Methods and electronic systems for fingering assignments

• US 7,394,013 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2007
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: James Calvin Fallgatter
• Original Assignee: James Calvin Fallgatter
• Inventors: Fallgatter, James Calvin
• Primary Examiner(s): Donovan; Lincoln
• Assistant Examiner(s): Russell; Christina
• Application Number:
  US11/695,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20070227340A1
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• Field of Search: 846/45, 846/09, 846/15, 847/19, 844/23.R, 844/77.R
• US Class Current: 84/645
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/041 Remote key fingering indicator, i.e. fingering shown on a display separate from the instrument itself or substantially disjoint from the keys
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/056 Hand or finger indicator, e.g. for indicating which hand or which specific finger should be used

Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to assignment of fingering for performance of a musical piece. In one example, a processor of an electronic system receives a file having data relating to at least one musical piece. The processor parses the file and assigns keys to occurrences of notes within the musical piece. In certain embodiments, the key-to-note assignments are based on predetermined factors, such as common patterns of learned fingering and a user typing proficiency level, and/or predetermined assignment rules, such as physical or spatial limitations with respect to the user'"'"'s fingers and the keys of the keyboard. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention allow for different keys to be assigned to different occurrences of the same note or allow for a single key to be assigned to multiple notes, such as a chord, or to different notes occurring at different points in the musical piece.

Claims

1. A method of assigning keyboard fingering for a performance of a musical piece, the method comprising:

receiving data associated with a plurality of notes of a musical piece;

assigning a first key of a keyboard to a first note of the plurality of notes;

assigning a second key of the keyboard to a second note of the plurality of notes of the musical piece;

re-assigning the first key to a third note of the plurality of notes of the musical piece, wherein the third note has a different pitch than the first note and wherein said re-assigning of the first key to the third note comprises at least determining a positional relationship between the first key and another key on the keyboard; and

reassigning a third key of the keyboard to the third note if said assigning of the first key to the third note violates at least one predetermined rule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a positional relationship between the first key and another key comprises determining a finger speed associated with moving between the first key and the other key.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the keyboard comprises a QWERTY keyboard.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note.

5. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

determining for a user one of a plurality of typing proficiency levels; and

wherein at least one of said assigning the second key and re-assigning the first key is based at least in part on the determined typing proficiency level.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said assigning of the first and second keys is based at least in part on an alternating finger combination capable of rapid repeatability.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined rule comprises data relating to key combinations that correspond to implausible finger positions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined rule comprises a finger-load determination.

9. A method of assigning keyboard fingering for a performance of a musical piece, the method comprising:

receiving data associated with a plurality of notes of a musical piece;

assigning a first note of the plurality of notes to a first key of a keyboard, wherein the first note has a first pitch; and

assigning a second note of the plurality of notes to a second key of the keyboard, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note, and wherein said assigning of the second key comprises evaluating at least one of a plurality of rules indicative of a positional relationship between the second key and another key on the keyboard, wherein the at least one of the plurality of rules is indicative of a frequency of use of a finger associated with the second key in comparison to finger usage associated with the other keys of the keyboard.

10. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising assigning a third note to the first key, wherein the third note comprises a different pitch associated therewith than the first note.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the plurality of rules is indicative of an implausible finger combination between the second key and the other key.

12. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising assigning a third note of the plurality of notes to a third key of the keyboard, wherein the first note and the third note are simultaneous notes in the musical piece.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein assigning the third note is based at least in part on a positional relationship between the first key and the third key.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first key and the third key are each associated with an alphanumeric character.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first key and the alphanumeric character of the first key and the alphanumeric character of the third key form a predetermined letter sequence.

16. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising displaying in a graphical user interface a statistical analysis of a user performance of the musical piece.

17. A method of assigning keyboard fingering for a performance of a musical piece, the method comprising:

receiving data associated with a plurality of notes of a musical piece;

assigning a first key of a keyboard to a first note of the plurality of notes;

assigning a second key of the keyboard to a second note of the plurality of notes of the musical piece; and

re-assigning the first key to a third note of the plurality of notes of the musical piece, wherein the third note has a different pitch than the first note and wherein said re-assigning of the first key to the third note comprises at least determining a positional relationship between the first key and another key on the keyboard by determining a finger speed associated with moving between the first key and the other key.

18. A method of assigning keyboard fingering for a performance of a musical piece, the method comprising:

receiving data associated with a plurality of notes of a musical piece;

assigning a first note of the plurality of notes to a first key of a keyboard, wherein the first note has a first pitch; and

assigning a second note of the plurality of notes to a second key of the keyboard, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note, and wherein said assigning of the second key comprises evaluating at least one of a plurality of rules indicative of a positional relationship between the second key and another key on the keyboard, wherein the at least one of the plurality of rules is indicative of an implausible finger combination between the second key and the other key.