a playback means 79, and an accompaniment data storage means 81.

[0136] The lyric data storage means 72 stores lyric data. The singing support symbol storage means 73 stores singing support symbols that specify the range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing. When a singing support symbol assignment command to assign the singing support symbol to a specified position in the lyric data is given from the singing symbol assignment means 74, the generation means 75 generates singing support symbol-assigned lyric data in which the singing support symbol is assigned to the lyric data.

[0137] The singing support symbol-placed lyric data storage means 76 stores the generated singing support symbol-placed lyric data. The singing support symbol-placed lyric data is assigned singing support symbols to distinguish a range of notes that are uttered at the same pitch when sung from other groups. The display control means 77 reads out the singing support symbol-placed lyric data and displays the lyric data that specifies the range of notes that are uttered at the same pitch when sung on the display means 78. The accompaniment data storage means 81 stores accompaniment data corresponding to the lyric data. The playback means 79 plays back the accompaniment data.

[0138] This makes it possible to provide a lyrics data generating and displaying device that makes it easy to understand lyrics with the same pitch as the accompaniment progresses.

[0139] (B2. Hardware configuration of the singing technique display device 70) The hardware configuration of the lyrics data generating and displaying device 70 is almost the same as that of the singing technique displaying device 1, except for the main program 26 stored on the hard disk 26 and the data in the various storage units, which will be explained below.

[0140] The processing of the main program 26p will be described later.

[0141] The singing support symbol data storage section (not shown) of the hard disk 26 stores the data shown in Fig. 15. Fig. 15A shows the singing support symbol data. In this case, a pitch range indication symbol is stored as the singing support symbol data to indicate that pitch changes when the block changes. In this embodiment, the block is indicated by an underline, but this is not limiting.

[0142] In addition, the "lyric data to which singing technique symbols and singing support symbols (hereinafter collectively referred to as singing symbols) have been added" created in this embodiment is stored in a singing symbol-placed lyric data storage section (not shown) of the hard disk 26.

[0143] An example of lyrics data in this embodiment is shown in Fig. 15B. Unlike Fig. 3B, musical score lyrics data is stored. Music score lyrics data refers to data in which lyrics are displayed in correspondence with musical notes below a musical score, as shown in Fig. 16.

[0144] (B3. Processing when adding singing support symbols) 17 shows a flowchart of the vocal support symbol assignment process. In this embodiment, an example is described in which both vocal support symbols and vocal technique symbols are assigned. This process is also performed by a vocal trainer or other operator who understands the vocal technique and vocal support symbols used by the performer in the song.

[0145] Steps S41 to S49 in Figure 17 are the same as steps S1 to S9 in Figure 4. Furthermore, steps S51 and S53 in Figure 17 are the same as steps S11 and S13 in Figure 4.

[0146] In this embodiment, when the lyrics selection process is performed, a screen for adding singing support symbols (hereinafter referred to as the support symbol adding screen) is displayed on the monitor 30 in step S43. An example of the adding screen is shown in FIG. 18A. The support symbol adding screen has a display field 152 for musical score lyrics data above a lyrics display field 151. In addition, an icon "fake" for a singing technique symbol selected by the user is added, and an icon 155K for adding singing support symbols is also displayed.

[0147] The explanation of how to assign and display singing technique symbols (steps S47 and S49 in FIG. 17) will be omitted.

[0148] The operator selects a singing support symbol and specifies a range. In this case, the character "na" is the only character in the range that has the same pitch as the first character "na" of the characters "na," "i," and "te" that make up the lyrics. Therefore, icon 155K is selected, and the character "na" is also selected. CPU 23 determines whether a singing support symbol has been selected and a range has been specified (step S61). If a singing support symbol has been selected and a range has been specified, CPU 23 determines whether the singing technique symbol "fake" is included in the selected range (step S62). The processing of step S62 will be described later. In this case, the singing technique symbol "fake" is not included in the selected range, so CPU 23 assigns a singing support symbol to the selected range for the lyrics (step S64). In this case, an underline is displayed under the character "na." FIG. 18B shows an example in which an underline is displayed under the character "na."

[0149] The CPU 23 repeats the processing from step S45 to step S64 in FIG. 17 until an end command is issued.

