GB2450692A

GB2450692A - A system for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task

Info

Publication number: GB2450692A
Application number: GB0712784A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Flannery
Original assignee: SHOWMEHOWTOPLAY Ltd
Current assignee: SHOWMEHOWTOPLAY Ltd
Priority date: 2007-07-02
Filing date: 2007-07-02
Publication date: 2009-01-07
Also published as: GB0712784D0

Abstract

A system for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task includes a database comprising selectively grouped computer readable data files each executable to demonstrate how to perform an element 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d of a multi-element task. Each data file in a group corresponds to an individual element of the multi- element task. The system includes means for downloading a group of data files from the database and means for effecting the synchronous execution of any multiple of data files in the downloaded group. Means 3a, 3b, 4, 5a, 5b, 6, 7, 8 is also included for manipulating the content of a data file, which may be an audio or video file, in the group independently of other files in the group. The system may be used for teaching music and the playing of musical instruments. A plurality of students may participate, by connecting to an internet server, with each student studying different elements of the task.

Description

I 2450692

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TUTORING

INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF A MULTI-ELEMENT TASK

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for tutoring and selectively mastering individual elements of a multi-element task. More particularly, the invention relates to an interactive system providing, in synchrony, multiple demonstrations of individual elements of a multi-element task from which individual elements can be isolated, studied and mastered and the user enabled to perform the mastered element in synchrony with the other elements of the multi-element task for tuition, education or entertainment purposes.

The invention has many applications including, but not strictly limited to the teaching of individual elements of a complex piece of music, acting roles in a multi-part script or cooking of various parts of a meal.

Traditional methods of teaching include teacher to pupil interaction, consultation with a book, video recording, website or the like and repetition of pre-programmed tasks which might be demonstrated by a piece of equipment, for example an electrical piano or other computer controlled instrument. Such methods can be effective but do not provide the tutee with the experience of performing the task being taught as part *. of a larger, multi-part performance. Such experience only becomes possible usually after the task has been mastered to a degree and only by coordination with other : parties who are equipped simultaneously to undertake the remaining parts of the * performance. * ** * S S

* . The present invention seeks to provide a system whereby individuals can, without the S.....

* assistance or cooperation of others, educate themselves in individual elements of a multi-element task and practice the individual elements in synchrony with the other elements. The multi-element task may, for example, be a piece of music written for a band or orchestra and the individual task a vocal or music for an individual instrument written into the piece of music.

In accordance with a first aspect the present invention provides a method for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task comprising; for each element, providing a computer readable data file which can be executed to demonstrate how to perform the element; synchronising the simultaneous execution of the data files; on command, omitting execution of one or more of the data files.

In another aspect, the invention provides a system for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task comprising; a database comprising selectively grouped computer readable data files each executable to demonstrate how to perform an element of a multi-element task, each data file in a group corresponding to an individual element of a multi-element task defined by the group means for downloading a group of data files from the database; means for effecting the synchronous execution of any multiple of data files in the downloaded group; means for manipulating content of a data file in the group independently of other files . in the group.

... In accordance with the invention, multiple related elements of a multi-element task may be demonstrated simultaneously to a participant. One or more of the individual * ** elements of the task may be selected and studied independently of the others enabling the participant to tutor himself and practice or rehearse the individual S.....

* elements in a group. At the participant's convenience, files performing other elements of the multiple element task can be synchronously executed without the studied element enabling the participant to perform the individually studied element in the context of a multi-element performance of the task.

Optionally, the system may be configured to facilitate the participation of a plurality of participants, each individually studying a different element of the task.

Optionally, the system includes means for uploading a file to a group and adapting the file to enable synchronous execution of the file with other files in the group. In this embodiment, a participant is enabled to record his performance and review it when played back to him in the context of a complete performance of the multi-element task.

Optionally, when an individual element file is isolated for study, the system is configured to enable manipulation of the content of the file to facilitate learning of the task. For example, where task is performance of a piece of music, the speed may be manipulated. In other examples a video or audio file might be stopped, paused, rewound or fast forwarded.

Alternatively, a participant may elect to manipulate the content of a file other than that which he is studying, for example, he may simply alter volume of one or more of the individual element files to better hear a particular element. * * ****

The multiple data files in a group may be of different types, for example, there may be one or more audio only files and one or more video plus audio files. *** *

The system may include an internet server with access to the database and a plurality of personal computers with access to the internet server. Multiple synchronised data *.**** * files in a group may be selected by a user accessing a website promoting a service If.

which utilises the system and then may be downloaded for synchronous execution on the user's PC.

An embodiment of the invention will now be further described with reference to the following figures in which: Figure 1 shows the screen display of a computer application performing the method in accordance with the invention.

