Methods and electronic systems for fingering assignments

• US 7,202,408 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2005
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• 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 MARIE
• Application Number:
  US11/111,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20050235812A1
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 846/45, 846/09, 847/19, 844/23.R, 846/15, 846/56, 846/49, 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 a file comprising data associated with a plurality of notes of a musical piece;

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

assigning a second key having a second position on the keyboard to a second note of the plurality of notes, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note and wherein said assigning of the second key comprises at least determining a positional relationship between the second key and another key on the keyboard; and

assigning to a user one of a plurality of proficiency levels, wherein each of the plurality of proficiency levels is associated with a different predetermined number of keys of the keyboard to be assigned to the plurality of notes.

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

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

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

assigning a second key having a second position on the keyboard to a second note of the plurality of notes, wherein the first key and the second key are each associated with an alphanumeric character, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note, wherein said assigning of the second key further comprises;

determining a positional relationship between the second key and another key on the keyboard, and

determining if the alphanumeric character associated with the second key forms a predetermined letter sequence with an alphanumeric character associated with another key of the keyboard.

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

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

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

assigning a second key having a second position on the keyboard to a second note of the plurality of notes, wherein the second note has the same pitch as the first note, wherein said assigning of the second key comprises determining a position relationship between the second key and another key on the keyboard, and wherein the second key is one of a group of keys having not been assigned, immediately prior to said assigning the second key, to one of the plurality of notes of the musical place.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said of assigning the second key comprises randomly selecting an available key from the group of unassigned keys.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said assigning of the second key comprises selecting the second key based at least on a difference between an expected frequency of use of the second key and an actual frequency of assignment of the second key to notes in the musical piece.

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

receiving a file comprising 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, wherein the first note has a first pitch;

assigning the first key to a second note of the plurality of notes, wherein the second note has a different pitch than the, first note and wherein said assigning of the first key to the second note comprises determining a positional relationship between the first key and another key on the keyboard; and

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

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one predetermined rule comprises data relating to key combinations that correspond to implausible finger positions.

8. A computer-readable medium storing a machine loadable software program for assigning fingering for a performance of a musical piece, the computer-readable medium comprising:

first software instructions that assign a first key having a first location on a keyboard to an occurrence of a first note of a musical piece;

second software instructions that assign a second key having a second location on the keyboard to an occurrence of a second note of the musical piece; and

third software instructions that determine if the first location and the second location comprise an implausible key combination and that store in a memory said key assignments if the implausible key combination does not exist.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the second software instructions are further configured to assign a third key to the occurrence of the second note if the third software instructions determine that the implausible key combination exists.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the second software instructions are configured to assign the second key to the occurrence of the second note based at least in part on a comparison between an expected usage of an alphanumeric character associated with the second key and an actual frequency of assignment of the second key to occurrences of notes of the musical piece.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the third software instructions are configured to determine if the implausible key combination exists by determining if a distance between the first location and the second location exceeds a threshold amount.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the third software instructions are configured to determine if the implausible key combination exists by determining if the first location and the second location correspond to a predetermined pattern identified as an unnatural hand position.