Method and apparatus for improved automatic harmonization
AssigneeNorlin Industries, Inc.
InventorsGeorge R. Hall, Robert J. Hall, Jack C. Cookerly
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and associated apparatus for embellishing the melody played on an electronic musical keyboard instrument. A set of musically-derived tables relates harmonious accompaniment notes to the melody in accordance with the chosen harmony and is addressed to generate a signal that represents at least one appropriate accompaniment note. The latter signal causes sounding of selected accompaniment notes to produce the desired musical harmony. A choice of voicing style and an orchestration option are additionally provided within the scope of the apparatus and method herein.
Claims18
A method for embellishing a melody represented by the actuation during a time frame of one or more playing keys of a musical instrument keyboard, which instrument is capable of sounding at least one chord selected during the time frame, said method comprising the steps, accomplished by the instrument itself, of:
- recognizing at least one note of the melody during the time frame;
- recognizing a chord selected during the time frame;
- deriving, for at least one note of the melody, at least one accompaniment note which is not a tone of the recognized chord and yet is harmonically related to said melody note and the recognized chord;
- and
- sounding said melody note and said at least one accompaniment note to produce an embellished melody.
A method for deriving a signal representing at least one accompaniment note chosen for musical qualities in relation to a given melody note and chord type and root, said melody and chord type and root represented by the actuation of one or more keys of a musical instrument keyboard capable of representing a plurality of notes, said method comprising the steps of:
- generating a melody signal responsive to the actuation of at least one melody note during a predetermined time interval;
- generating a harmony signal responsive to the actuation of at least one harmony note during said predetermined time interval;
- storing a plurality of tables, each table comprising listings of accompaniment notes harmonically related to each melody note of the musical scale with respect to a musical chord type there being one table per chord type;
- deriving a root and chord type from said harmony signal;
- then
- storing said root and type;
- selecting a listing according to said chord type;
- and
- locating in said listing at least one accompaniment note according to said chord root and melody note;
- and then
- generating an accompaniment note signal responsive to said at least one accompaniment note located.
A method for deriving a signal representing at lesat one accompaniment note chosen for musical qualities in relation to a given melody note and chord type and root, said melody and chord type and root represented by the actuation of one or more keys of a musical instrument keyboard capable of representing a plurality of notes, said method comprising the steps of:
- generating a melody signal responsive to the actuation of at least one melody note during a predetermined time interval;
- generating a harmony signal responsive to the actuation of at least one harmony note during said predetermined time interval;
- storing a plurality of listings of accompaniment notes harmonically related to each melody note of the musical scale with respect to musical chord type, by entering the listings into the memory of a programmable device;
- deriving the root and type of the chord from said harmony signal;
- then
- storing said root and type;
- selecting a listing according to said chord type;
- and
- locating in said listing at least one accompaniment note according to said chord root and melody note, said locating step comprising:
- generating an address of said listing according to the melody note and chord root;
- and
- reading the content of the listing at said address into a first register;
- and then
- generating an accompaniment note signal responsive to said at least one accompaniment note located.
Apparatus for sounding at least one accompaniment note with respect to a preselected combination of melody and harmony notes comprising:
- means for recognizing said melody notes and generating a signal responsive to the melody;
- means for recognizing a chord from said harmony notes and generating a signal in response to said chord;
- means for storing at least one accompaniment note which is a function of the harmonic relationship of the melody to the recognized chord and is not a tone of said chord;
- means responsive to said signals for locating said at least one accompaniment note;
- means for generating a signal representative of said at least one accompaniment note;
- and
- means responsive to said last-named means for sounding said at least one accompaniment note.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.