[0150] As a result, the lyrics data in which the singing technique symbols and singing support symbols are arranged is displayed in the display field 151, as shown in FIG. 19A.

[0151] In Figure 19A, the singing technique symbols "white brackets" indicate "very soft and delicate vocalization" or "special expressions not limited to pitch." For example, the "naa" and "itea" parts are "parts that, from the vocal trainer's perspective, need to be sung more delicately than other parts (the accompaniment also subdues the impact of these parts)," while the following "ra?" and "tte?" parts should be sung with more impact, building up excitement towards the ending of the song. This is shown from the vocal trainer's perspective, considering the relative positions within the song.

[0152] When the operator has completed the placement of all singing technique symbols and singing support symbols, he / she clicks on the end icon 159 in Fig. 5A. This causes the CPU 23 to determine that an end command has been issued (step S51), and stores the lyric data in which the singing technique symbols and singing support symbols have been placed as singing symbol-placed lyric data in a singing symbol-placed lyric data storage unit (not shown) (step S53).

[0153] In this embodiment, the data format of the lyrics data with singing symbols placed on it is such that each block can be identified by separating it with a " / " as shown in Figure 19B, but this is not limited to this, and for example, it may be enclosed before and after with the tag "u".

[0154] The processing performed in step S62 of Figure 17 when a fake is present will now be described. The character "ru" in the lyrics "As if I were holding you" in the second half of the third measure of Figure 16 has the same pitch as the preceding character "me" on the musical score. However, suppose the performer fakes the character "ru" (in this case, by slightly raising and lowering the note of the main melody). Therefore, the vocal trainer who hears this assigns the singing technique symbols "long tone" and "fake" to the character "ru" after the character "me," and also marks the character "ru" as part of the selected range to indicate that the pitch is different from that of the preceding character.

[0155] The CPU 23 determines whether the singing technique symbol "fake" exists in the character "ru" in the selected range (step S62), and if it does exist, it also assigns a singing support symbol to "^^" which indicates the singing technique symbol "fake" (step S63).

[0156] As a result, as shown in FIG. 19A, the character "ru" is given a long tone and a fake tone, and can be recognized as a different block from the characters "me" before and after it, even though they have the same sound on the musical score.

[0157] It should be noted that the processes in steps S62 and S63 may not be performed by a computer system, but may be manually input by an operator.

[0158] In this way, lyrics data can be created in which singing technique symbols and singing support symbols are placed at positions intended by the operator.

[0159] Note that an "i" is added before the character "me" in "dakishimeru" (to embrace) on the fifth line of Figure 19A. This symbol was added by the vocal trainer after listening to the performer distinguish the consonant and vowel parts of the previous character "shi" and combine the vowel part with the next character "me" when singing. The vowel can be entered by selecting an icon (not shown) or by inputting it from a keyboard.

[0160] The display process for lyrics data in which singing technique symbols and singing support symbols are arranged (lyrics data with singing symbols arranged) will be described with reference to Fig. 20. This display process is almost the same as Fig. 7. The following description will omit the same points.

[0161] When the lyric selection process is executed (step S61 in FIG. 20), the CPU 23 reads out the corresponding lyric data with singing symbols placed thereon from the lyric data with singing symbols placed thereon storage unit, and displays it so that groups of notes with the same pitch can be easily identified (step S63). In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19A, the groups are separated by underlines. As a result, the lyric data with singing symbols placed thereon is displayed on the monitor 30 (see FIG. 2).

[0162] A play button (not shown) is displayed on the screen, and when the operator clicks the play button, the CPU 23 determines that a play command has been issued (YES in step S65 of FIG. 20), reads the accompaniment data for the lyrics data from the lyrics data storage unit 26d (step S67), and resets the display (step S69).

[0163] The CPU 23 starts playing back the accompaniment data (step S71), and displays singing symbols and lyrics data in accordance with the progress of the accompaniment data (step S73).

[0164] In this way, singing technique symbols and singing support symbols can be dynamically added to the corresponding lyrics as the lyrics progress, making it easier for students receiving vocal training to understand which letters in the lyrics should be sung with which singing technique and singing support symbols.