As can be seen from Figure 1, the display shows four video screens with sound, a rhythm guitar la, drums lb, lead guitar lc and bass guitar id. Associated with each screen is a separate data file, the files are displayed synchronously so as to demonstrate simultaneously four independent musical pieces which combine to produce a familiar musical track. In addition there are represented three audio files vocal 2a, metronome 2b and extras 2c which may, for example demonstrate backing vocals to the main vocal demonstrated by 2a. Again, these audio flIes are executed simultaneously with the remaining files la, lb, ic, id to produce a complete musical track with vocals.

Associated with each file are icons which, when selected by a user manipulate the *:** execution of the collective files. The icons shown include; SOLO 3a, permitting a solo performance of the selected piece, MUTE 3b, permitting muting the audio of the selected piece and a volume slide 3c for adjusting the volume of the selected piece.

File selection is by clicking on the area in which the appropriate file is displayed.

*:*::* To the bottom left of the display is a virtual control panel consisting of a plurality of icons which, when selected effect execution of a function in relation to the appropriate S.....

* files. These include PLAY 4, REWIND 5a, FAST FORWARD Sb, RESET 6, PAUSE 7, REPLAY 8.

By selectively manipulating the synchronously executed files, the user can isolate components of an entire musical performance for closer study, master these in his own time and then enjoy the experience of performing the mastered part himself in the context of a complete performance.

Whilst the example shown provides 7 files in synchronicity, the number may be more or less than this depending on the practical number of pieces into which the complete musical work may be divided. It will occur to the skilled addressee that additional capability to manipulate individual files could be embodied in a similar product, for example but without limitation, , audio or video files might be slowed down to allow an inexperienced user to study more easily or to play along with the more experienced demonstrators at his own pace. In such an embodiment, the pitch of any audio may be corrected to its original pitch so as to avoid distortion of the music.

The application may form part of a website service which provides other material of interest to the user. A more detailed specification of such a website is given below, the website and its administrator are referred to for example as SMHTP.

Site Areas -Summary * ** * * * * S.

* Video (for Multiplayer/Jam Tracks/Lessons). Summary of video content and S...

preview/full stream. Links to related content. Option to download for a fee. 450w by338h S..

*:.::: * Features -articles reviews and interviews S.....

* * Artist/Song/Album Encyclopaedia -Sourced from All Music Guide' (AMG). The AMG database will supply us with details of artists/band members/sidemen/songs/album as well as media such as photographs album covers. Music videos/features/gear can then be linked to accurate musical information * Lessons -Musical tuition. In the form of video and flash applications. The flash applications will consist of learning tools such as a chord finder.

* Community -Area for users to register themselves either as an artist or a member of a band. Certain social networking areas will be incorporated such as a friend' system, message boards, blog and gigs/gig invites * Classifieds for Musicians -Artist/Bands can find musician looking for a band.

Conversely artists can advertise themselves as looking for a band.

* Gear -Resource of different musical instruments. Details of an instrument will be added to the system along with a photo. The item can then be linked to songs/a gear review or any other relevant content.

* Forum -A standard user forum (PhpBB) for discussing any aspect of the site. * ** * S S * SI *SS. * I I... * S * S..

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Video (Admin) All video content will be uploaded by SMHTP via ftp to an appropriate account and directory.

All main directories will have three subfolders, one for the full video, and one for a preview the third for an image of the view if a preview cannot be generated. A preview does not need to exist Once a video is uploaded, a SHTMP admin will login and create a data entry for it. A video data entry will consist of the following data fields (actual names not shown): Video Type ( via video Multiplayer, jam track or lesson. This will category_id) determine where the video appears Video Path The physical path to the video Video Title & Subtitle Obvious URL Title The title that will appear in the internet address bar (un) important for SEO Song link Link video to a song S.. ________________________________ *. Display Should the video be displayed on the site Price Obvious * Video is free Checkbox to indicate whether video can be .5 downloaded for free *** Free confirm Checkbox as above to act as a double check : Stream Allow streaming video Video description Descriptive text to appear on the video display page Copyright_material This will indicate whether the track is eligible to pay a license fee.

Downloaded The number of times a video has been downloaded, to be used in most popular lists Date added Obvious Video Links (Admin) A video can be linked to any other related video. Songs linked to a video automatically link related bands/band members to that video.

Features, lessons also be linked to any video but this must be done via their respective admin areas.

Linking process When a video item has been created, two link options will become available. * **

1. Link this video to a song I...

"*-e 2. Link this video to another video 3. Link gear played on the video A video can be linked to one or many other videos, a video can only be linked to one song. The link process for linking a video will present the user with a list of available videos to which they can link the video is question.

