GB2081960A - Music teaching apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Music teaching apparatus comprising a first set of cards and a second set of cards, the cards in each set being of the same height but the cards in the first set being wider than the cards in the second set, the cards in each set being produced to have durable wipe- clean surfaces and five parallel horizontal substantially permanent lines which form a musical stave depicted in the same position on front and back faces of all the cards and bearing a single note on the stave. The cards are white with lines of colour along the top and bottom edges of their front face which respectively denote the pitch of the note, irrespective of the octave, when the card is placed in its up right or inverted position. In use the wide cards may denote white notes on a keyboard while the narrow cards denote black notes. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Music teaching apparatus This invention relates to music teaching apparatus and it relates more especially to music teaching apparatus employing cards.

Hitherto, there has been no comprehensive and simple apparatus for enabling teacher and pupil to discover by simple experiment how music is composed, laid-out and read; and what musical notation is and what it is used for. The known apparatus is often musically uninspiring because it has a limited range of application and is designed to give only restricted opportunity for individual experiment and performance feedback. In addition, the known apparatus often requires specialised and expensive teacher handbooks which further limit a teacher's freedom of invention as well as expecting a certain initial level of musical knowledge by the pupil.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide music teaching apparatus which is an improvement C ar the known music teaching apparatus.

Accordingly, this invention provides music teaching apparatus comprising a first set of cards and a second set of cards, the cards in each set being of the same height but the cards in the first set being wider than the cards in the second set, the cards in each set being produced to have durable wipe-clean surfaces and five parallel horizontal substantially permanent lines which form a musical stave depicted in the same position on front and back faces of all the cards, and the cards being white with a substantially permanent line of colour along the top and bottom edges of their front face whereby when it is decided which is to be the top edge of each card and which is to be the bottom edge then a difference between top and bottom edge colours on the same card represents a difference in pitch of a note depicted thereon irrespective of musical clef considerations.

With the music teaching apparatus of the present invention, pupils can construct melodies quickly without the imagination being constrained by the effort of writing and correcting manuscript sketches. Children especially will have the incentive to learn the craft of music manuscript through copying music that they have composed themselves.

The first set of cards may be twice as wide as the second set of cards. Usually, the first set of cards will represent white notes and the second set of cards will represent black notes.

In other words, the wide cards will represent long notes (i.e. white notes) and the thinner cards will represent short notes (i.e. black notes).

The cards in the first and second sets will usually bear one note on the front face, the notes being substantially permanent and being positioned along a central longitudinal axis of the cards. The cards are produced to have the durable wipe-clean surfaces so that both teacher and pupil can write additional musical information on the cards, for example in a felt tipped pen or other writing instrument using a water-based ink. After a piece of music has been composed and played, the notes added to the cards can be wiped off and the cards can be re-used to keep expenditure on new equipment as low as possible. Usually, only basic information will be substantially permanently provided on the cards and the user of the cards will be expected in due course to add, for example, stems, rests, sharps, flats, barlines, time signatures, tempo and dynamic indications, by hand.Obviously, when this added information is wiped off, the original basic information should not also be wiped off and this is why it must be of a substantially permanent nature. By way of example only, it is mentioned that the basic information and the colours can be provided on cardboard and then covered with a plastics material which receives the additional musical information added by the user and which can be wiped clean, for example with a damp cloth.

The music teaching apparatus of the invention may include a third set of cards which are produced to have durable wipe-clean surfaces bearing five parallel substantially permanent lines which form a musical stave which is in the same position on all the cards, the cards in the third set being of the same size as the cards in the second set. Preferably, the third set of cards represents lozenge shaped notes.

Also preferably, the cards in the third set have notes on the staves, the notes being positioned along an off-centre longitudinal axis of the cards. The cards in the third set will usually be produced in the same material as the cards in the first and second set of cards.

