Instructional music reading and instrument playing system and method

A system for instructing a player to read music notation and to play a keyboard instrument, the system comprising:

• a processing unit having memory and logic for invoking musical notation reading and keyboard instrument playing instructional methods stored in the memory;
• an interactive display device coupled to the processing unit, the display device presenting a graphical representation of at least a portion of the keyboard instrument having a plurality of white and black keys, and an odd number of parallel vertical lines spaced equidistantly;
• an input device coupled to the processing unit, the input device operable by the player of the system;
• wherein the processing unit is configured to:
• a) associate the vertical lines and spaces between the vertical lines with the white keys, each vertical line and each space corresponding to a separate white key;
• b) display a first graphical element on one of the vertical lines or one of the spaces on the graphical representation presented by the display device, the first graphical element representing a note and corresponding to one of the white keys;
• c) display a second graphical element on the middle vertical line to visually inform the player how long to wait before striking a next key, the second graphical element representing a rhythm of a musical score being played;
• d) receive an input from the input device, the input corresponding to a white key selected by the player;
• and
• repeat b)-d) by changing a location of the first graphical element displayed on the graphical representation or providing at least two first graphical elements to display.

A system for instructing a player to read music notation and to play a keyboard instrument, the system comprising:

• a processing unit having memory and logic for invoking musical notation reading and keyboard instrument playing instructional methods stored in the memory;
• an interactive display device coupled to the processing unit, the display device presenting a graphical representation of at least a portion of the keyboard instrument having a plurality of white and black keys, and an odd number of parallel vertical lines spaced equidistantly;
• an input device coupled to the processing unit, the input device operable by the player of the system;
• wherein the processing unit is configured to:
• a) associate the vertical lines and spaces between the vertical lines with the white keys, each vertical line and each space corresponding to a separate white key;
• b) display a first graphical element on one of the vertical lines or one of the spaces on the graphical representation presented by the display device, the first graphical element representing a note and corresponding to one of the white keys;
• c) display horizontal lines across all of the vertical lines to visually inform the player how long to wait before striking a next key, the horizontal lines representing a rhythm of a musical score being played;
• d) receive an input from the input device, the input corresponding to a white key selected by the player;
• and
• repeat b)-d) by changing a location of the first graphical element displayed on the graphical representation or providing at least two first graphical elements to display.
• displays horizontal lines across all of the vertical lines to visually inform the player how long to wait before striking a next key, the horizontal lines representing a rhythm of a musical score being played.

A computer based method for instructing a player to read music notation and to play a keyboard instrument, comprising the steps of:

• a) presenting a graphical representation comprising at least a portion of the keyboard instrument having a plurality of white and black keys, and an odd number of parallel vertical lines spaced equidistantly on a display device by a processing unit;
• b) associating the vertical lines and spaces between the vertical lines with the white keys by the processing unit, each vertical line and each space corresponding to a separate white key;
• c) displaying a first graphical element on one of the vertical lines or one of the spaces on the display device by the processing unit, the first graphical element representing a note and corresponding to one of the white keys on the display device;
• d) displaying horizontal lines across all of the vertical lines to visually inform the player how long to wait before striking a next key, the horizontal lines representing a rhythm of a musical score being played;
• e) receiving an input from an input device by the processing unit, the input corresponding to a white key selected by the player;
• and
• f) repeating the steps c)-e) by the processing unit by changing a location of the first graphical element or displaying at least two first graphical elements.