When linking a song the user will be able to search the music database and select the song to be linked to the video.

The process is linking gear to a track is somewhat more complicated. Firstly once a gear item has been linked to the video, the user needs to add who played the instrument on the track either: * an AMG artist (such as some session musician my be sourced in the AMG database) * or a SMHTP session musician which will have a user profile of the site * or neither A difficulty must then be set which will correspond to the aforementioned colour coded images. Any peripheral notes about the instruments on the track can be added

in a notes field

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Field Description

video_gear_xref_id Auto increment id * * video id link to the video :. gear_id link to the equipment user_id link to a SMHTP user_id who plays on the track artist_id or a link to an actual artist from AMG who plays on * ** the track o so * difficulty Difficulty level beginner. Intermediate, advanced * **.., notes Any notes about this instrument played on the track display is this gear item ready to be displayed Video (Front End) Multiplayer Main Page The initial display will contain a list of either the most recent added videos with a thumbnail preview of the video and title. Another display will be a list of the most popular (downloaded) videos.

Underneath the aforementioned displays will be an aiphabetised list of mulitplayer videos as follows AtiTE rinstrumnS( tolbUP kev - r & f- -. r , , Yesterday Beatles 13th March and other colour 2007 *:*::* coded instruments of red, amber and green to indicate difficulty Next to Song, Artist and Date added will be an up/down arrow to allow the user to sort the table by that field in ascending/descending order.

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Clicking on the song title will take you to the multiplayer page for that video. gI

Multiplayer Page By clicking on a song link from the multiplayer main page the user is taken to the multiplayer song page. A streaming video preview will appear and alongside it related song information. The song information displayed (sourced from AMG) is: * Band name * Band members who played on the track * Song authors * Date released * Chart success * Producer * General information about the track Any links generated from the AMG content i.e. band member name, will link through to the music encyclopaedia pages.

At the bottom of the page will be related links from the video. Some of these links will be hard' links (i,e, a feature linked to a video) or derived links, (i.e. you can derive that a video linked to the song Yesterday' is linked to The Beatles'.) *... * S

Lessons that reference the song or reviews of gear featured in the song would be * considered a related link. S..

If a user has not bought the multiplayer track a download link will be viewable below the preview video. i2.

Video (Download) All videos that a user has bought will be in an area called My Videos. From this area users can see what videos they have bought. Users can naturally download these videos as many times as they like.

When, on a video page, a user clicks on Download Now' link they will be taken to a payment page.

The payment page will prompt for card details of popular banking cards. The reason we are not storing the credit card details is twofold: 1. You need to have a card management system for multiple cads 2. You are holding customer banking details which make you liable for their security The transaction will be covered by a 128b1t Secure Socket Layer probably through Verisign. Once the transaction has been completed the users will be emailed an *:*::* invoice and the video will appear in their My Videos' section ready for download. S... * S ***.

The payment gateway will be provided by Secure Trading'. However Paypal will be ,., supported if the cost is viable. *

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Database Table user_ purchase

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Field Description

user_purchase_id Auto increment Id user_id video_id purchase date payment_rn eth od Last 6 card digits Artist/Song/Album Encyclopaedia With data sourced from the All Music Guide (AMG), video content can be linked to official, up-to-date information about artists, songs and albums.

The primary data connection to a video is a song. This in turn will link to artists, albums and any other data supplied by AMG. The graphical media for artist/band/album images will also be supplied by AMG.

A large quantity of instruments (GEAR) can be sourced from the AMG, although detailed models are not available. There will be a process of linking instruments to a ** song and also setting a difficulty from beginner, intermediate and advanced. Musical genres can also be initially sources from the database n... The entire AMG database will have to be updated monthly, so a process will have to be put in place to accommodate this. The data will have to be updated on a separate * *. server (to avoid the performance hit on the live server) then the database * transferred. * S

Whenever a song, artist or band name is displayed in the site the user will be taken to an appropriate encyclopaedia page. AMG currently use formats to indicate whether text is a song, artist or band using the following system: -Album title & -Song title/classical composition title + -Play/musical/opera title -Company (studios, labels, distributors, TV stations, radio stations) $ -Persons name present in the Name database -Character name or important name not present in the Name database / -web hyperlink (http:// portion can be dropped) \ -Term present in the Term database i.e. {2Oth Century Records} {$Lieber}-{$Stoller} hit {&"I'm A Woman") {Ayou Don't Know What You're In For) The above format could be used by feature writer to create hyperlinks to artists/songs/albums; either that or create new, more user friendly codes.

There is an issue of compatibility with the AMG data structure and MySQL as some of

*:::* the table/field names are reserved words.

