The_tags
Simulated musical rainmaker2010-03-30 00:00:00means simulating the sound of falling water; and wherein
said casing is elongated and includes a contiguous bottom.
2.
The simulated musical rainmaker of claim 1 wherein:
said casing is molded with an irregular cross section.
3.
The simulated musical rainmaker of claim 1 wherein:
said decorative covering is a pigmente...
Musical tone synthesizing apparatus utilizing an all-pass filter having a variable fractional delay2010-03-29 00:00:00Abstract
The 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 portion, s...
Method and apparatus for representing musical information2010-03-26 00:00:00value 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, storing and retrieving the musical information in a memory means associated with the programmable data processing means for storing information; and
a multi-dimensional data structure framework within the memory means of ...
Music search by interactive graphical specification with audio feedback2010-03-25 00:00:00the 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 generated musical segment comprises a bass and/or a rhythm section for generating the musical query.
14.
The method of claim 1, comprising:
graphically adjusting the tempo of the...
Method and apparatus for generating musical tone waveforms by user input of sample waveform frequency2010-03-24 00:00:00step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals longer than a sampling cycle, a musical tone waveform calculation in response to the received performance information, for generating a plurality of musical tone waveform samples, and storing the generated plurality of musical tone waveform samples in a memory, wherein said musical tone waveform calculation includes a low frequency oscillator step of imparting vibrato to said generated plurality of musical tone waveform samples, only when said instruction information for instructing the low frequency oscillator to switch on is received by said second receiving step; and
a reproducing step of outputting said plurality of musical tone waveform samples, sample by sample, every sampling cycle.
32. A machine-readable storage medium storing instructions to cause a machine to perform a method of generating musical tones which is executed on a computer and comprises:
a first receiving step of receiving performance information;
a second receiving step of receiving selection information;
a generating step of carrying out, at predetermined time intervals longer than a sampling cycle, 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, mixing the generated plurality of musical tone waveform samples for each of the plurality of channels, and storing the mixed plurality of musical tone waveform samples in a memory, wherein said musical tone waveform calculation includes
a characteristic control processing step of controlling a characteristic of the mixed plurality of musical tone waveform samples in a manner selected by said selection information; and
a reproducing step of outputting said plurality of musical tone waveform samples generated by said generating step, sample by sample, every sampling cycle.Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a musical tone-generating method which generates musical tone waveforms by executing a musical tone-generating program by means of a programmable processing unit such as a CPU or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and also relates to a musical tone-generating apparatus which generates musical tone waveforms by executing a musical tone-generating program.
2. Prior Art
In a conventional tone generator or a conventional musical tone-generating program which generates musical tone waveforms, through computation, the sampling frequency, the maximum number of musical tones that can be generated at the same time, and the contents of processing of each musical tone are set beforehand, irrespective of the types of musical tones to be generated and conditions under which other processings such as background processing are executed.
In the conventional tone generator and the musical tone-generating program, however, the following inconveniences have been encountered:
(1) Musical tone-generating operations employed are fixed, and therefore in some cases, processings which are not necessary are executed, and in other cases, essential processings are not executed.
For example, in a tone generator or a musical tone-generating program which can generate musical tones simultaneously through a plurality of tone-generating channels, musical tones are generated through each tone-generating channel independently of those generated through the other channels, and the number of waveform samples to be generated per unit time is constant for all the tone-generating channels.
Therefore, although musical tones generated through each channel have different characteristics from those generated through the other channels and have different qualities required according to the kinds of the musical tones, the same number of waveform samples are generated for all the tone-generating channels. As a result, the conventional tone generator or the musical tone-generating program performs wasteful operations for generating musical tones.
For example, to generate musical tones with frequency components over a broad frequency band, i.e. with a high quality, the operation for generating musical tone waveforms has to be carried out at a high sampling frequency (i.e. with a large number of samples), while to generate musical tones with frequency components only in a low frequency band, it suffices to perform the operation for generating musical tone waveforms at a low sampling frequency (i.e. with a small number of samples). Further, some music pieces require a large number of musical tones to be generated but with a low quality when they are performed, and other music pieces require only a small number of musical tones to be generated but with a high quality. Further, a tone-generating channel which generates musical tones for an outstanding part of a music piece to be performed, such as a leading part, is required to generate musical tones with a high quality, while a tone-generating channel which generates musical tones for an inconspicuous part such as a backing part, is allowed to generate musical tones with a degraded quality, giving almost no difference in sound quality to a listener.
Further, some types of musical tones require conversion of the pitch of musical tone waveforms thereof when they are generated, while other types of musical tones do not require such conversion of the pitch. Some types of musical tones require modulation by means of an LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator), while other types do not require the same. Some types of musical tones require tone color processing by means of a digital filter, while others do not require the same, and some types of musical tones require imparting effects thereto, while others do not require the same.
The conventional tone generator, however, has fixed circuits, and therefore it is difficult to add a new processing or omit a dispensable processing to or from the original fixed processings, which requires addition of a complicated circuit.
