A_tags

Simulated musical rainmaker
2010-03-30 00:00:00
AbstractA lightweight, disposable musical toy for school-age children with a long brush-like baffle inserted into the casing that creates the sound of rain as particulate material flows through the baffle. Visual and aural enhancements include a brightly colored coveting, a molded covering of plants and animals from the rainforest, a clear casing through which the viewer sees the particulate material flowing through the baffle, and one or ...

Musical tone synthesizing apparatus utilizing an all-pass filter having a variable fractional delay
2010-03-29 00:00:00
AbstractThe musical tone synthesizing apparatus is mainly configured by a closed loop which at least provides a delay circuit and an all-pass filter. The delay circuit delays an input signal (e.g., excitation wave signal) by a first delay time corresponding to a certain integral number of sampling periods. The all-pass filter functions to at least delay an output of the delay circuit by a second delay time corresponding to a decimal fraction of the sampling period, so that an output of the all-pass filter is fed back to the delay circuit. The whole delay time of the closed loop consists of the first and second delay times which can be respectively controlled. Thus, a musical tone signal representing a synthesized musical tone (e.g., an attenuating sound which is produced from an percussion instrument) is picked up from the closed loop. Incidentally, the whole configuration of the closed loop can be embodied by a digital signal processor (DSP).Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus comprising:

first delay means for delaying an input signal by a first delay time corresponding to an integral number of a sampling period;

second delay means for delaying an output of said first delay means by a second delay time corresponding to a decimal fraction of said sampling period, said first delay means and said second delay means being connected together in a closed loop so that an output of said second delay means is fed back to said first delay means;

delay calculating means for calculating a total delay amount applied to said closed loop, said total delay amount comprising an integral-part delay time and a decimal-part delay time, said integral-part delay time corresponding to said first delay time and said decimal-part delay time corresponding to said second delay time; and

control means for controlling said integral-part delay time and said decimal-part delay time in an interrelated manner to minimize discontinuity in an output of said second delay means, whereby a musical tone signal representing a synthesized musical tone is output from said closed loop.

2. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said second delay means is a all-pass filter which acts upon a filter coefficient supplied thereto, while said control means produces and supplies said filter coefficient to said all-pass filter such that a delay operation corresponding to said second delay time can be carried out by said all-pass filter.

3. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means controls said decimal-part delay time to be approximately equal to zero when said control means controls said integral-part delay time to be increased, while said control means controls said decimal-part delay time to correspond to one sampling period when said control means controls said integral-part delay time to be decreased.

4. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus comprising:

delay means for delaying an input signal by a first delay time corresponding to a certain integral number of sampling periods;

an all-pass filter for receiving an output of said delay means and for delaying said output by a second delay time corresponding to a decimal fraction of said sampling period in response to a filter coefficient supplied thereto, said delay means and said all-pass filter being connected together in a closed loop so that an output of said all-pass filter is fed back to said delay means;

delay calculating means for calculating a whole delay amount applied to said closed loop, said whole delay amount consisting of an integral-part delay time and a decimal-part delay time, said integral-part delay time corresponding to said first delay time, while said decimal-part delay time corresponds to said second delay time;

control means for controlling said integral-part delay time which is applied to said delay means as said first delay time and said filter coefficient such that said first and second delay times are controlled in an interrelated manner to minimize a discontinuity in an output of said all-pass filter; and

an interpolation means for performing an interpolation operation on said filter coefficient in response to a variation of said integral-part delay time controlled by said control means, whereby a musical tone signal representing a synthesized musical tone is obtained from said closed loop.

5. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus comprising:

excitation wave producing means for producing an excitation wave signal;

an adder for receiving said excitation wave signal;

delay means for receiving an output of said adder so as to delay it by a first delay time which corresponds to an integral number of sampling periods;

an all-pass filter, responsive to a filter coefficient supplied thereto so as to at least delay an output of said delay means by a second delay time which corresponds to a decimal fraction of said sampling period;

a low-pass filter for performing a low-pass filtering operation on an output of said all-pass filter;

a multiplier for multiplying an output of said low-pass filter by a loop gain supplied thereto, wherein said adder, said delay means, said all-pass filter, said low-pass filter and said multiplier are connected together to form a closed loop so that an output of said multiplier is fed back to said adder in which it is added to said excitation wave signal; and

a delay control means for controlling said first delay time and said second delay time, respectively, in an interrelated manner to minimize discontinuity in said output of said all-pass filter, whereby a musical tone signal representing a synthesized musical tone is obtained from said output of said adder, while a tone pitch of said musical tone is continuously controlled by said control means.