There will be an option to link relevant data to AMG artists/bands that is not contained in the AMG database e.g. band website address

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* Gear/Instruments (Admin) * S* * S S * ** * S.....

* * Gear/Instruments will consist of a database of instrument information. An admin will be able to add instruments and a picture. Initially the gear database can be preloaded with data from the All Music Guide database.

Instruments will have to be allocated a top level category (i.e. guitar) in order to be associated with an icon in the video lists (where instrument difficult on a track is indicated by a colour coded icon). Instruments may need to be allocated a subcategory as well, but this will be optional depending on the instrument.

Once a gear item has been created it may be then linked to a song or feature.

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Field Description

gear_id Auto increment id Make Model Title

Description Year

Category_id i.e. Guitar *..** Sub_Category_id 12 string :.:: Electric Y/N is the instrument *.. I electric *** date_added * added_by * date_updated . last_updated_by * ISI II _________________________________ * image_id The following main categories of instrument are suggested lb Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, Keys, Studio, Live, Strings, Horns, Other The defined sub-categories will be created by the SMHTP admin Lessons (Admin) Lessons consist of collections of 1 or more videos. There are also three lesson applications namely Chord Finder, Scale Finder and Ear Training.

Videos lessons are categorised by their instrument, difficulty and lesson type e.g. Guitar, beginner, and rhythm. Lessons will be further categorised into Harmony, Rhythm and Feel; Lessons will be streamed but there will be the option to download the either individually or as a pack.

A video lesson entity consists of the following * ** W4 *::: :* .4 : ?-.- . -tjr

Field Description

* lesson_id Auto increment id Gear_id guitar ****** * * lesson_type rhythm, harmony or feel title Harmony

description I-i

difficulty intermediate, advanced Download_pack Are the lessons available as a download pack? display should the lesson be displayed date_added Added_by date_updated last_updated_by When a lesson has been added, it can then be linked to many lesson videos (a lesson can only be aligned to videos which are of type lesson). The linking entity consists of the following. ?

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Field Description

lesson_video_xref_Jd Auto increment Id * *. lesson Id associated lesson * * * * *. _______________________________ _______________________________ video_id associated video *.** _________________________________ lesson_number #3 *.. date_added ** added_by * ** date_updated * last_updated_by ****** _________________________________ _________________________________

* description

An Image of a musical score can be uploaded to the lesson. This will appear (when clicked on) in full screen popup.

Lessons can be linked to other lessons, videos, features or gears at the lesson or video level.

Lessons (Front End) When a user visits the lesson section of the website they are presented with a display of the most recently added lessons. This will take the format of an image of the instrument the lesson is linked to and the lesson title.

Beneath the display will be a list of all the available instruments that have lessons. It would be useful to have some kind of graphical manifestation of an instrument be it a photo or a design. Otherwise we can just list the instruments and place next to each the number of available lessons.

When a user selects a lesson instrument they are then taken to that instruments lesson Home Page'. As with the lesson main page they will see a list of the most recently added lessons but only for that instrument. Beneath this the user has the option of selecting the difficulty of beginner, intermediate or advanced. S. e. * ..*

Once a user has chosen an instrument and difficulty, they will be taken to a page listing out all the available lessons by category and title and well and indicating how many parts (videos) the lesson consists of.

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Clicking on a lesson takes you to the first lesson page. The streaming short preview of the lesson will begin while textual information about the lesson will be displayed alongside. The user will have the option to jump to the next part of the lesson as the available lesson parts will be available underneath the lesson text. The user will have the option to download the lesson At the bottom of the page is a selection of links related to that lesson.

Lesson Applications The lesson applications will be free to use tuition tools consisting of a chord finder a scale finder and ear training.

Development of the ear training application would be best suited to Flex which is a tool to create rich Internet applications using the Flash platform. Flex will need to be used as the applications will need to constantly dynamically source information from the web server for the purposes of displaying musical notes based on user input and also playing these notes.

The scale and chord finder will be developed using JavaScript and Ajax. When combinations of keys are pressed an image file will be loaded up showing the ::: appropriate scale/chord The scale and chord finder will also offer the user the opportunity to view a video or listen to an audio file of the chord/scale that has been created.

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It will also be possible to link a chord to a lesson. *S.*s

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Lesson Application (Chord Finder) The Chord finder shows someone how to play a particular chord. The chord is constructed from the user clicking (in this order): 1. A key a,b,c,d,e,f,g 2. A chord shape e.g. c major 3. A chord colour k 111 I *IUU *aiiu ** *UU Ill_si I Ill 1J)Y. * I. * * . * *. * a.. * S *4..*

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When the initial key (or root note) is selected the four star-bng points (shown in blue) will appear on the grid. Choosing a chord shape will place the rest of the chord *S.s.* positions on the grid (shown in yellow).

