Interactive musical instrument instruction system

A musical instrument instruction system, comprising:

• a CD-ROM for storing audio and video musical instrument instructional materials;
• a computer including a graphics display, for retrieving and playing back the instructional materials stored on the CD-ROM;
• means connected to said computer for receiving an input signal from a practice instrument;
• means for selecting a segment of the instructional materials stored on the CD-ROM;
• means for playing back the selected instructional materials, including both the audio and video components thereof;
• and
• means for controlling playback of a musical selection within the selected instructional materials.

A process for learning to play a musical instrument utilizing a computer, comprising the steps of:

• providing both audio and video instructional materials on a CD-ROM storage medium;
• utilizing the computer to select instructional materials to be presented from those stored on the CD-ROM storage medium;
• receiving an input signal from a musical instrument and providing a digital representation of the input signal to the computer to allow monitoring of the musical instrument by the computer;
• selecting delivery parameters for desired playback of the selected instructional material, including the steps of selecting whether or not to display an expert musician playing a selected musical piece in a video display concurrently with audio output of the musical piece by the computer, and controlling the tempo of the musical output generated by the computer without affecting the pitch thereof;
• and
• playing back the selected musical piece in accordance with the selected delivery parameters.

A musical instrument instruction system, comprising:

• means for receiving a line-level input signal from a musical instrument or microphone;
• an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said receiving means and providing as an output digitized signals;
• a CD-ROM for storing audio and video musical instrument instructional materials;
• a computer including a graphics display, for retrieving and playing back the instructional materials stored on the CD-ROM, said computer receiving said digitized signals;
• means for selecting a segment of the instructional materials stored on the CD-ROM;
• means for playing back the selected instructional materials, including both the audio and video components thereof;
• and
• means for controlling playback of a musical selection within the selected instructional materials.