(2) In a tone generator which is realized by software (software tone generator), the amount of operation by a CP...
Graphic/tactile musical keyboard and nomographic music notation2010-03-23 00:00:00/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 differentiated from the remaining upper row keys by lengthening the upper row C鈾?/D鈾?and D鈾?/E鈾?keys so that from ends thereof are relatively closer to the player than front ends of the remaining upper row keys, and
wherein the F鈾?/G鈾? G鈾?/A鈾? and A鈾?/B鈾?keys are graphically and tactilely d...
Suspension of musical instruments2010-03-20 00:00:00means for attachment of said second end of said secondary strap to said main strap is removable.
10. A method of balancing an instrument on the body of a player, comprising the steps of:
(a) attaching a harness to three distinctive positions on said instrument; and
(b) positioning said harness on said body of said player.
11.
The method as defined in claim 10 further including the step of positioning said harness on said body of said player between two of said positions.
12.
The method of claim 11 wherein said instrument is a guitar and said player has a neck extending from said body, further including the steps of (a) extending said harness about said neck between two separated positions of said instrument and (b) moving said harness to achieve a balanced orientation of said instrument without applying a countervailing torque to said instrument.
13.
The method of claim 12 wherein said harness includes a strap of adjustable length, further including the step of adjusting said length to alter the position of said guitar in relation to said body of said player.
14. A harness as defined in claim 1 for positioning and stabilizing a musical stringed instrument, wherein:
(a) said suspension means comprises a backpiece;
(b) said means for attaching said suspension means to said one of said attachment points comprises a first segment having a first and second end; a first attachment means for attaching said first end of said first segment to said backpiece; a first anchoring means for anchoring said second end of said first segment to said instrument;
(c) said means for attaching said suspension means to said another of said attachment points comprises a second segment having a first and second end; a first attachment means for attaching said first end of said second segment to said backpiece; a second anchoring means for anchoring said second end of said second segment to said instrument;
(d) said means for attaching said suspension means to said still another of said attachment points comprises a third segment having a first and second end; a third attachment means for attaching said first end of said third segment to said backpiece; a third anchoring means for anchoring said second end of said third segment to said instrument; wherein each of said first, second and third segments is independent from any other of said segments.
15. A harness for positioning and stabilizing a musical stringed instrument as recited in claim 14, including means for adjusting the length of said first, second and third segments.
16. A harness for positioning and stabilizing a musical stringed instrument as defined in claim 14 wherein:
(a) said first seg...
Hand-held percussion musical instrument comprising elongate tube shaped as a ring, incorporating dividers, and incoporating contained sound-generating elements2010-03-18 00:00:00be 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 wall means,
the diameter of said closed figure being sufficiently small that said closed figure is readily lifted and shaken by one hand of a performer, and being sufficiently large that said one hand may at different times grasp said tube at several nonoverlapping regions therealong,
the diameter of said tube being sufficiently small that said tube may be readily grasped by said one hand,
(b) divider means provided at spaced points along said tube to divide the length of said tube into chambers at least some of which are adapted to contain hard solid masses,
(c) hard solid masses loosely disposed in at least some of said chambers to impact said wall means and create said audible percussion vibrations when said tube is shaken by said one hand,
(d) a mechanical-electrical transducer is associated with said wall means to generate an electric signal in response to impacting of said masses on said wall means, and
(e) amplifier and loudspeaker means connected to said transducer to convert said signal into amplified sound.
11. A percussion musical instrument,...
Method and apparatus for achieving timbre modulation in an electronic musical instrument2010-03-15 00:00:00and 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.
3.
The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means for generating said variable magnitude digital signal includes a multiplexed attack and decay scale factor generator.
4.
The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising means for generating an attack and decay indicator signal for selectively enabling and disabling said digital logic.
5.
The method of achieving timbre modulation of the wave shape generated by an audio wave shape generator, comprising:
(a) generating a variable magnitude digital signal,
(b) generating octavely related note frequency signals,
(c) comparing said variable magnitude digital signal with said octavely related note frequency signals and producing an output signal in response to predetermined comparisons,
(d) generating a digital sample gating signal indicative of the desired state of the audio wave shape generator, and
(e) combining said digital magnitude comparator output signal and said digital sample gating signal to produce a timbre modulated sample gating signal for controlling the audio wave shape generator.
6.
The method according to claim 5 wherein said step (a) includes generating a multiplexed variable magnitude digital signal with respect to plural wave shape generator channels.
7.
The method according to claim 5 wherein said step (b) includes generating multiplexed octavely related note frequency signals with respect to plural wave shape generator channels.
...
Method and apparatus for teaching musical notation to young children2010-03-12 00:00:00cartoon 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 points therein; and
verbally interjecting a child's name into said blank portions in said prerecorded script using a recording apparatus, so that said recorded script forms a simulated dialog between said fanciful figure and a child having said name.
13.
The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing said recorded script comprises:
providing a written script which...
