Musical performance practicing device and method

• US 6,287,124 B1
• Filed: 12/02/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Yamaura, Atsushi, Yamagishi, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Rovnak, John Edmund
• Application Number:
  US09/204,375
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• Field of Search: 434/156, 434/219, 434/227, 434/228, 434/230, 434/231, 434/232, 434/233, 434/307.R, 434/118, 434/308, 434/309, 844/70.R, 844/77.R, 844/78, 844/831, 844/84, 844/85.R, 844/832
• US Class Current: 434/219
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/00 Teaching music metronomes G04F5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26

Abstract

Target music piece, which a trainee player aims to perform well through practice, is designated by a user or player from among various music genres such as classical music, popular music and enka (Japanese popular ballads). Lesson information supplying section supplies lesson information prepared by combining information descriptive of a plurality of training music pieces bearing particular relations to the target music piece, to allow the player to become skillful enough for performing the designated target music piece. The lesson information comprises a combination of information descriptive of a plurality of optimum training music pieces selected on the basis of all kinds of musical information, such as a music genre, key, rhythm and beat, of the target music piece. Control section controls player'"'"'s performance practice on the basis of the lesson information supplied by the lesson information supplying section. This arrangement enables the player to acquire a skill necessary for performing the target music piece in a short time and with a small amount of training.

Claims

1. A musical performance practicing device comprising:

a designating section that designates a target music piece which a player aims to perform;

a lesson information supplying section that supplies lesson information to be used for performance practice of the target music piece designated by said designating section, said lesson information being constructed by combining information descriptive of a plurality of training music pieces bearing particular relations to the target music piece; and

a control section that controls the performance practice on the basis of the lesson information supplied by said lesson information supplying section;

wherein each training music piece has a characteristic in common with the target music piece, and

wherein each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece.

2. A musical performance practicing device as recited in claim 1 wherein the training music pieces included in the lesson information are classified into a plurality of groups according to levels of performance skill necessary for performance of the training music pieces.

3. A musical performance practicing device as recited in claim 1 wherein each of the training music pieces included in the lesson information comprises accompaniment information and melody information and at least a performance based on one of the accompaniment information and melody information can be muted depending on a desired content of training.

4. A musical performance practicing device as recited in claim 1 which further comprises a training music piece selecting section that designates one of the training music pieces for performance practice of the designated training music piece.

5. A musical performance practicing device as recited in claim 1 wherein said lesson information supplying section prepares the lesson information by extracting training music pieces from among a composition information database on the basis of the target music piece designated by said designating section.

6. A musical practice performing device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a memory for storing the training music pieces.

7. A musical practice performing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the characteristic is at least one of genre, timing, chord progression and fingering.

8. A musical performance practicing method comprising the steps of:

designating a target music piece which a player aims to perform with a designating section device;

supplying lesson information to be used for performance practice of the target music piece designated by said step of designating, said lesson information being constructed by combining information descriptive of a plurality of training music pieces bearing particular relations to the target music piece; and

controlling the performance practice on the basis of the lesson information supplied by said step of supplying with a control section device;

wherein each training music piece has a characteristic in common with the target music piece; and

wherein each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece.

9. A musical performance practicing method as recited in claim 8 wherein each of the training music pieces included in the lesson information comprises accompaniment information and melody information and at least a performance based on one of the accompaniment information and melody information can be muted depending on a desired content of practice.

10. A musical performance practicing method characterized by, in response to designation of a target music piece which a player aims to perform, executing the steps of:

causing the player to practice performance operation relating to the target music piece while automatically performing a training music piece that bears a particular relation to performance operation necessary for performance of the target music piece;

causing the player to practice a rhythm performance relating to rhythm of the target music piece while automatically performing a training music piece that bears a particular relation to the rhythm of the target music piece;

causing the player to practice at least one of the performance operation and rhythm performance of the target music piece while automatically performing a partial phrase of a training music piece other than the target music piece that bears a particular relation to the target music piece; and

causing the player to practice performance of the target music piece itself;

wherein each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece.

11. A musical performance practicing method as recited in claim 10 wherein each of the training music pieces comprises melody information and accompaniment information and each of said steps is capable of causing the player to practice performance based on at least one of the melody information and accompaniment information.

12. A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for controlling musical performance practice, said program for controlling musical performance practice comprising the steps of:

designating a target music piece which a player aims to perform;

supplying lesson information to be used intended for performance practice of the target music piece designated by said step of designating, said lesson information being constructed by combining information descriptive of a plurality of training music pieces bearing particular relations to the target music piece; and

controlling the performance practice on the basis of the lesson information supplied by said step of supplying;

wherein each training music piece has a characteristic in common with the target music piece; and

wherein each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece.

13. A recording medium containing lesson information stored as machine executable data wherein to allow a player to acquire a skill for performing a target music piece, said lesson information is constructed by combining information descriptive of a plurality of training music pieces bearing relations to the target music piece, such that each training music piece has a characteristic in common with the target music piece, and wherein the training music pieces included in the lesson information are other than the target music piece, such that each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece but at least appear to be useful for the player in acquiring a skill necessary for performing the target music piece.

14. A recording medium as recited in claim 13 wherein each of the training music pieces included in the lesson information comprises accompaniment information and melody information and at least a performance based on one of the accompaniment information and melody information can be muted depending on a desired content of practice.

15. A recording medium as recited in claim 13 wherein said lesson information is constructed by selecting information descriptive of training music pieces from among a composition information database on the basis of the target music piece.

16. A recording medium containing lesson information wherein said lesson information includes:

information descriptive of one or more target music pieces, which is recorded on the recording medium as machine executable data;

information descriptive of a training music piece, recorded on the recording medium as machine executable data, that corresponds to any one of the target music pieces and bears a particular relation to performance operation for the corresponding target music piece;

information descriptive of a training music piece, recorded on the recording medium as machine executable data, that corresponds to any one of the target music pieces and bears a particular relation to a rhythm of the corresponding target music piece; and

information descriptive of a partial phrase of a training music piece, recorded on the recording medium as machine executable data, that corresponds to any one of the target music pieces and bears a particular relation to performance operation for the corresponding target music piece;

wherein each training music piece has a characteristic in common with the target music piece; and

wherein each training music piece is not a version of the target music piece.

17. A recording medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said lesson information is constructed by selecting information descriptive of training music pieces from among a composition information database on the basis of the one or more target music pieces.