Graphic/tactile musical keyboard and nomographic music notation2010-03-23 00:00:00keyboard, i.e. without requiring the player to look from the music to the keys. This is extremely beneficial to the novice keyboard player's development of that tactile sense of keyboard position which is essential to the achievement of an advanced level of skill.
A significant feature of this invention lies in its ease of application to existing, conventionally scored music. The diagonal slants " " (e.g., 38) through the notes and adjacent the key signature (e.g., 46, at 39) can be added manually, without requiring the score to be reprinted. This feature immediately distinguishes it from the "improved" notation systems which replace some or all of the conventional clefs, measures, notes, accidentals and phrasing marks. With my nomographic system of notation, the complete range of printed music is made more intelligible and thus more playable.
The preferred, second embodiment of the graphic/tactile keyboard
FIG. 4 shows a second graphic/tactile keyboard 110 according the present invention. Like the first embodiment of the keyboard 10, the second keyboard 110 comprises an upper row of keys 112 farthest from the player, a middle row 114 at an intermediate distance from the player, and a lower row 116 closest to the player. The keys of the second keyboard 110 play the same notes as corresponding keys of the first keyboard 10.
The F and G keys 120 in each octaval grouping 118, 118', 118" of the upper row 112 provide the player with graphic and tactile cues of his or her position on the keyboard. Unlike the first keyboard 10, the marked keys 120 of the second keyboard 110 do not correlate with the black keys of the conventional keyboard, but rather correlate with the second lines of the grand staff above and below middle C, i.e., the G line of the treble clef and the F line of the bass clef. The upper row F and G keys 120 are graphically and tactilely differentiated from the remaining upper row keys 122 by extending and bevelling the vertical surfaces of their front ends 124a toward the player by about one eighth inch (1/8"), by raising their top and front surfaces about one eighth inch (1/8"), and by bevelling the top surface and a selected side surface at the front end 124a of each marked key. Preferably, opposing side surfaces of the marked keys 120 are beveled, such as the left side of the F key and the right side of the G key adjacent said F key. As in the first keyboard 10, the upper row keys in the upper octaval groupings 118 of the second keyboard are preferably narrower than the upper row keys in the lower octaval groupings 118', 118", creating wider gaps 126 between the upper row keys in the upper octaval groupings 118.
In the middle row 114 of the second keyboard 110, the C keys 128 are graphically and tactilely differentiated from the other middle row keys 130 to provide the player with a keyboard position cue in the middle row.
The C keys 128 are tactilely marked by extending and bevelling their front ends 124b toward the player about one-eighth inch (1/8") and also by raising their top surfaces about one-eighth inch (1/8"). The C keys 128 are graphically marked by darkening their top and front surfaces. The keys of the middle row 114 are laterally offset from the keys of the upper row 112. All of the keys of the middle row 114 are equally wide.
Like the upper row 112, the F and G keys 132 of the lower row 116 are graphically and tactilely marked by darkening their top and front surfaces and raising the top surfaces about 1/8". No keys of the lower row 116 are extended because a player playing on the middle and lower rows 114, 116 will receive a tactile position cue from the extended C keys 128 of the middle row.
A significant feature of the present invention, and particularly the keyboards thereof, is that it provides a readily understandable indexing arrangement for major scale key signatures. The keyboard such as in FIG. 4 tactilely identifies the three major scales F, C and G, and provides what may be termed an F-C-G Major Scale Index. This major scale index relates to the
odd or even number of key signature symbols as found in the order of flats and sharps. C is the basic tone for even flat key signature symbols and tones below C descending by whole...