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Choosing a chord colour will move some of the final chord notes (yellow) to different chord positions to complete the new chord.

The final chord name (in this case D7) will be displayed in the top right corner of the application. Beneath this will be an option to either hear an audio track of the chord being played or see a video of the chord being played.

The data for this application will need to be properly sourced. The requirements are an image of every potential chord combination. An audio and video file will need to be created for every chord again following a naming convention based on key, chord and colour.

Lesson Application (Scale Finder) The scale finder follows the same models as the chord finder with one or two subtle differences.

There are more combinations of notes * * The colours' are categorised into Major and Minor pentatonic * Choosing a colour' will add two notes to the grid apart from if Minor pentatonic harmonic is chosen which will move one of the pentatonic minor notes. I. * *** S.. * .. * p * * *i

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14. Lesson Application (Ear Training) This application tests the user's ability to hear a note and guess the name of the note.

There are 34 notes available (in the key of C starting at C Major) and the number notes decrease depending on how low the difficulty setting is e.g. a difficulty of one will only offer a test consisting of three notes, When the user starts the game the root note will play and then a random note. The user will be prompted to guess the random note. If they click on the correct note then their score increases otherwise they are informed at the bottom of the grid of the correct note. It would seem natural to assume that is a user gets a note wrong then the correct note is highlighted. However this will lead users to associate correct answers with a position on the grid rather than aural learning.

The game will last depending on how many questions it is determined the player should provide. At the end of the game the user will be give their final score. We can keep track of the user's progress over time by storing their scores on their account. * *S * * * * S.

* There will be an option to turn off the sound of the root note every time the game plays.

34 audio files will have to be provided for the application.

Community * . A user within the system will have access to a range of social networking tools. These are: * Friend requests/invites * A bulletin board * A blog system * A system of posting and inviting your friends to gigs * Classifieds for searching for artists to want or want someone to join a band Community (User Profile) A user in the system can exist in several ways. A registered user can be considered as an individual or an artist/musician. However they may wish to be part of a band.

Therefore a user may wish to register their band' and then add other users as band members. Band

The band process will require the following. A user can register a band once they have registered themselves. In registering a band the user can then add their self to the band and any other members who are registered. Band profiles can also show a *:::: history of current and past members.

Band Admin

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The user who created the band will determine the login and password for the band.

They will have to give this password to other band members if they want to administer the band pages User Gear 2c Users can add gear to their profile to indicate which instruments they play. This operation will need to be repeated if a user is attached to a band as a user who can play the piano may not necessarily play it in the associated band User AMG Link It is possible that a band or an artist may be a signed recording artist (and therefore will be available on AMG). It will be possible to link a band/artist/session musician to the official AMG database identity but this will have to be done by a SMHTP administrator.

User Influences Both band and user will be able to cite influences. The user will be able to link an undetermined amount of (AMG) artists/bands totheir profile/band. These artists will show up as links on the users profile page.

Community (User Profile) *... * * S...

User Videos *. * * * S**

A user can link many You Tube' videos to their profile. One of which they can set as default to load automatically on their profile page.

User Genres An artist and band will need to state their music genres. This data will be sourced from the AMG initially though more musical genres could be added. This would be very relevant when searching for artists User Data Object A user profile will contain the following main field tb:as:e Taj: us

Fi&d Description

user_id user type Artist, band or individual forename for artist surname for artist name for bands display_name The display name is important as it will form the url for the users profile page i.e. www.smhtp.com/john smith www.smhtp.com/guns and roses S...

Therefore this will have to be unique bio mini biography *:*::* dob town_id * country_id website date_registered last login most recent login date u sern a me password email Community (Disputes) It needs to be appreciated that there could be conflicts with people naming themselves as famous band or local band with the same name. Conversely a signed band may register only to find the local band has taken their name. An administrator will need to be on hand to deal with these issues, An idea may be to offer the most active site users total free content in order to act as site administrators.

Community (Blog System) Users will have the opportunity to blog' within their profile. A blog is essentially an * * ... online diary. A blog will consist purely of a title, body text and a date added/last **** updated. The blog posts' or entries will be available on the users profile page ordered :. by date added. A user viewing a blog post can add comments to the post which will appear beneath the post. All the comment will be displayed ordered by the date S..

added. The user who created the blog will have the ability to delete comments posted to their blog or ban the user who posted the comment from posting again.

