Method and apparatus for displaying music piece data such as lyrics and chord data

• US 6,582,235 B1
• Filed: 11/21/2000
• Issued: 06/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Tsai, Tom Jen, Wakita, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John
• Application Number:
  US09/717,578
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/307.A, 434/307.R, 844/70.R
• US Class Current: 434/307.00A
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/00 Teaching music metronomes G04F5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/361 Recording/reproducing of accompaniment for use with an external source, e.g. karaoke systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/38 Chord
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/011 Lyrics displays, e.g. for karaoke applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/325 Synchronizing two or more audio tracks or files according to musical features or musical timings

Abstract

Display device displays a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information. Characters or unit words of the lyrics corresponding to a current performance position and a next performance position are displayed in different display styles, in accordance with progression of the performance. Pieces of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current performance position and the next performance position may be displayed in different display styles, in accordance with the progression of the performance. Thus, even when the characters or unit words of the lyrics corresponding to the current and next performance position are displayed in an overlapping condition, a user is allowed to readily distinguish between the overlapping characters or unit words.

Claims

1. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the character string of lyrics in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

2. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein if the character string of lyrics are displayed on the display device with some adjoining characters or unit words of the lyrics overlapping each other at least partly, said step of controlling performs control such that the adjoining characters or unit words of the lyrics overlapping each other at least partly are displayed in different display styles so as to be visually distinguished from each other.

3. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

4. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

5. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

6. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

displaying chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, said step of displaying chord information determining respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,

wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on the display device by said step of causing, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information displayed by said step of displaying chord information.

7. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance; and

displaying information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information by said step of displaying accompaniment information.

8. A music piece data display method as claimed in claim 7 which further comprises a step of detecting performance timing on the basis of performance data, and wherein respective performance timing of individual pieces of the accompaniment information, to be displayed by said step of displaying information indicative of performance timing, is set in accordance with the performance timing detected by said step of detecting.

9. A music piece data display method as claimed in claim 8 wherein said accompaniment information is in the form of chord information, and said step of detecting performance timing detects chord change timing.

10. A music piece data display method as claimed in claim 8 wherein said accompaniment information is in the form of chord information and said step of detecting performance timing detects performance timing of a predetermined performance part on the basis of performance data of the predetermined performance part other than chord data, and wherein the performance timing of the predetermined performance part detected by said step of detecting is displayed in corresponding relation to the accompaniment information.

11. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

displaying lyrics in accordance with progression of a performance of a music piece, and creating data of a display screen that displays, in corresponding relation to display of the lyrics, accompaniment information matching with the progression of the performance, wherein a plurality of the display screens can be created which differ from each other at least in time-axial display scale; and

selecting one of the display screens and causing the display device to display the selected display screen.

12. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

displaying, by chord names, a chord progression for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

simultaneously displaying component tones of a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression and component tones of a chord corresponding to a next position in the chord progression in different display styles visually distinguishing therebetween.

13. A music piece data display method as claimed in claim 12 wherein said step of displaying, by chord names, a chord progression displays a chord name corresponding to the current position in the chord progression, in a display style different from a display style of other of the chord names.

14. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

identifying an available pitch range of a keyboard to be used for a performance of a music piece; and

displaying component tones of a chord to be currently performed in accordance with a chord progression of the performance, said step of displaying being capable of displaying chord component tones in a turn-back fashion such that any chord component tones can be displayed within the available pitch range of the keyboard identified by said step of identifying.

15. A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece and chord names corresponding to a chord progression in the predetermined performance section, in accordance with progression of the performance; and

making a display indicating, on a diagram simulating a keyboard, component tones of at least a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression.

16. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the

performance are displayed in different display styles, wherein said processor causes the display device to display the character string of lyrics in a normal display style, and performs control such that the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

17. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on said display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein said processor causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

18. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on said display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

19. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

display accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

20. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

display chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, wherein respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, are determined such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,

wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on said display device, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information to be displayed on said display device.

21. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

display accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance; and

display information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information on said display device.

22. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

display lyrics in accordance with progression of a performance of a music piece, and create data of a display screen that displays, in corresponding relation to display of the lyrics, accompaniment information matching with the progression of the performance, wherein a plurality of the display screens can be created which differ from each other at least in time-axial display scale; and

select one of the display screens and cause said display device to display the selected display screen.

23. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display, by chord names, a chord progression for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

cause said display device to simultaneously display component tones of a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression and component tones of a chord corresponding to a next position in the chord progression in different display styles visually distinguishing therebetween.

24. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

identify an available pitch range of a keyboard to be used for a performance of a music piece; and

cause said display device to display component tones of a chord to be currently performed in accordance with a chord progression of the performance, wherein said processor allows chord component tones to be displayed in a turn-back fashion such that any chord component tones are displayed within the identified available pitch range of the keyboard.

25. A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to;

cause said display device to display lyrics for a predetermined performance section and chord names corresponding to a chord progression in the predetermined performance section, in accordance with progression of the performance; and

make a display indicating, on a diagram simulating a keyboard, component tones of at least a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression.

26. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the character string of lyrics in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

27. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,

wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

28. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

29. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles; and

displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

30. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

displaying chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, said step of displaying chord information determining respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,

wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on the display device by said step of causing, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information displayed by said step of displaying chord information.

31. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;

displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance; and

displaying information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information by said step of displaying accompaniment information.

32. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

displaying lyrics in accordance with progression of a performance of a music piece, and creating data of a display screen that displays, in corresponding relation to display of the lyrics, accompaniment information matching with the progression of the performance, wherein a plurality of the display screens can be created which differ from each other at least in time-axial display scale; and

selecting one of the display screens and causing the display device to display the selected display screen.

33. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

displaying, by chord names, a chord progression for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece; and

simultaneously displaying component tones of a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression and component tones of a chord corresponding to a next position in the chord progression in different display styles visually distinguishing therebetween.

34. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

identifying an available pitch range of a keyboard to be used for a performance of a music piece; and

displaying component tones of a chord to be currently performed in accordance with a chord progression of the performance, said step of displaying being capable of displaying chord component tones in a turn-back fashion such that any chord component tones can be displayed within the available pitch range of the keyboard identified by said step of identifying.

35. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

causing a display device to display lyrics for a predetermined performance section and chord names corresponding to a chord progression in the predetermined performance section in accordance with progression of the performance; and

making a display indicating, on a diagram simulating a keyboard, component tones of at least a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression.