Musical notation and method of teaching same

• US 8,664,503 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AntakaMatics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AntakaMatics, Inc.
• Inventors: Antaki, James F.
• Primary Examiner(s): LOCKETT, KIMBERLY R
• Application Number:
  US13/208,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20120036980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 844/70.R, 844/831, 844/832, 844/71.SR
• US Class Current: 84/483.2
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/026 Non-electrically operated

Abstract

The invention provides an apparatus and method for notating music for a harmonica. The apparatus incorporates a vertical staff in which vertical lines or tracks represent individual notes, the length of which represents duration of the note, and the horizontal location represents the physical location of the corresponding hole in a harmonica. The invention provides a rapid means of learning to play a harmonica and, for experienced players, provides a means for sight reading a new piece of music. The invention further provides ways of representing the dynamics of both pitch and loudness and a convenient way to manually transcribe musical selection for archival purposes.

Claims

1. An iconographic tablature for notating music for a harmonica, comprising:

a staff having a head portion and a tail portion, said staff aligned in a vertical direction, said vertical direction reflecting progression of time;

a plurality of numerals located at the head of the staff, each of the plurality of numerals representing one hole of a plurality of holes of the harmonica; and

at least one elongated demarcation aligned in the vertical direction, wherein vertical dimension of said at least one elongated demarcation reflects duration of time that a note is to be played on the harmonica, wherein one of the at least one elongated demarcation is a symbol which is deflected to bend in a plurality of patterns, each one of the plurality of patterns representing an alteration of pitch while blowing or drawing the note, said alteration of pitch including a warble represented by two symbols which are connected, a tremolo represented by a serpentine-shaped symbol, and a vibrato represented by a symbol having varying width, wherein embouchure is represented by vowel sounds, wherein a greater degree of cupping the harmonica by a player'"'"'s hand represented by a stripe of decreasing width located adjacent to and substantially aligned with the notes of the staff, said cupping used to modulate music texture produced, and wherein horizontal position of said at least one elongated demarcation indicates the hole of the harmonica in which it is to be played.

2. The tablature according to claim 1, wherein color or pattern of the elongated demarcation indicates whether the note is blown or drawn.

3. The tablature according to claim 1, wherein the elongated demarcation has a shape which varies horizontally, said shape depicting modulation of pitch of the note.

4. The tablature according to claim 1, in which the elongated demarcation has a variable width, variable intensity or variable hue, each of which indicates loudness of the note.

5. The tablature according to claim 1, further comprising at least one other elongated demarcation superimposed on the at least one elongated demarcation, said at least one other elongated demarcation indicating notes played by a musician or student.

6. The tablature according to claim 1, wherein said tablature is stored and displayed on a computer.