*5***S Community (Friend System) A user can request to be another user's friend. This will allow the requester (if accepted) to posts comments to a users bulletin board and send them gig notifications. The accepter conversely in accepting has the same abilities on the requesters account Users will be able to see their outstanding friend requests and who is currently requesting to be their friend. A user will have the option to approve or deny a friend request. If a friend request is accepted then the requesting user will appear in the accepting user's friends list. The accepting user now has the same account abilities to post as the requesting users (i.e. post comments to another bulletin board). In denying a friend request the request will be removed from the user's outstanding requests page and from the requesters pending requests page.

Community (Classifieds) Admin A user can create a classified advert for themselves as wanting to join a band or *:::. looking for a particular musician. s * I

When a user adds a classified advert there are two options: I. S. * **.

1. I am looking to join a band *:::* 2. I am looking for a band member The user now enters the following information to create a classified.

A title for the advert' 2.1 * Whether they are looking to join a band or looking for a band member * a bit of blurb stating what they are looking for/about them * whether they are looking for a band/musician either in their town/county, select counties, or anywhere * what genres of music they play When this data is saved the classified will entry appear in the classifieds' of the users' admin section. They will be listed by date posted, classified type and classified title.

A user can edit an existing classified or delete one.

Users can also see a list of classifieds that they have favourited' (see below). As before these can be deleted.

Front End When users view the classified section they will be presented with a preview of the most recently added musician wanted and band wanted classifieds (as separates).

Clicking on one of these classifieds will take you to the classified detail. * . **e*

:. Classified Search

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The user will be able to search classifieds from the main page. A user can search *._:: classifieds by the following criteria: 5**. 55 5 * find a looking musician or band * search for an instrument or all 3c * what genre of music or all * town or all * county or all The results will be displayed listing 1-10 show the user picture, classified title and date posted. As the user navigates through the pages they can drill down to view a classified details.

Postcodes or a distance calculator may be useful in order to display the search results by distance. However there is charge from the post office for sourcing this information.

Community (Classifieds) -continued Front End -continued Classified Detail This will display some basic details of the user profile e.g. influences, instruments *:*:* played as well as their blurb text and what genres they are into. S... * S S...

:. At the bottom of each classified will be an Add to Favourites' button. This button will * record the classifieds in the users' classifieds section for their perusal. They can be accessed by clicking on their My Classifieds' link (see above in Admin). * ** * S S

* . Classifieds Communication *..*.. S *

User wilt need to be able to communicate through this system somehow. Therefore a rudimentary system of messaging must be put in place and there are several options for this: 1. Allow the user to become a friend and therefore send messages (if we allow an internal mail system) 2. You have an active classified you can be contacted with a one off enquiry from anyone (maybe send a phone number or email address).

3. If someone favourite a classified then you can contact then as long as you are in their favourites list. * ** * * S * ** S... * S * *.. S. *. * S.. S..

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Community (Message Board) Any friend can post to a users bulletin board. A user's bulletin board will appear on their profile page and will show a name/picture of who sent the message and the message itself. The most recent 10 posts will be shown.

The links to post to a message board are on a users profile page at the top of the message board. By clicking Add message' the user is taken to a simple page for adding a textual message with a simple button to add a comment.

Community (Gigs) Artists/Bands will have the ability to add gigs to their profiles. They can then send out gig invitations to all their friends'. If the recipient accepts the invitation then the gig can be put in their personal gig calendar.

A user can set an option on their account to block gig announcements. If this is the case then all their friends' gigs will appear on their profile in my friends' gigs' display. S... * . Admin *

When a user clicks on my gigs' they will have the option to add gigs. A gig consists of *:*::* the following **. * S rJ -

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Field Description

gig_id Auto increment id date_time date and time of gig venue name name of an associated venue gig_notes any supplemental notes about the gig announced indicated whether this gig has been announced cancelled whether gig has been cancelled When a gig has been added the will appear in a list of available gigs. Existing gigs may then be edited and may be deleted if a gig announcement has not been sent out A gig announcement can be sent out to all the users' friends. This may only be done once. A gig may be cancelled too; if this is done the gig will still appear in gig lists but with a red cancelled next to announce its cancellation.

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If a user has Allow gig announcements' set to ON', they will notice on their proflle page if they have a gig request. Clicking on the gig requests' page will show the user a list of who is playing the gigs and the date and venue.

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*:*::* The user will now have an option to accept or remove the gig request. If the user accepts the request, the gig will appear on the profile page in a display called my friends gigs'. If the user accepts or removes the request, the request will be removed from the list. 3L

Features! Reviews/Articles Admin A feature can be categorised as an article, review or interview. Also a category may have a noun association such as gear/artist/album to indicate what the feature is about.