The music teaching apparatus may include a box for containing the cards. The box may have a vacuum formed interior portion. The box may also contain an instruction book and one or more writing instruments, for example one or more felt tip pens.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a card in the first set of cards; Figure 2 shows a card in the second set of cards; Figure 3 shows a card in the third set of cards; Figure 4 shows a range of first set cards; Figure 5 shows a part of a range of second set 5 shows pars or a rang or cards; set cards; Figure 6 shows part of a range of third set cards on the obverse face of the cards; Figure 7 shows the part of the range of the third set cards but on the reverse face of the cards; and Figure 8 shows part of a set of auxiliary cards.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 there is shown respectively an example of cards from first, second and third sets of cards. It will be noted that the cards are all the same height, with the first set card of Fig. 1 being twice as wide as the second and third set cards of Figs. 2 and 3. All the cards have wipe clean plastics surfaces. The wider first set card has a white note and the narrower second and third set cards have black notes.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show the obverse face of part of first, second and third sets of cards respectively, the color coding being as indicated. On the reverse sides of the first and second set cards, there is printed the stave only and there is no colour coding. The reverse sides of the third set cards are shown in Fig. 7. The colour coding at the edge of the cards divorces the position of the note from the idea of a fixed clef or pitch. Different notes an octave apart will preferably have the same edge colours.

The musical information that has to be retained on the cards, e.g. the colours, the staves and the basic notes, are printed, inscribed or otherwise permanently printed on the cards so that it will not get wiped off as the cards are being cleaned. The musical information that is added by a user of the cards can be wiped off so that the cards can be re-used.

It is to be appreciated that whilst the cards will usually be made from cardboard having a plastics surface, the cards could be entirely made of a plastics material and even a metal.

The term card as used herein is thus intended to include the use of materials other than cardboard.

Auxiliary cards giving, for example clef, are shown in Fig. 8. These auxiliary cards are preferably of narrow width as illustrated and they may be designed to be used where a precise specification of the pitch of notes in the cards is desired.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiment of the invention described above has been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the colour codes on the cards can be different and a crayon or chalk could be used instead of a pen. Also, the cards can be used at secondary music teaching level or higher, as a means of explaining more complicated musical matters such for example as transposition, inversion and cantus firmus. Further, the cards can be used as an aide-memoire for composers or the cards can be randomly shuffled in an attempt to compose new music.

The cards can have clear film is desired for the addition of chords. The cards can be produced in large sizes for teaching purposes and they can be magnetic if desired. A template can be provided with guides for notes, leger lines, rests, accidentals and staves or other musical information which might want to be added to the basic information on the cards.

Claims (11)

1. Music teaching apparatus comprising a first set of cards and a second set of cards, the cards in each set being of the same height but the cards in the first set being wider than the cards in the second set, the cards in each set being produced to have durable wipeclean surfaces and five parallel horizontal substantially permanent lines which form a musical stave depicted in the same position on front and back faces of all the cards, and the cards being white with a substantially permanent line of colour along the top and bottom edges of their front face whereby when it is decided which is to be the top edge of each card and which is to be the bottom edge then a difference between top and bottom edge colours on the same card represents a difference in pitch of a note depicted thereon irrespective of musical clef considerations.

2. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 1 in which the first set of cards are twice as wide as the second set of cards.

3. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 2 in which the first set of cards represents white notes and the second set of cards represents black notes.

4. Music teaching apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the cards in the first and second sets bear one note on the front face, the notes being substantially permanent and being positioned along a central longitudinal axis of the cards.

5. Music teaching apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and including a third set of cards which are produced to have durable wipe-clean surfaces bearing five parallel substantially permanent lines which form a musical stave which is in the same position on all the cards, the cards in the third set being of the same size as the cards in the second set.

6. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 5 in which the third set of cards represents lozenge shaped notes.

7. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 5 or claim 6 in which the cards in the third set have notes on the staves, the notes being positioned along an off-centre longitudinal axis of the cards.

8. Music teaching apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and including a box for containing the cards.

9. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 8 in which the box has vacuum formed interior portion.

10. Music teaching apparatus according to claim 8 or claim 9 in which the box also contains an instruction book and one or more writing instruments.

11. Music teaching apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.