6. A musical tone synthesizing apparatus comprising:

a signal producing portion for producing a signal;

a loop-circuit portion connected with said signal producing p...

Method and apparatus for representing musical information
2010-03-26 00:00:00
AbstractA method for electronically processing and storing musical information involves separating the musical information into a plurality of segments, each representing some portion of a measure, and assigning a sequential time dimension value to each segment. The musical information is also separated into plurality of channels, with each channel representing a sound source and having a sound dimension value assigned to it. The musical information for a given channel and segment is stored in a memory array by associating the musical information corresponding to a given channel and segment with the memory array node specified by the time dimension value and sound dimension value assigned to the given channel and segment.ClaimsI claim:

1. An apparatus for electronically storing and processing music information comprising:

means for receiving electronic signals representing a time-ordered sequence of notes and rests in musical composition to be performed by one or more sound sources;

means for identifying in said electronic signals the pitch of each note and the duration of each note and rest and means for assigning each note and rest to a first measure and succeeding sequentially ordered measures; and

means for storing an electronic representation of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest in a computer memory array comprised of a two dimensional framework of storage nodes, each storage node being associated with a unique one of said first and succeeding measures and a unique one of said one or more sound sources.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the pitch of each note is expressed as a base value and a displacement from said base value.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the duration of each note and each rest is expressed as one or more beat units said beat unit being a specified absolute time interval.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for storing an electronic representation of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest is a digital computer memory having a field format that is the same for each note.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4 wherein sid field format comprises:

a comparator field for defining a sequential position;

a tag field for differentiating various acoustic or graphic attributes associated with a note, a rest, or a musical composition; and

a data field containing encoded data expressing one or more of said attributes or a pointer leading to one or more of said attributes.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said memory array has at least one additional dimension implemented by vectors associated with one or more of said storage nodes, with said vectors containing additional electronic representations specifying graphical representations of textual, interpretive, pitch or duration attributes associated with the notes in the storage node associated with said vector.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

means for retrieving the electronic representations of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest from said memory array;

means for translating all of the retrieved electronic representations stored in each storage node associated with a single sound source into a graphical representation of a musical staff with notes and rests; and

means for placing in the graphical representation of a musical staff, measure markers that demarcate the notes associated with the first and succeeding measures as indicated by the storage mode at which each note and rest is stored.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

means for retrieving said electronic representations of the pitch and duration of each note and the duration of each rest from said memory array, starting with the notes in the storage node corresponding to the first measures stored in said memory array for each sound source and continuing sequentially for notes in the storage nodes corresponding to the second and succeeding measures in said memory array; and

means for translating the retrieved electronic representations into electronic output signals to at least one sound source, starting with the first note in any measure of the storage node corresponding to the first measures stored in said memory for each sound source and joining with said first note any notes to be performed at the same time, then continuing with the next succeeding note and any notes to be performed in said first measure and further continuing with the notes in measures of the storage node corresponding to the second and succeeding measures at the same time.

9. A method for electronically processing and storing musical information using a programmable data processing system, the steps comprising:

providing the programmable data processing system with a plurality of data signals representing musical information; and

using the programmable data processing system to perform the steps of:

separating the musical information into a plurality of segments, each segment representing some portion of a measure;

assigning a sequential time dimension value to each segment;

separating the musical information into a plurality of channels, each channel representing a sound source;

assigning a sound dimension value to each channel; and

storing the musical information for a given channel and segment by associating the musical information corresponding to a given channel and segment with the time dimension value and sound dimension value assigned to the given channel and segment.

10. A music processing apparatus for representing musical information comprising:

means for selectively inputting musical information;

programmable data processing means operably connected to the means for selectively inputting musical information for electronically representing, storin...

