Sight and sound musical instrument instruction

Claim 2

A sight and sound instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means associated with the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, control means comprising input logic, and display decoder and memory circuits for selectively causing the illumination of said illumination means for the instruction of the player, and a tape playing device arranged to play a prerecorded tape containing coded information bringing about the operation of said control means, thus to bring about selective illumination of said illumination means, said musical instrument being provided with a loudspeaker from which musical tones can emanate during the playing of the instrument, and rhythm providing means for selectively interrupting the tones so as to provide a pre-recorded rhythm to the music from the information contained on the tape.

Claim 3

The device as defined in claim 1 in which means associated with said control means are connected to said rhythm providing means such that data pre-recorded on the tape directly brings about the operation of said rhythm providing means.

Claim 4

A sight and sound instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means associated with the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, control means comprising input logic, and display decoder and memory circuits for selectively causing the illumination of said illumination means for the instruction of the player, and a tape playing device arranged to play a pre-recorded tape containing coded information bringing about the operation of said control means, thus to bring about selective illumination of said illumination means, said musical instrument utilizing a device containing electronic simulations of percussion sounds, selector switch means on latter device for enabling one or more selected sounds to be utilized in conjunction with music being played on the instrument, and means from said decoder connected to said latter device such that digital information pre-recorded on the tape brings about the rhythmic interposing of selected percussion sounds.

Claim 5

A sight and sound instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means associated with the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, control means comprising input logic, and display decoder and memory circuits for selectively causing the illumination of said illumination means for the instruction of the player, and a tape playing device arranged to play a pre-recorded tape containing coded information bringing about the operation of said control means, thus to bring about selective illumination of said illumination means, said musical instrument utilizing a device containing electronic simulations of percussion sounds, selector switch means on latter device for enabling one or more selected sounds to be utilized in conjunction with music being played on the instrument, and means from said decoder connected to said latter device such that digital information pre-recorded on the tape brings about the rhythmic interposing of selected percussion sounds.

Claim 6

A sight and sound instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means associated with certain keys of the musical instrument, a decoder containing digital components, which generates signals to activate the illumination means of selected keys, said decoder having input means derived from pre-recorded digital information, and in response thereto, causes selected ones of said illumination means to be illuminated each time its respective address is sensed, a tape player connected to said decoder input, said decoder utilizing a counter whose input is keyed to the speed of the tape, such that the time delay output will always sample the data supplied by the tape at the correct time, independently of tape speed.

Claim 7

A sight and sound instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means associated with certain keys of the musical instrument, a decoder containing digital components, which generates signals to activate the illumination means of selected keys, said decoder having input means derived from pre-recorded digital information, and in response thereto, causes selected ones of said illumination means to be illuminated each time its respective address is sensed, a tape player connected to said decoder input, said decoder utilizing a counter whose input is keyed to the speed of the tape, such that the time delay output will always sample the data supplied by the tape at the correct time, independently of tape speed.

Claim 8

An instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means contained within the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, a tape playing device arranged for playing a pre-recorded tape containing coded instructional information, control means operatively connected to said plurality of illumination means, and decoder means responsive to such coded instructional information, said decoder means operatively connected to said control means thereby selectively causing the illumination of said plurality of illumination means singly and in various combinations and sequences for instruction of the player as determined by such instructional information, said control means including means selectively operative at variable speeds lower than as well as normal speed for the musical selections being taught, said pre-recorded tape containing audio instructional information on a recording track separate from recording track carrying said coded instructional information.

Claim 9

An instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means contained within the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, a tape playing device arranged for playing a pre-recorded tape containing coded instructional information, control means operatively connected to said plurality of illumination means, and decoder means responsive to such coded instructional information, said decoder means operatively connected to said control means thereby selectively causing the illumination of said plurality of illumination means singly and in various combinations and sequences for instruction of the player as determined by such instructional information, said control means including means selectively operative at variable speeds lower than as well as normal speed for the musical selections being taught, said pre-recorded tape containing audio instructional information on a recording track separate from recording track carrying said coded instructional information.

