WO1990016058A2

WO1990016058A2 - Analogical keyboard

Info

Publication number: WO1990016058A2
Application number: PCT/BR1990/000005
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mauro Eduardo Calixto
Original assignee: Mauro Eduardo Calixto
Priority date: 1989-06-08
Filing date: 1990-06-08
Publication date: 1990-12-27
Also published as: BR6900914U; WO1990016058A3

Abstract

An analogical keyboard (1) with equal distance between the key's axis and with four key rows (8, 9, 10 and 11) which have interpenetration in an area ''B'' and in four different levels and with one tone interval between adjacent keys of the same row and a half tone interval between adjacent keys of immediately superior or inferior rows; the first row (8) being repeated by the third row (10) and the second row (9) being repeated by the fourth row (11), said rows (8, 9, 10 and 11) being composed by keys of an equal shape, area and disposition that permit same relative position of the notes in such a way that one can play same musical structures in different pitches with the same fingering, shape and movement of the hands.

Description

ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD Background of the Invention Field of the Invention

The great objective of the usage of instruments with keyboards, is to facilitate the musical performance, what has occurred as from the moment that these instruments brought possibilities that did not exist before.

The first keyboards of this kind were made based upon a scale of the C major (C,D,F,G,H,A,B and C) without the black keys which were incorporated sometime after, then completing the twelve musical notes that set up our musical system and this fact originated the keyboard as we knew it today.

From all other musical instruments, no doubt the keyboard instruments are the ones that best use the human limbs' potential, since they permit simultaneous production of definite sounds by the pressure of the keys with the fingers, by means of a mechanical or electronical system. ' This property has made possible a kind of music extremely ' rich in chords, paralell voices and everything else that can be donne from the production of simultaneous sounds.

On the other hand, musical reading has became more difficult in view of the use of both hands on the keyboard, what results in the need of reading so many notes at the ^■ same time, said reading being actually donne by using two paralell staves. The Prior Art

Having in mind that the major scale is composed of tones and half tones, then we have a same musical interval ^■ determined by two adjacent keys with different distances ' between the keys' axis and we also have different musical intervals with the same distance between the keys' axis, what means that does not exist biunivocal relation between the axis' distances and musical interval; defining axis as being here considered as the longitudinal line which cross the key. The absence of biunivocal relation characterizes the impossibility to associate musical intervals to just one ' distance between keys' axis, this means that a major scale, for instance, will have in each different pitch a different ' configuration, considering the distances between the axis. ' Music is built on a logical basis and expressed by means of structures which are, on their turn, formed by intervals and repeated in different pitches. The musician knows the theory but when expressing it he must adapt himself to the ' instrument and if the musician has to adapt himself to a keyboard which does not maintain the same visual and shape ' pattern of those structures, his job will be increased. This way, the musician is forced to memorize all the patterns of the musical elements in all the pitches and he is also ' impeded to associate a same structure of a musical interval , in different pitches, to a constant pattern of the keyboard. It is obvious that, if music demands a maximum of ' clearness and of velocity in the indentification of these ' patterns, this procedure will cause waist of time in studying and difficulty in reading, and so on. it is konwn that most of the people have the capacity to sing any musical element in any pitch because the patterns of sound, for example, a melody, are known. But when trying ' to do it on a keyboard a lot of study is necessary because ' this instrument deforms said pattern showing for each pitch ' a different visual and shape pattern. Summary of the Invention The object of the present patent was developed with the aim of providing a keyboard which has a direct relation ' with the musical structures and maintains constant visual and shape patterns in such a way that, knowing just one element, • one could play all the other in the same way in all pitches ' and with the same technic, in fact, a keyboard based upon a cromatic scale and which gathers the traditional keyboards' ' technical qualities and the advantages of a logical and ' rational and homogeneous keyboard. The traditional keyboard became universal because of its physical structure .of shape and arrangement of keys which functions ergonomically and has permitted the developing of musical technic, despite of musical structure and structure ' of keys not being the most rational for nowadays music. It is of no use having a keyboard with logical and rational disposition if the shape of its keys prevents the ergonomic use of the fingers and of the hands. The cromatic ' keyboards had, for this very reason, a drastic limitation in their use having only specific utilizations. So, we must analyse the keys in relation to the ' fingers.