Music search by interactive graphical specification with audio feedback
2010-03-25 00:00:00
AbstractA method and system for creating a musical query are disclosed that graphically generate a musical segment that represents a portion of a desired piece of music. Audio feedback is provided to a user by playing the musical segment. Then, a musical query is generated based on the musical segment. Optionally, the graphical generation the musical segment and audio feedback steps can be repeated until the user acknowledges the musical segment is acceptable. Then, after the user has acknowledged the musical segment is acceptable, the musical query is generated.Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of creating a musical query comprising:

graphically generating a musical segment that represents a portion of a desired piece of music;

providing audio feedback to a user by playing at least a portion of the generated musical segment;

generating a musical query based on the generated musical segment;

retrieving at least one music piece from a music database based on the generated musical query;

selecting at least a portion of one of the retrieved music pieces;

creating a graphical representation of the selected music portion; and

generating a second musical query based on the created graphical representation of the selected music portion.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

synthesizing the musical segment prior to the step of providing the audio feedback.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

repeating the step of graphically generating the musical segment and the step of providing audio feedback, until the musical segment has been acknowledged as acceptable; and

wherein the step of generating the musical query based on the graphically generated musical segment is performed after the musical segment has been acknowledged as acceptable.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

displaying a list containing the retrieved music pieces;

selecting at least one of the retrieved music pieces; and

playing the selected at least one of the retrieved music pieces to the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the musical query is in a string format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the musical query is in a MIDI format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the musical query is in an audio format.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a software program accessible by a graphical interface for graphically generating the musical segment via a web browser over a network.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

modifying the musical segment produced during the step of graphically generating in response to user inputs to change characteristics of the musical segment.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

replacing the generated musical segment with the created graphical representation of the selected music portion,

graphically adjusting the replaced generated musical segment; and

providing audio feedback to a user by playing at least a portion of the adjusted generated musical segment.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

repeating the step of graphically adjusting the replaced generated musical segment and the step of providing audio feedback from the adjusted generated musical segment, until the adjusted generated musical segment has been acknowledged as acceptable; and

wherein the step of generating the second musical query is performed after the adjusted generated musical segment has been acknowledged as acceptable.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

graphically adjusting the replaced generated musical segment in response to user inputs to change characteristics of the musical segment.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the generat...

Method and apparatus for generating musical tone waveforms by user input of sample waveform frequency
2010-03-24 00:00:00
AbstractA method and apparatus for generating musical tones are provided. Musical tones are generated based on musical tone waveform samples generated through a plurality of channels, and performance information is input. Control information is input depending on an amount of operation of an operating element operated by a user. Musical tone waveform samples are generated for each of the channels corresponding to the performance information input within a predetermined time period, in a number corresponding to the input control information, whenever the predetermined time period elapses. Musical tones are generated based on the generated musical tone waveform samples.Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of generating musical tones which is executed on a computer, comprising:

a performance information receiving step of receiving performance information which designates a pitch of each of the musical tones to be generated;

a control information receiving step of receiving control information;

a generating step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals, a musical tone waveform calculation in response to the received performance information, for generating a plurality of musical tone waveform samples for each of a plurality of channels, wherein the predetermined time intervals are longer than a sampling cycle of the musical tone waveform samples, each of the musical tone waveform samples generated has the pitch designated by said performance information, and the number of said waveform sample generated is controlled by said control information; and

a reproducing step of playing back said musical tone waveform samples generated by said generating step.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the received control information is input based on an input operation by a user.

3. A method of generating musical tones which is executed on a computer, comprising:

a receiving step of receiving a plurality of pieces of performance information corresponding respectively to a plurality of performance parts, wherein the received performance information designates a pitch of each of the musical tones to be generated;

a generating step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals, a musical tone waveform calculation in response to the received performance information, for generating a plurality of musical tone waveform samples corresponding to said plurality of performance parts, wherein the predetermined time intervals are longer than a sampling cycle of the musical tone waveform samples, each of the musical tone waveform samples generated has the pitch designated by said performance information, and a sampling frequency of the musical tone waveform samples generated corresponding to at least one of said plurality of performance parts is different from the sampling frequency of the musical tone waveform samples generated corresponding to the other performance parts; and

a reproducing step of playing back said musical tone waveform samples generated by said generating step.

4. A method of generating musical tones which is executed on a computer, comprising:

a first receiving step of receiving a plurality of pieces of performance information for commanding to generate musical tones;

a second receiving step of receiving limitation information defining a maximum number of channels for generating tones;

a generating step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals longer than a sampling cycle, a musical tone waveform calculation of a plurality of sounding channels which said performance information has commanded to generate tones, for generating a plurality of musical tone waveform samples in said plurality of sounding channels, wherein when said performance information commands to start generation of a new tone, one new sounding channel is added to said plurality of sounding channels, and when the tone generation in one of said plurality of sounding channels is finished, said one of said plurality of sounding channels is removed from said plurality of sounding channels; and

a reproduction step of outputting said plurality of musical tone waveform samples, sample by sample, every sampling cycle;

wherein said generating step generates said musical tone waveform samples by said musical tone waveform calculation in a manner such that a maximum number of said plurality of sounding channels is limited in accordance with said limitation information by inhibiting said musical tone waveform calculation for some of said plurality of sounding channels when a total number of said sounding channels exceeds the maximum number defined by said limitation information.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the received limitation information is input based on a setting operation by a user.

