Method and apparatus for displaying music piece data such as lyrics and chord data

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,
• wherein if the character string of lyrics are displayed on the display device with some adjoining characters or unit words of the lyrics overlapping each other at least partly, said step of controlling performs control such that the adjoining characters or unit words of the lyrics overlapping each other at least partly are displayed in different display styles so as to be visually distinguished from each other.

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,
• wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• displaying chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, said step of displaying chord information determining respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,
• wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on the display device by said step of causing, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information displayed by said step of displaying chord information.

A music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance;
• and
• displaying information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information by said step of displaying accompaniment information.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the
• performance are displayed in different display styles, wherein said processor causes the display device to display the character string of lyrics in a normal display style, and performs control such that the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on said display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,
• wherein said processor causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on said display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• control, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on said display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• display accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• display chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, wherein respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, are determined such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,
• wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on said display device, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information to be displayed on said display device.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• display accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on said display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance;
• and
• display information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information on said display device.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• display lyrics in accordance with progression of a performance of a music piece, and create data of a display screen that displays, in corresponding relation to display of the lyrics, accompaniment information matching with the progression of the performance, wherein a plurality of the display screens can be created which differ from each other at least in time-axial display scale;
• and
• select one of the display screens and cause said display device to display the selected display screen.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display, by chord names, a chord progression for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• cause said display device to simultaneously display component tones of a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression and component tones of a chord corresponding to a next position in the chord progression in different display styles visually distinguishing therebetween.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• identify an available pitch range of a keyboard to be used for a performance of a music piece;
• and
• cause said display device to display component tones of a chord to be currently performed in accordance with a chord progression of the performance, wherein said processor allows chord component tones to be displayed in a turn-back fashion such that any chord component tones are displayed within the identified available pitch range of the keyboard.

A music-piece-data display controlling apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a processor coupled with said display device and adapted to:
• cause said display device to display lyrics for a predetermined performance section and chord names corresponding to a chord progression in the predetermined performance section, in accordance with progression of the performance;
• and
• make a display indicating, on a diagram simulating a keyboard, component tones of at least a chord corresponding to a current position in the chord progression.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,
• wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the character string of lyrics in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles,
• wherein said step of causing causes the display device to display the accompaniment information in a normal display style, and said step of controlling performs control such that the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position is displayed in a unique first display style different from the normal display style and the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position is displayed in a unique second display style different from both of the normal display style and said first display style.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics and accompaniment information for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the accompaniment information on the display device in such a manner that a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the current position in the progression of the performance and a piece of the accompaniment information corresponding to the next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• controlling, in accordance with the progression of the performance, display of the character string of lyrics on the display device in such a manner that a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a current position in the progression of the performance and a character or unit word of the lyrics corresponding to a next position in the progression of the performance are displayed in different display styles;
• and
• displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• and
• displaying chord information in accordance with the progression of the performance and in corresponding relation to the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, said step of displaying chord information determining respective positions of pieces of the chord information, to be displayed in succession, such that displays of the pieces of the chord information do not overlap each other,
• wherein intervals between characters or unit words in the character string of lyrics, to be displayed on the display device by said step of causing, can be varied to become non-uniform, depending on the positions of the pieces of the chord information displayed by said step of displaying chord information.

A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause said machine to implement a music piece data display method, said music piece data display method comprising the steps of:

• causing a display device to display a character string of lyrics for a predetermined performance section of a music piece, in accordance with progression of a performance of the music piece;
• displaying accompaniment information near the character string of lyrics displayed on the display device, in accordance with the progression of the performance;
• and
• displaying information indicative of performance timing of the accompaniment information, in corresponding relation to display of the accompaniment information by said step of displaying accompaniment information.