In the traditional keyboard we have basically two kinds of keys: the white one, in a low level and wider in its frontal part, interpenetrating in its posterior part ' with the black keys which are positioned in a high level and are thinner than the posterior part of the white keys and having longitudinal dimension smaller than the white ones and occupying the posterior side of the keyboard. Both kinds of keys (white and black) of the traditional keyboard have the longitudinal dimension larger than the width dimension.

The more width and length consequently a larger area a key has, the less is the possiblity of an error on the part of the player when pressing it. Nevertheless, the width of the keys is limited by the distance between the fingers ' of a same hand to play adjacent keys with sufficient corfort and by the necessity of the hand to be able to reach the largest interval possible. The length of the keys is defined by the difference between the length of the fingers of a same hand, measured from the tip of the middle finger to the tip of the thumb, having the hand confortably set in ' position of play, so that in a row of keys one can put ' confortably all the fingers of the same hand one on each key, without the necessity of forcing them. This measurement is ' approximately equal to the length of the wider part of the traditional keyboard's white keys, what permits that one ' play scales and change the position of the hands confortably and to reach another superior or inferior row only with movements permitted by the finger's articulations or with a small displacement of the hands.

From this we conclude that the keys of any musical ' keyboard necessarily need to have the longitudinal dimension superior to the width dimension, so that they can be used ' with a technic similar to the one used nowadays for the ' piano or the organ. Keyboards with keys in a button shape or with keys similar to the typewriter ones have their use ' severely restricted in view of their non-ergonomic shape in relation to the fingers.

Observing the traditional keyboard the difference ' of width between the white keys in a low level and the black ones in a high level, we conclude that that the second ones are impaired in this aspect but, without the penetration ' that same permit, the hand of the player would have almost insuperable obstacles to play several musical structures.

This penetration increases the technical ' possibilities of key usage without the necessity of ' increasing its longitudinal dimension what permits that ^" ' with a more confortable hand position, one reaches the ' highest number of keys in different rows and levels at the same time.

The keys' difference of shape, relative position and surface area that there exists in the traditional keyboards increased even more the inequality provoked by the ' irregularities of the distance between the keys' axis when one intends to play equal musical structures in different ' pitches because playing on keys with different shapes and relative position creates different touch and shape ' patterns and also different hand positioning.

For a better explanation of the patent's object, the following figures are enclosed herewith, where the:

- Figure 1 is a plant view of the keyboard showing ' the rows of keys; the _ Figure 2 refers to the same sight of Figure 1 ' without the colors of the keys and it has featured the ' equality that there are between the axis of adjacent keys; ' the

- Figure 3 and 4 illustrate the elaboration and evolution of the key's design reaching its definitive shape; and the

- Figure 5 illustrates a side view of the keyboard ' evidencing the different levels of the key rows.

The cromatic and logical disposition will be given by two rows of keys (8,9) that contain the twelve notes of the musical system being six in each rox (8,9) these ones ' repeating throughout the whole keyboard (1). The distance ' between the axis will be constant indicating an interval of half tone. From one key (6 or 7) of one row (8,9,10 or 11) to another adjacent key of a row immediately inferior or ' superior there will always be an interval of half tone. This way, there is a biunivocal relation between musical interval and distance between the keys' axis. To obtain the same ' relative key position and to make possible playing the same musical structure in different pitches and with the same technic the keyboard (1) was duplicated in such a way to ' have four key rows (8,9,10 and 11) in which each note has two keys placed on the same mechanism, said mechanism being perpendicular to the referential axis "A" of the keyboard ' (1). The key, in this patent report, is considered as being the superior part of the mechanism which is touched by the player's fingers and the referential axis "A" is an ' imaginary axis paralell to the inferior and superior borders of the key rows and perpendicular to the keys' axis, said referential axis indicating the keyboard's (1) direction. it would be inconvenient and unnecessary to increase the number of the key rows in view of the fact that, for this purpose, the lenght of the keys must be diminished what would turn them ergonomically illconsidered for musical ' performance or the longitudinal dimension of the keyboard ' (1) must be increased without no extra advantage. In both situations the keyboard (1) would become more complex to play and understand due to the excess of key rows and ' different levels. The number of keys for each note and for the whole keyboard (1) should be the fewest possible ' provided that it is sufficinet to solve the problems exposed herein, aiming to reach a increase of the clearness and reading velocity which are essential conditions to execute a musical performance.