6. A method of generating musical tones which is executed on a computer, comprising:

a first receiving step of receiving a plurality of pieces of performance information for commanding to generate musical tones;

a second receiving step of receiving limitation information defining a maximum amount of processing capacity of a processor of the computer which can be employed for tone generation;

a generating step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals longer than a sampling cycle, a musical tone waveform calculation of a plurality of sounding channels which said performance information has commanded to generate tones, for generating a plurality of musical tone waveform samples in said plurality of sounding channels, wherein when said performance information commands to start generation of a new tone, one new sounding channel is added to said plurality of sounding channels, and when the tone generation in one of said plurality of sounding channels is finished, said one of said plurality of sounding channels is removed from said plurality of sounding channels; and

a reproduction step of outputting said plurality of musical tone waveform samples, sample by sample, every sampling cycle;

wherein said generating step g...

Graphic/tactile musical keyboard and nomographic music notation
2010-03-23 00:00:00
AbstractA graphic/tactile musical instruction system includes a three-row equal temperament whole tone graphic/tactile keyboard and a nomographic system of music notation. In a first embodiment of the keyboard, an upper row of keys produces the notes C.sup.# /Db, D.sup.# /Eb, F, G, A and B, with the C.sup.# /Db and D.sup.# /Eb keys being extended forward. The upper row keys are narrower in the highest octaves. The middle row produces the notes C, D, E, F.sup.# /Gb, G.sup.# /Ab and A.sup.# /Bb, with the F.sup.# /Gb, G.sup.# /Ab, and A.sup.# /Bb keys extended forward. The lower row keys are aligned with and play the same notes as the upper row keys. In a second embodiment of the keyboard, the upper row keys are narrower in the upper octaves. The F and G upper row keys have raised top surfaces, extended and beveled front ends, and darkened surfaces. The middle row C keys have extended and beveled front ends, raised top surfaces, and darkened surfaces. The lower row F and G keys are raised and darkened.The nomographic notation is correlated to the keyboard by nomographically marking the lines and spaces of the stave adjacent the key signature and similarly graphically marking the notes played on the upper or lower row with a diagonal slant " ".ClaimsI claim:

1. A graphic/tactile musical instruction system, comprising:

tone producing means for producing a musical note in response to the actuation of a selected key of a keyboard;

a graphic/tactile keyboard wherein actuation of any two adjacent keys within a single row causes the tone producing means to produce two musical notes separated by a whole tone, and actuation of any two adjoining keys in adjacent rows produces two musical notes separated by a half-tone, the keyboard having:

an upper row of keys positioned relatively farther away from the player, the upper row keys producing the notes C鈾?/D鈾? D鈾?/E鈾? F, G, A and B, wherein adjacent upper row keys are separated by a gap, and wherein selected upper row keys are graphically and tactilely differentiated from the remaining upper row keys, the upper row keys in a predetermined one or more highest octaval groupings being narrower than the upper row keys in octaval groupings below said narrower keys;

a middle row of keys positioned lower and relatively closer to the player than the upper row, the middle row keys producing the notes C, D, E, F鈾?/G鈾? G鈾?/A鈾?and A鈾?/B鈾? wherein a longitudinal centerline of each middle row key is parallel to and laterally offset from the longitudinal centerline of an adjacent upper row key, and wherein the middle row keys have a uniform width approximately equal to the width of any selected one of the upper row keys plus the width of the gap separating the upper row key from an adjacent upper row key, and wherein selected middle row keys are graphically and tactilely differentiated from the remaining middle row keys; and

a lower row of keys positioned lower and relatively closer to the player than the middle row, wherein the longitudinal centerline of each of said lower row keys is aligned with the longitudinal centerline of a corresponding upper row key which produces the same note as said lower row key, wherein said lower row keys have a uniform width equal to the uniform width of the middle row keys, and wherein the frontmost ends of all said lower row keys are coplanar; and

a nomographic music notation system comprising musical notation wherein notes to be played on one row of the keyboard are graphically marked while notes to be played on another row of the keyboard are unmarked, said notation system, in addition to conventional key signature symbols, including in the key signature area nomographic symbols indicating the lines and spaces on which said graphically marked notes occur.

