System and method of instructing musical notation for a stringed instrument

• US 7,777,117 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2009
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hal Christopher Salter
• Original Assignee: Hal Christopher Salter
• Inventors: Salter, Hal C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fletcher; Marlon T
• Application Number:
  US12/426,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20090235808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 487 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 84/477.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/00 Teaching music metronomes G04F5/02
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/06 Devices for exercising or strengthening fingers or arms; Devices for holding fingers or arms in a proper position for playing for teaching typing G09B13/00; exercising apparatus for developing or strengthening the muscles for physical training A63B21/00, A63B23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/08 Practice keyboards for teaching typing G09B13/02
• CPC Class Codes: G10G 1/02 Chord or note indicators, fixed or adjustable, for keyboard of fingerboards

Abstract

A method of instructing a user to read musical notation through interaction with a graphical user interface and an input instrument representative of a stringed instrument may include the steps of generating the graphical user interface having a first mode. The first mode may include a virtual fingerboard positioned substantially along a vertical extreme of the interface, the virtual fingerboard may include a first linear array representing a first string having a first frequency range. The virtual fingerboard may also include a second linear array representing a second string having a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range overlaps the first frequency range associated with a string. Furthermore, the virtual fingerboard may additionally include a plurality of note positions, each note position having a corresponding fingerboard position on the input instrument.

Claims

1. A method of instructing a user to read musical notation through interaction with a graphical user interface and an input instrument representative of a stringed instrument, comprising the steps of:

a) generating the graphical user interface, having a first mode, including a virtual fingerboard positioned substantially along a vertical extreme of the interface, the virtual fingerboard including;

a first linear array representing a first string having a first frequency range;

a second linear array representing a second string having a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range overlaps the first frequency range associated with a string; and

a plurality of note positions, each note position having a corresponding fingerboard position on the input instrument;

wherein the first linear array, the second linear array, and the plurality of note positions form a grid;

b) displaying the first linear array and the second linear array in a second mode such that portions of the first linear array and the second linear array having overlapping frequency ranges are substantially vertically aligned;

c) incorporating a music file into the graphical user interface, wherein the music file contains data corresponding to an arrangement of a plurality of musical notes in sequence, having a rhythmic pattern, and represented by at least one game object;

d) directing the game object in substantially and substantially straight trajectory, toward a note position on the virtual fingerboard corresponding to the musical notes; and

e) adjusting a toggle module configured to selectably toggle the second linear array between able and disabled modes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the toggle module, comprising:

a) an auto module, configured to selectably toggle the second linear array to an auto mode;

b) a manual module, configured to selectably toggle the second linear array to a manual mode; and

c) a tempo module, configured to adjust the tempo of the second linear array.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the toggle module includes a stringed select module configured to select a string of the second linear array to be displayed about the grid.

4. A method of instructing a user to read musical notation through interaction with a graphical user interface and an input instrument representative of a stringed instrument, comprising the steps of:

a) generating the graphical user interface, having a first mode, including a virtual fingerboard positioned substantially along a vertical extreme of the interface, the virtual fingerboard including;

a first linear array representing a first string having a first frequency range;

a second linear array representing a second string having a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range overlaps the first frequency range associated with a string; and

a plurality of note positions, each note position having a corresponding fingerboard position on the input instrument;

wherein the first linear array, the second linear array, and the plurality of note positions form a grid;

b) displaying the first linear array and the second linear array in a second mode such that portions of the first linear array and the second linear array having overlapping frequency ranges are substantially vertically aligned;

c) incorporating a music file into the graphical user interface, wherein the music file contains data corresponding to an arrangement of a plurality of musical notes in sequence, having a rhythmic pattern, and represented by at least one game object;

d) directing the game object in substantially and substantially straight trajectory, toward a note position on the virtual fingerboard corresponding to the musical notes;

e) wherein the game objects include identifying marks associated with note positions;

f) wherein the identifying marks include grid notation associated with selecting a note position on a particular linear array;

g) wherein the game objects are generated by an game object generation module according to a object generation process, comprising the steps of;

g1) reading music data;

g2) generating an initial permutation list of degenerate note position possibilities for the note information read from the music data;

g3) generating an initial combination list of note position combinations for related notes from the music data;

g4) testing elements of initial combination list for suitability; and

g5) selecting a combination from the combination list.

5. The method of instructing a user to read musical notation of claim 4, wherein the step of testing elements of the initial combination list for suitability includes calculating a maximum fret distance between notes of a chord and comparing that maximum fret distance against a pass/fail threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of testing elements of the initial combination list for suitability further includes calculating a distance characteristic of a plurality of combinations from the initial list.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of calculating a maximum fret distance includes:

determining a fret distance between a pair of note positions in a chord combination, wherein a fret distance is the number of frets plus one between the note positions;

determining a string distance between the pair of note positions, wherein the string distance is the number of strings plus one between the note positions;

multiplying the fret distance by a first constant;

multiplying the string distance by a second constant; and

calculating the square root of the sum of the squares of the multiplied distances.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of testing is weighted according to a parameter configured to influence combination selection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the parameter is selected from the group of parameters consisting of preferred strings, distance characteristics from previous note groups, distance characteristic of subsequent note groups, and preferred stringed combinations.

10. A method of instructing a user to read musical notation through interaction with a graphical user interface and an input instrument representative of a stringed instrument, comprising the steps of:

a) generating the graphical user interface, having a first mode, including a virtual fingerboard positioned substantially along a vertical extreme of the interface, the virtual fingerboard including;

a first linear array representing a first string having a first frequency range;

a second linear array representing a second string having a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range overlaps the first frequency range associated with a string; and

a plurality of note positions, each note position having a corresponding fingerboard position on the input instrument;

wherein the first linear array, the second linear array, and the plurality of note positions form a grid;

b) displaying the first linear array and the second linear array in a second mode such that portions of the first linear array and the second linear array having overlapping frequency ranges are substantially vertically aligned;

c) incorporating a music file into the graphical user interface, wherein the music file contains data corresponding to an arrangement of a plurality of musical notes in sequence, having a rhythmic pattern, and represented by at least one game object;

d) directing the game object in substantially and substantially straight trajectory, toward a note position on the virtual fingerboard corresponding to the musical notes; and

e) wherein game objects include a graphical representation associated with note positions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation include a fingerboard grid array.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the fingerboard grid array includes a string identifier and a fret identifier.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation includes a note name.