The distance in the new keyboard (1) between the ' keys that represent an interval of octave will remain "the same as it is in the traditional keyboard and now the keys, all with the same dimensions, will be wider than the front part of the traditional keyboard's white keys, since in the space where the seven white keys were positioned, in a low level, now there will be only six keys. In this manner, it is provided more confortable keys for the player's ' fingers maintaining the average distance between musical ' intervals.

To permit a more confortable hand positioning, with major reach capacity, the key rows (8,9,10 and 11) have interpenetration which is obtained from the keys' shape. To come to the final design of the keys, it was departed from an hexagonal structure as shown in Figure 3. To form the key rows (8,9,10 and 11), the keys (6 and 7) were put side by side in the direction of referential axis "A". For the construction of the keyboard, the key rows were put in such a way that the superior border of the same becomes engaged to the inferior border of the following row. Such a ' disposition of the rows (8,9,10 and 11) composes the basic drawing of the keyboard (1) which, now, has the appearance of a beehive, where each key (6 or 7) correspond to a hive, as shown in Figure 4. To reach the definitive design of the keys the idle areas located at their inferior and ' superior borders were eliminated, coming to a design of curved lines, where area "B", as shown in Figure 3, ' corresponds to approximately the dimension of the players' finger tip. In the inferior and superior borders of the keys of the superior (11) and inferior (8) rows, respective ly, said area "B" may be eliminated, since it is ' unnecessary. Also the curved lines can be successfuly ' substituted by straight lines, forming a rectangle. Finally, the key rows (8,9,10 and 11) were disposed in the keyboard (1) one above the other, beginning from the first row (8) ' to the last one (11). This way, the superior row (11) is positioned above the third, second and first rows (10,9 and 8); the third row (10) is positioned above the second and first rows (9 and 8) and below the fourth row (11); the second row (9) is positioned above the first row (8) and below the fourth and third rows (11 and 10); the first and more inferior row (8) is positioned below all the other ' rows (11,10 and 9). This disposition of the key rows (11, ' 10, 9 and 8) gives to the keyboard (1), when oberved, the appearan of a ladder where each row (8,9,10 and 11) ' corresponds to a step or a level of height, as shown in Figure 5.

Claims

Claims :

1. "ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD" which has equal distance ' between the axis of the keys (6 or 7) for two adjacent keys and biunivocal relation among the distance between the axis of the keys and the musical intervals, always representing ' a half tone interval from an axis to another adjacent one ' characterized by the fact that it has four rows (8,9,10 and 11) which are disposed in the direction of the referential axis "A" of the keyboard (1), being these positioned in such a way that the superior border of each row is engaged to the inferior border of the adjacent row and placed one above the other from the beginning up to the last one giving to the keyboard (1), when seen sideways, the appearance of a ladder where each key row (8,9,10 and 11) would correspond to a step or level and also having an one tone interval between ' adjacent keys of a same row and a half tone interval between the keys of rows immediately inferior or superior, the first row (8) being repeated by the third row (10) and the second row (9) being repeated by the fourth row (11).

2. "ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD" according to claim 1 ' characetrized by the fact that the keys (6 or 7) that ' compose it have an hexagonal design with ergonomical ' dimensions and in which were eliminated the superior and inferior idle areas, forming an area "B" corresponding ' approximately to the player's finger tip.

3. "ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD" according to claims 1 or 2 characterized by the fact that the keys (6 or 7) have such a design which permits interpenetration among the key rows (8, 9,10 and 11) .

4. "ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD" according to claim 1 ' characterized by the fact that it has two keys held in a same mechanism for each musical note.

5. "ANALOGICAL KEYBOARD" acco^'rding to claim 1 characterized by the fact that it may optionally has the inferior and superior borders of the inferior (8) and superior (11) key rows, respectively, with rectilinear design.

Abstract :

An analogical keyboard (1) wiτh equal distance ' between the keys' axis and with four key rows (8,9,10 and 11) which have interpenetration in an area "B" and in four ' different levels and with one tone interval between adjacent keys of the same row and an half tone interval between ' adjacent keys of immediately superior or inferior rows; the first row (8) being repeated by the third row (10) and the second row (9) being repeated by the fourth row (11), said rows (8,9,10 and 11) being composed by keys of an equal ' shape, area and disposition that permit same relative ' positon of the notes in such a way that one can play same musical structures in different pitches with the same ' fingering, shape and movement of the hands.