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W1W1.reqeei tdwsd is piii I 4, L L b; *tedI,6I 9ttei, M It hic ifs, itt It cs,wc4 I4TI TETMIA _______________ feds peswIm ehmtb It c4i, is,lana ThttMI w, ___________________ * * The feature text will be added using TinyMCE text editor. This editor is Open Source and allows users to enter formatted text using similar controls found in any S.. S mainstream word processor 9 (such as Word). The text can also be styled depending on style sheets associated with the website. (example left)It has been stated that :. quoting' text in the format seen right (from the BBC News website) is an important requirement. * .. * . . * .. S...-

Ginger co * * ture Cell Biology on Sunday. 29 O 03 or Chns RELATED El * believe it kscredIbly.mart we Just 4 i BBC Healt tand the shave tu bd smirterY( !=4 RELATED II cancers j' Cancer Re w they Profeior Chris Paraskrvuteam The BBC is 3 contsnt of, TOP BRIflC , * Major edv The user must be allowed to link videos INSIDE to the article as well as up to 2 images. There will also be the possibility of adding related links to a feature of Artists, bands, songs, albums, gear lessons, multiplay videos or features ptrbte1:; featutet

Field Description

feature_id Auto increment id feature_type article, review or interview type_association gear/artist/album or none title un_title the title of the article to appear in the un subtitle body_text main_article_text display should it be shown on the site yet date_added date_updated :E: updated_by _____________________________________ : Features/Reviews/Articles (continued)

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When the user visits the feature admin area they will be presented with a list of existing features ordered by title and date added. They can sort the existing list of 3b features by feature type, name or date added. The list of features will be paged in blocks of 20.

The user can now either add a new feature or modify an existing one. A user can also manage images in the image library that will be the source for the images to be used in features.

If a user decides to add/modify a feature they will be presented with the fields from the aforementioned database table into which to add the data.

It will be the feature writer's responsibility to make sure that the feature being created is styled properly. All styles available to the website will be easily accessible through the TinyMCE editor.

The user will be able to preview the article before making it available to view on the site.

As mentioned in the AMG data page, we can hyperlink to Artists/Songs/Albums by using a specified format i.e. {$Lieber}-{$Stoller} {&Tm A Woman")

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*:*::* Quite obviously the features front-end will display the full article with its associated videos and images down the page. Around the feature will be related linked in *S.SSS * content. Depending on the system on templating we create, users will be able to see hyperlinks to songs, artists and albums within the article text.

Other Content Areas Dynamic Content Around the documented pages will be small areas of dynamic content (such a recent video releases) and small applications (such as votes and polls).

A multiplayer voting application will give the user an opportunity to vote for the song they would most like to see recorded as a multiplayer track.

A large amount of content can be sourced from admin and user operations/action.

These will be: * Top video downloads * Recent features/gear reviews/jam track videos/multiplayer videos! * Newest users * Forthcoming gigs * Most popular gigs * Latest! Most read blog entries * ** * * S * *. * S.. * *.*

Feedback Registered users will be able to leave feedback on every page that contains content.

*:*::* At some place on the page users will see a Feedback' icon or text. Clicking on this will : take the user to a page with a subject and message text boxes and an optional email address field* into which the user can then add their comments then click send feedback'. A database entry of the feedback, plus the address of the page in question will be added.

A report will need to be written to enable SMHTP administrators to view the user feedback and possibly reply to the user in question.

* only if you want non registered members to be allowed to leave feedback Advertising The site will rely on advertising for a proportion of its revenue and will therefore require an advertising module. This area also needs to be tied to the PRS/royalty stats reporting.

Current advertising affiliate areas required are for EBay, Itunes and Ticket Master.

The task of registering as an affiliate for all advertising opportunities will be the responsibility of SMHTP.

There has been no clear specification provided at this time of any advertising requirements. * S. * . . * S. S...

PRS Stats * * * S..

Due to the fact that copyrighted material will be played on the site, details of play rates must be sent to The MCPS-PRS Alliance. The format of stats (be it JOL1 or JOL2) has still not been determined and will need to be done so with SMHTP and *.

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This report must be sent out quarterly. 30t Forum

This is a forum for discussing any area of the site or musical area. This functionality will be provided by PhBB. This is a very stable and widely used forum package, so it's likely that many of the sites potential users will be familiar with its method of operation.

There will need to be some thought given to who will administer the forum. Most sites nominate users who post lots of well read/written threads to act as administrators.

Their main role is to censor users who post inappropriate material and to move posts to correct categories when they are posted incorrectly.

The forum will need to be redesigned by Eight day design in order to match the look of the SMF-ITP website The forum has a built in administration area for SMHTP to administer the site.