2. A musical instruction system according to claim 1, wherein the graphic markings on certain notes and the nomographic markings in the key signature are alike.

3. The musical instruction system of claim 1, wherein notes are marked with a diagonal slant " " through the body of the note.

4. The musical instruction system of claim 1, wherein the upper row C鈾?/D鈾?and D鈾?/E鈾?keys are graphically and tactilely differenti...

Suspension of musical instruments
2010-03-20 00:00:00
AbstractA three-point harness for suspending a musical instrument, such as a guitar, about the body of a musician, with a first connector for attaching the harness to one attachment point on the instrument, a second connector for attaching the harness to another attachment point on the instrument, and a third connector between the first and second connectors, attached to the instrument for limiting the extent to which the instrument can be displaced from the harness.Claims

What is claimed:

1. A harness for the suspension of a musical instrument, which includes a plurality of attachment points, comprising

suspension means;

means for attaching said suspension means to one of said attachment points of said instrument;

means for attaching said suspension means to another one of said attachment points of said instrument;

means for attaching said suspension means to still another one of said attachment points of said instrument;

the attachment of said suspension means to said instrument limiting the extent to which said suspension means can be displaced from said instrument.

2. A harness as defined in claim 1 wherein said instrument is a guitar having said plurality of attachment points, and said suspension means is attached to said guitar at three separated ones of said attachment points.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said suspension means comprises

a main strap with a first end including said means for attaching said suspension means to said one of said attachment points, and a second end including said means for attaching said suspension means to said another of said attachment points and a secondary strap with a first end including said means for attaching said suspension means to said still another of said attachment points, and a second end including means for attachment to said main strap at a position intermediate said first and said second ends of said main strap.

4. A harness as defined in claim 1 wherein said suspension means comprises

first, second and third straps, each having first and second ends, with the first ends conjoined and the second ends connected separately to said attachment points on said instrument.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 further including a ring having a circumference and said suspension means comprises first, second and third straps, each having first and second ends;

said first ends containing means for looping about and securing to said circumference of said ring; and

said second ends being connected to attachment points on said instrument.

6. A harness as defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said means for attaching said ...

Hand-held percussion musical instrument comprising elongate tube shaped as a ring, incorporating dividers, and incoporating contained sound-generating elements
2010-03-18 00:00:00
AbstractDisclosed is a hand-held percussion musical instrument in the form of a rigid tubular ring, which includes a plurality of elongate hollow tubes, the tubes having rigid tubular walls and opposite end walls defining closed hollow tube interiors. Steel shot is loosely contained within the hollow interiors of the tubes, whereby the ring may be hand manipulated to cause the shot to impact the walls to create audible percussion sounds.Claims

I claim:

1. A hand-held percussion musical instrument, comprising:

(a) structural means defining a rigid tubular ring having an external diameter in a range of about 7 to about 12 inches, said ring including a plurality of at least five elongate hollow tubes connected end-to-end, with each tube having a rigid tubular wall and rigid opposite end walls defining a closed hollow tube interior, and

(b) a plurality of hard solid masses loosely contained within said hollow interior of each of a plurality of said tubes, whereby the instrument may be hand-held and manipulated so as to cause the solid masses to impact the tubular walls and end walls to create audible percussion sounds, and may be conveniently used as an attractive instrument to accompany and lend emphasis to singing and/or dancing.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said elongate tubes are approximately straight and are connected end-to-end as a polygon-configured tubular ring, with said tubular walls being sufficiently thin, hard and rigid to act as soundboards for acoustically coupling induced vibrations from said solid masses audibly to the surrounding atmosphere.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said tubular ring is in the form of a regular hexagon.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said rigid tubular ring is formed principally of injection molded hard and rigid plastic material, such as polycarbonate or acrylic plastic, or the equivalent.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said tubular walls are approximately circular in cross-section about central axes and have an external diameter within a range of about 1 to about 13/4 inches, with a tubular wall thickness within a range of about 1/16 to about 3/16 inches.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said rigid tubular ring is formed in an upper unitary half and a lower unitary half having interlocking mating surfaces which join in a median plane, said plane bisecting said ring along and through its circumference.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said solid masses are metallic masses and are spherical.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said masses are metallic, and are approximately spherical, and the diameters of the majority of said masses are within a range of about 1/16 to about 4/8 inches.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said tubular walls and end walls have smooth surfaces.