Claim 10

An instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means disposed within certain keys of the musical instrument, and a decoder responsive to amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, said decoder having input means such that said decoder responds to pre-recorded information supplied thereto, where such pre-recorded information is amplitude and width modulated segments of the sinusoidal carrier wave, said decoder being operatively connected to said illumination means for causing respective ones of said illumination means to be illuminated for a selected period each time its respective address is sensed.

Claim 11

An instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means disposed within certain keys of the musical instrument, and a decoder responsive to amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, said decoder having input means such that said decoder responds to pre-recorded information supplied thereto, where such pre-recorded information is amplitude and width modulated segments of the sinusoidal carrier wave, said decoder being operatively connected to said illumination means for causing respective ones of said illumination means to be illuminated for a selected period each time its respective address is sensed.

Claim 12

The sight and sound teaching aid as defined in claim 6 in which means are provided to cause the instrument to be played automatically in response to data delivered to the decoder input.

Claim 13

An instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means disposed within certain keys of the musical instrument, a decoder responsive to amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, which generates control signals for activating the illumination means of selected keys, said decoder having input means derived from pre-recorded coded digital information, and in response thereto, causing selected ones of said illumination means to be illuminated for a selected period each time its respective coded address is sensed.

Claim 14

An instructional arrangement for use in conjunction with a musical instrument having a keyboard, comprising illumination means disposed within certain keys of the musical instrument, a decoder responsive to amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, which generates control signals for activating the illumination means of selected keys, said decoder having input means derived from pre-recorded coded digital information, and in response thereto, causing selected ones of said illumination means to be illuminated for a selected period each time its respective coded address is sensed.

Claim 15

The instructional arrangement as defined in claim 8 in which a tape player is connected to said decoder input.

Claim 16

The instructional arrangement as defined in claim 8 in which means are utilized for causing the keyboard instrument to produce notes automatically in response to certain inputs to the decoder.

Claim 17

The device as defined in claim 8 in which said decoder comprises logic circuits responsive to said amplitude and width modulated segments of said carrier, effectively causing illumination of all of said selected notes during said sequence for which said amplitude and width modulation pattern in the corresponding segments is indicative of an ON condition.

Claim 18

The device defined in claim 8 in which said decoder comprises logic circuits responsive to the modulation pattern indicative of the start of a sequence in the first segment of the sequence, and to the modulation patterns indicative respectively of the ON and OFF conditions in the remaining segments of the sequence, said logic circuit sequentially causing illumination of all notes having their associated segments in the ON condition and sequentially causing the illumination to be extinguished for all notes illuminated during the previous sequence and for which their associated segments are in the OFF condition.

Claim 19

The device as defined in claim 12 in which said logic circuits utilize a counter whose input is keyed to the speed of the tape, such that the time delay output will always sample the information supplied by the tape at the correct time, independnetly of tape speed thereby providing variable speed operation.

Claim 20

An instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means contained within the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, a tape playing device arranged for playing a pre-recorded tape containing coded instructional information, control means operatively connected to said plurality of illumination means, and decoder means responsive to such coded instructional information, said decoder means operatively connected to said control means thereby selectively causing the illumination of said plurality of illumination means singly and in various combinations and sequences for instruction of the player as determined by such instructional information, said control means including means selectively operative at variable speeds lower than as well as normal speed for the musical selections being taught, said coded instructional information being in the form of a sequence comprising amplitude and width modulated segments of an audio frequency carrier, in which one segment of said sequence is amplitude and width modulated to indicate the start of a sequence, the remaining segments of said sequence each representative of one selected note of said musical instrumEnt, and each of said remaining segments is amplitude and width modulated in a pattern to represent an ON condition and in a different pattern to represent an OFF condition.

Claim 21

An instructional device for a musical instrument, comprising a plurality of illumination means contained within the portions of the instrument to be contacted by the fingers of the player, a tape playing device arranged for playing a pre-recorded tape containing coded instructional information, control means operatively connected to said plurality of illumination means, and decoder means responsive to such coded instructional information, said decoder means operatively connected to said control means thereby selectively causing the illumination of said plurality of illumination means singly and in various combinations and sequences for instruction of the player as determined by such instructional information, said control means including means selectively operative at variable speeds lower than as well as normal speed for the musical selections being taught, said coded instructional information being in the form of a sequence comprising amplitude and width modulated segments of an audio frequency carrier, in which one segment of said sequence is amplitude and width modulated to indicate the start of a sequence, the remaining segments of said sequence each representative of one selected note of said musical instrumEnt, and each of said remaining segments is amplitude and width modulated in a pattern to represent an ON condition and in a different pattern to represent an OFF condition.