Other addons * .* * . S S055 MP3 Downloads! Live Sessions 050S It has been identified that there is a requirement for a further download section of the website. The Live Sessions section of the site will incorporate specialised live * recordings by key artists. The section will offer both video and audio files for streaming, download and MP3 files.

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Mu/tip/a yer Functionality Overview The player opens a movie file and presents a single window containing four panels showing the QuickTime video which plays simultaneously.

There are four audio video tracks and three extra audio tracks such as vocals, metronome and extra production.

The multiplayer will be written and constructed to allow the playing of audio and video simultaneously.

Each video panel will have three controls Mute, Volume and Solo. Clicking Mute will turn of the audio for that video track. Clicking Solo will mute all the other audio tracks leaving only the soloed' track playing. When the mute icon is clicked this will change to indicate mute is on, when clicked again the track will un-mute and the icon change back.

The main controls for the player will be "Play", "Pause", "Stop", "Rewind", "Fast *. Forward", "Loop" and "Reset Sound". The Reset Sound' contro! restores sound on a11 * S..

tracks (if for example a user has muted two tracks).

Functionality will be provided to allow the video image within one of the four panels to * *. be enlarged to full screen viewing. Similar functionality will reset the video image to . the four panel presentation.

*S.*S* * * A user will have the following options (via File menu system or Mac equivalent): * Open (a video) which then show a File System Explorer common dialog box.

* Exit (the application) Displayed on screen will be a list of the extra audio tracks available together with the ability to mute, solo and adjust the volume as required.

The application will automatically check to see if an updated version of the player is available and offer the user the opportunity to download and install it.

Multiplayer Copy Protection We will implement a basic copy protection system. This will operate in the following ways: a) A user registers and then downloads the multiplayer application b) On installation of the application the user will be prompted for their Show Me How To Play (SMHTP) username and password in order to tie the .. reaistration with an identifiable item of computer hardware. This will be *..

achieved through the retrieval of a key that is associated with the users' computer *** * *. c) When a user tries to play a file that has been loaded into the multiplayer, the player will automatically login into the users account via an active ***** * Internet connection. This procedure will be undertaken so as to confirm that the user has purchased the video and that the multiplayer is running on known hardware (a Phase 2 It is proposed that in Phase Two of the multiplayer development, users will be provided with the option to create their own mix of the video.

It is proposed that this is achieved via the selection of a video, choosing the required audio they wish to play (by muting non required audio) and then generating a single video file (.mp4) of the selected video with the chosen audio tracks.

The resulting video would be watermarked with the SMHTP logo and would not be copy protected.

It is proposed that users would also have the ability to loop particular portions of a video for practicing.

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It is further proposed that the future development of the player would allow for users to record their own performance for playback with other pre-existing video elements. * ** *. * * *.

*:::* In addition, users would be able to upload the recorded performance to their ProfiIe Users would also be able to download other people's recordings as required.

The resulting combined video imagery would have the audio of the original video mixed with the audio of the users' recording.

****** * A further proposed development is the ability to jump to' defined sections of the performance, for example, "Chorus One", "Middle Eight", "Solo" etc. This may be (.3 achieved through markers' which would form part of the encoded file and which would relate to functionality displayed on the player. * *. *. * * S. S... *

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Claims

1. A system for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task comprising; a database comprising selectively grouped computer readable data files each executable to demonstrate how to perform an element of a multi-element task, each data file in a group corresponding to an individual element of a multi-element task defined by the group means for downloading a group of data files from the database; means for effecting the synchronous execution of any multiple of data files in the downloaded group; means for manipulating content of a data file in the group independently of other files in the group.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 further configured to facilitate the participation of a plurality of participants, each individually studying a different element of the task.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 further including means for uploading a file to a group and adapting the file to enable synchronous execution of the file with other files in the group.

4. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein an individual element file is isolated for study, the system is configured to enable manipulation of the content of the file to facilitate learning of the task. S.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the content is music and the system is configured to manipulate the speed at which it is played.

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6. A system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the content is music and the system is configured such that a participant may elect to manipulate the volume of one or more of the individual element files to better hear a particular element.

7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the multiple data files in a group comprise one or more of audio only files and one or more video plus audio files.

8. A system as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising an internet server with access to the database and a plurality of personal computers with access to the internet server.

9. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein multiple synchronised data files in a group may be selected by a user accessing a website promoting a service which utilises the system and then may be downloaded for synchronous execution on the user's PC.

10. A method for tutoring individual elements of a multi-element task comprising; for each element, providing a computer readable data file which can be executed to demonstrate how to perform the element; synchronising the simultaneous execution of the data files; on command, omitting execution of one or more of the data files. * ** * S S * ** **** * S * . * S.. * *. * ** * * S * * S. S..