10. A percussion musical instrument, which comprises:

(a) wall means to define a tube that bends upon itself so as to be a closed figure,

said wall means being formed of a hard substance having such characteristics, and being sufficiently thin, that when hard solid masses are disposed loosely within said tube, and said tube is shaken, percussion vibrations will be created in the air surrounding said tube due to the impacting of said masses on said...

Method and apparatus for achieving timbre modulation in an electronic musical instrument
2010-03-15 00:00:00
AbstractIn a digital musical instrument, timbre modulation is effected through the use of a digital magnitude comparator and associated digital logic. Selected note frequency signals and selected scale factors are compared in the digital magnitude comparator. Selected comparator outputs are applied to the associated digital logic in conjunction with a sample gating signal. This modulation results in a segmentation of the audio waveshape in accordance with the frequency signals selected for use in the comparator. Hence, choice of lower pitched frequency signals will result in a wider segmentation period, while choice of higher pitched frequency signals will narrow the segmentation period. Timbre modulation may be employed during note attack and/or decay.ClaimsI claim:

1. Apparatus for achieving timbre modulation in an electronic musical instrument including an audio wave shape generator responsive to octavely related note frequency signals,comprising:

means for generating a variable magnitude digital signal,

means connected to the audio wave shape generator for generating octavely related note frequency signals,

digital magnitude comparator means for comparing said variable digital signal with said octavely related note frequency signals and for producing an output signal based on predetermined comparisons,

means for generating a sample gating signal indicative of the desired state of the audio wave shape generator, and

digital logic means connected to the audio wave shape generator for accepting said sample gating signal and said digital magnitude comparator output signal and for producing a timbre modulated sample gating signal for controlling the audio waveshape generator.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for generating said octavely related note frequency signals includes a multiplexed accumulator.<...

Method and apparatus for teaching musical notation to young children
2010-03-12 00:00:00
AbstractA method for teaching musical notation to children. Each note is associated with a distinctly identifiable color, which is in turn associated with an object which naturally occurs in this color. Each object, in turn, is associated with a cartoon character which prominently incorporates an image of the object. Each character is endowed with a distinctly identifiable personality characteristic which enables the child to utilize the cartoon character in an educational activity. These relationships allow the child to apply relatively sophisticated symbolization techniques which are a part of the child's natural developmental process in order to master the musical notation system.Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for teaching a set of musical notes to a child, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a set of physical objects, each said object in said set of objects being characterized by a different color;

matching each musical note i n said set of notes with a selected one of said different colors of said objects in said set of objects;

forming a set of fanciful figures, each said figure in said set of figures prominently incorporating an image of a selected one of said physical objects in said set of objects; and

matching each note in said set of notes with that figure in said set of figures which incorporates an image of that object in said set of objects which is characterized by that color with which that note has been matched.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of matching each said note with a figure further comprises:

matching each object with said first display surface of that demonstration article which predominantly shows said color of that object thereon.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

displaying said second surface of each said demonstration article so as to predominantly show said black color thereon, so as to provide a visual correlation between said figure thereon and a corresponding musical note on a black-and-white musical score.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of forming said figure as a demonstration article having first and second display surfaces comprises:

forming said demonstration article as a two-sided article having an outline in the shape of said fanciful figure, so that said first and second surfaces can be displayed alternately by flipping said figure over, while said outline remains substantially the same in both positions.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of forming said figure as an article having first and second display surfaces comprises:

forming said article of an outer fabric layer predominantly showing said color of said object thereon and an inner fabric layer predominantly showing said black color thereon, said inner and outer fabric layers being joined to form a tubular fabric structure which is selectively eversible so as to alternately expose said inner and outer fabric layers while retaining said outline in the shape of said fanciful figure.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

forming a visual image of said figure which predominantly shows said color of said selected object thereon.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of matching said notes with said figures further comprises:

matching said selected object with said image of said figure which predominantly shows said color of said selected object thereon.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

changing the color of said visual image of said figure so as to predominantly show a black color thereon, so as to provide a visual correlation between said figure and a corresponding note on a black-and-white musical score.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

generating at least one musical tone which corresponds to said musical note, in conjunction with displaying said figure to said child.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of generating at least one musical tone comprises:

playing back a recorded script which incorporates said musical tone therein.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

providing a recorded script which is associated with said figure.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing said recorded script comprises:

providing a prerecorded script having blank portions at selected p...