[0165] In this embodiment, the case of black and white display has been described, but the singing technique symbols may be displayed in color as in the above embodiment. The display process for the lyrics data with singing technique symbols arranged therein is the same as that shown in FIG.

[0166] Fig. 21 shows a display example of another song to which singing technique symbols and singing support symbols have been added. Fig. 21A shows musical score lyric data, and is singing symbol-added lyric data to which singing technique symbols and singing support symbols have been added for such lyrics. In this example, the vowel "e" is added after the character "ne" in the characters "a," "sa," and "ne" in the second line, and the singing technique symbol "fake" is added, with the vowel "e" underlined as a single block, and a different underline is also displayed below the singing technique symbol "fake" as a separate block from the character "e." The same is true for the character "ru" in the characters "su" and "ru" that follow.

[0167] In the above embodiment, the case where Japanese kana characters, which are syllabaries, are used as phonograms has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to phonemic characters such as the alphabet. FIG. 22A shows musical score lyric data for the alphabet. In this musical score lyric data, "All," "at," and "once" correspond to the quarter note "re," the eighth note "do," and the eighth note "re," respectively, and the three words are displayed below each note. Because the pitches of the three words are different, they should be written as "All at once" so that each word is recognized as a single block, as shown in FIG. 22B. However, performers actually pronounce the words "All" and "at" as a liason, resulting in "All at." Furthermore, the pitch of the "A" in "All" is different. Therefore, the words "All" and "at" are liasoned together, resulting in three blocks, "A," "-ll at," and "once," as shown in FIG. 22C. Regarding the liaison notation, the following "took a" is similarly expressed as two chunks, "too" and "ka."

[0168] (B4. Other Embodiments) In Figure 22C, it may be unclear what range of pitches the liaisoned words share. Therefore, it may be possible to write it as follows:

[0169] Figure 23A shows the musical score for the lyric "over the rainbow" from the song "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW." As you can see, the strings "o," "ver," and "the" are each underlined. This is because the strings "o," "ver," and "the" have all been input as having different pitches. In actual vocalization, the strings "ver" and "the" are sung in liaison (concatenated in this case).

[0170] When the pitches are different but the words are liaisoned, an additional underline is added to indicate that the utterance is made in that way. In this way, by using two underlines, one to indicate the word and one to indicate that the pitches are in the same range, it is possible to show that the utterance is made in liaison even though the pitches are different.

[0171] When storing such double-underlined data, the range can be specified by the reasson tag "Li," as shown in Figure 18C. In this case, "ver" and "the" are enclosed in reasson tags, indicating that the two are reassoned.

[0172] As such a notation method, notations such as those shown in Figures 23D and 23E are also possible. That is, the entire pitch information + liaison portion can be underlined, or the pitch information + liaison portion can be underlined from the last character of the pitch information + liaison portion to the end of the liaison portion, or the pitch information + liaison portion can be underlined from the last character of the pitch information + liaison portion to the first character of the next word.

[0173] In this way, in this embodiment, the lyrics are not as difficult to read as the lyric score data, and singing technique and pitch differences can be easily understood from the symbols added to the lyrics alone. Also, the display space as long as that of the lyric score data is not required.

[0174] In this embodiment, the musical score and lyrics data is displayed in the display field 152 shown in FIG. 18A, but the display of the musical score and lyrics data may be omitted.

[0175] Also, it may be possible to display them in combination with the colored display disclosed in the previous application. Figure 24 shows an example of lyrics data with singing symbols arranged in which singing technique symbols are further displayed in color in addition to the lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged as shown in Figure 19A.

[0176] Figure 25A shows an example of lyric data with singing technique symbols placed in it, as per the previous application, displayed in color. Figure 25B shows an example of lyric data with singing symbol placement to which singing support symbols have been added. Even if there are many symbols, such as singing technique symbols and singing support symbols, the display can be made intuitively easy to read by using color.

[0177] In the above example, the liaison portion is indicated by a double line, but this is not limiting and the portion may be enclosed in a square frame, or may be indicated in a different color. For such input, an icon for adding a liaison symbol is displayed on the support symbol assignment screen in FIG. 18A, and when the icon is selected, the selected range is indicated by the double underline.

[0178] In this embodiment, whether or not the pitches are the same is determined based on the musical score, but the vocal trainer may also determine this by listening to the performer's singing without the musical score.