Claim 22

An instructional device for a musical instrument that includes a device containing electronic simulations of percussion sounds, comprising a tape playing device arranged to play a pre-recorded tape containing coded information, decoder means responsive to such coded information, means connecting said electronic simulation device to said decoder means such that coded information pre-recorded on the tape brings about the rhythmic playing of said percussion sounds.

Claim 23

An instructional device for a musical instrument that includes a device containing electronic simulations of percussion sounds, comprising a tape playing device arranged to play a pre-recorded tape containing coded information, decoder means responsive to such coded information, means connecting said electronic simulation device to said decoder means such that coded information pre-recorded on the tape brings about the rhythmic playing of said percussion sounds.

Claim 24

A sight and sound teaching device for a keyboard musical instrument in which each of a number of selected keys of the instrument has its respective illumination means, latter means being contained within the confines of said keys, a magnetic tape player associated with and connected to the instrument and adapted to contain a magnetic tape upon which audio information as well as coded information for visual instruction have been recorded on separate magnetic tracks, wherein such coded information is recorded as a sequence of amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, with the number of segments being greater than the number of said selected keys, such sequence of segments representing an information frame with at least one segment in such frame representing a synchronization signal and with each of said selected keys being associated with a respective segment in such frame, decoding means connected to receive the output of the coded information on said tape for decoding of same and controlling said illumination means, said decoding means including synchronization means for establishing the start of frame of such amplitude and width modulated segments, said synchronization means being responsive to a first selected number of high amplitude cycles of the sinusoidal carrier wave and to a first selected number of low amplitude cycles of the sinusoidal carrier wave occurring during the initial segment of such frame, switching means responsive to a second selected number of such high amplitude cycles and such low amplitude cycles during each of the successive segments in such frame, such selected numbers being indicative of a ONE condition, with each respective illumination means being illuminated when such ONE condition exists, and maintained illuminated until turned off, said switching means also being responsive to a third selected number of such high amplitude cycles and such low amplitude cycles during each of the successive segments in such frame, such selected third numbers being indicative of a ZERO condition, with each of said illumination means associated with its respective segment being extinguished if in an ON condition, and being maintained in an OFF condition if not already illuminated, whereby the prerecorded coded information is able to effectively control the duration of the illumination of the selected keys, and to establish a desirable tempo to be maintained.

Claim 25

A sight and sound teaching device for a keyboard musical instrument in which each of a number of selected keys of the instrument has its respective illumination means, latter means being contained within the confines of said keys, a magnetic tape player associated with and connected to the instrument and adapted to contain a magnetic tape upon which audio information as well as coded information for visual instruction have been recorded on separate magnetic tracks, wherein such coded information is recorded as a sequence of amplitude and width modulated segments of a sinusoidal carrier wave, with the number of segments being greater than the number of said selected keys, such sequence of segments representing an information frame with at least one segment in such frame representing a synchronization signal and with each of said selected keys being associated with a respective segment in such frame, decoding means connected to receive the output of the coded information on said tape for decoding of same and controlling said illumination means, said decoding means including synchronization means for establishing the start of frame of such amplitude and width modulated segments, said synchronization means being responsive to a first selected number of high amplitude cycles of the sinusoidal carrier wave and to a first selected number of low amplitude cycles of the sinusoidal carrier wave occurring during the initial segment of such frame, switching means responsive to a second selected number of such high amplitude cycles and such low amplitude cycles during each of the successive segments in such frame, such selected numbers being indicative of a ONE condition, with each respective illumination means being illuminated when such ONE condition exists, and maintained illuminated until turned off, said switching means also being responsive to a third selected number of such high amplitude cycles and such low amplitude cycles during each of the successive segments in such frame, such selected third numbers being indicative of a ZERO condition, with each of said illumination means associated with its respective segment being extinguished if in an ON condition, and being maintained in an OFF condition if not already illuminated, whereby the prerecorded coded information is able to effectively control the duration of the illumination of the selected keys, and to establish a desirable tempo to be maintained.