Musical aid

A sleeve for a musical aid comprising an elongate body having at least three ridges extending outwardly from and longitudinally along the musical aid, each ridge having two side surfaces, adjacent ridges of the at least three ridges being shaped to form a concave surface between the adjacent ridges, the concave surface extending longitudinally along the musical aid;

• wherein:
• the sleeve is shaped to fit over the elongate body of the musical aid;
• the sleeve carries at least two sets of key indicating markers, each set of key-indicating markers being positioned such that when the sleeve is placed over the elongate body, the at least two sets of key indicating markers are carried on at least two different side surfaces of the at least three ridges, each set of key-indicating markers representing a different group of one or more types of musical pattern;
• and
• the key-indicating markers of each set are spaced such that when the musical aid, with the sleeve fitted on the elongate body, is located on the keyboard in an orientation in which a selected side surface is at a position at which a root key-indicating marker of the set carried by the selected side surface is positioned above any key of the keyboard, the key beneath the root key-indicating marker forms the root note of a group of one or more musical patterns of the types represented by the set carried by the selected side surface, and the remaining key-indicating markers of the set carried by the selected side surface are positioned above keys of the keyboard that correspond to the remaining notes of the group of musical patterns.

A method of playing a desired musical pattern on a musical keyboard using a musical aid comprising an elongate body having at least three ridges extending outwardly from and longitudinally along the musical aid, each ridge having two side surfaces, adjacent ridges of the at least three ridges being shaped to form a concave surface between the adjacent ridges, the concave surface extending longitudinally along the musical aid, at least two different side surfaces of the at least three ridges carrying respective sets of key-indicating markers, each set of key-indicating markers representing a different group of one or more types of musical pattern;

• the method comprising the steps of:
• selecting a side surface of the musical aid that carries a set of key-indicating markers representing a group of one or more types of musical pattern that includes a type corresponding to the desired musical pattern;
• locating the musical aid on the keyboard in an orientation in which the key-indicating markers of the selected side surface are adjacent to the keys of the keyboard;
• positioning the musical aid such that a root key-indicating marker of the set carried by the selected side surface is positioned above a key of the keyboard that corresponds to a root note of the desired musical pattern;
• and
• playing the desired musical pattern by playing the key positioned below the root key-indicating marker and at least one key positioned below at least one of the remaining key-indicating markers of the set carried by the selected side surface.