[0179] In this embodiment, the device has been described as generating and displaying lyric data to which singing support symbols and singing technique symbols have been added, but it may also be configured as a device that generates and displays lyric data to which singing support symbols have been added.Furthermore, it may also be configured as a device for generating lyric data to which singing support symbols have been added, or a device for displaying lyric data to which singing support symbols have been added.

[0180] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the case has been described where the display format of the lyric data with singing symbols placed thereon stored on the hard disk 26 is not exactly the same as that of the lyric data displayed on the screen or display medium, but the lyric data displayed on the screen or display medium may be displayed in its original form.

Claims

1. a lyrics data storage means for storing lyrics data; a singing support symbol storage means for storing singing support symbols that specify a range in which the same pitch is uttered when singing; a generating means for generating lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein by arranging the singing support symbols in the lyrics data; a storage means for storing the generated lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein; a display control means for reading the lyrics data with the singing support symbols arranged therein and displaying on a display means lyrics data specifying a range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing; A lyric data generating and displaying device comprising: The lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein includes singing support symbols arranged therein for distinguishing a range of vocalizations at the same pitch when sung from other groups. A lyric data generating and displaying device characterized by the above.

2. a lyrics data storage means for storing lyrics data; a singing support symbol storage means for storing singing support symbols that specify a range in which the same pitch is uttered when singing; a generating means for generating lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein by adding the singing support symbols to the lyrics data; A lyric data generating device comprising: when a singing support symbol assigning command for assigning the singing support symbols to designated positions in the lyrics data is given from the singing symbol assigning means, the generating means generates lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged therein, for recognizing a range in which the singing support symbols are uttered at the same pitch when sung as one group, and distinguishing it from other groups; A lyrics data generating device comprising:

3. a singing support symbol-placed lyric data storage means for storing singing support symbol-placed lyric data in which singing support symbols are added to lyric data to specify a range in which the same pitch is to be uttered when singing; a display control means for reading the lyrics data with the singing support symbols arranged therein and displaying the lyrics data on a display means; A lyric data display device comprising: The displayed lyric data is displayed so that a range of vocalizations at the same pitch can be recognized as one group and distinguished from other groups. A lyric data display device characterized by

4. A lyric data display method for storing lyric data with singing support symbols added thereto, the singing support symbols being used to specify a range of vocalizations that are to be performed at the same pitch when sung, and then reading and displaying the lyric data, The displayed lyric data is displayed so that a range of vocalizations at the same pitch can be recognized as one group and distinguished from other groups. A lyric data display method comprising:

5. A lyrics data display medium that displays lyrics data to which singing support symbols are assigned, the singing support symbols specifying a range of vocalizations at the same pitch when sung, as lyrics data with singing support symbols arranged thereon, The lyrics data is displayed as group recognition lyrics data that can be distinguished from other groups by using singing support symbols that specify the range of vocalizations at the same pitch when singing. A lyric data display medium with singing symbols arranged therein.

6. 2. The lyric data generating and displaying device according to claim 1, The lyrics data with singing support symbols further includes two or more types of singing technique symbols, the generating means, when the singing technique symbol is fake, writes the singing technique symbol before and after the corresponding character and generates display data that can be distinguished as separate blocks; A lyric data generating and displaying device characterized by the above.

7. 7. The lyric data generating and displaying device according to claim 6, The lyrics data is displayed in phonetic characters, The singing technique symbols are assigned colors corresponding to each singing technique, and are attached either before or after the phonetic characters to be sung using the singing technique symbols, or both. the generating means displays the phonetic characters to which the singing technique symbols are assigned in the same color as the singing technique symbols; A lyric data generating and displaying device characterized by the above.

8. 2. The lyric data generating and displaying device according to claim 1, The group recognition lyric data is divided by underlines so that each group can be distinguished from another group and recognized. A lyric data generating and displaying device characterized by the above.

9. 2. The lyric data generating and displaying device according to claim 1, the lyrics data is an alphabet of phonetic characters, The singing support symbol-placed lyrics data further includes a liaison unit notation indicating a liaison unit. A lyric data generating and displaying device characterized by the above.

Images