Patent Application
20230089269
Following is a survey of the prior art patents that are in similar field:
At present, the traditional (or standard) system of music notation utilizes a staff 96 or combinations of staves 97, each of which has a fundamental structure consisting of five lines 91 and four spaces 92, arranged in a horizontal manner as shown in
In traditional music notation, a music note is a graphical symbol denoting a musical sound. In English usage, a music note is also the sound itself. Music notes can represent the pitch and duration of a sound in musical notation. The primary elements of musical sound are pitch, or the location of musical sound on the scale. Hence, a music note can represent a pitch class.
The music note name or the musical alphabet is, in ascending order by pitch, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The lower the music note is on the staff, the lower the pitch of the music note. Music notes are represented by little ovals on the staff Depending on the clef, Treble clef or Bass clef, the position of each music note on the staff corresponds to a music note name or a letter name.
A measure (or bar) is a group of music notes, that has a length specified by the time signature. The boundaries of the measure are indicated by vertical bar lines. In a musical piece (song) with ¾ time signature, each measure contains 3 beats; it can be 3 quarter notes, or 6 eighth notes, or any combination leading to 3 beats.
Each line and space of the staff correspond to a musical pitch, which is determined by the type of clef, either treble clef which corresponds to higher tone or bass clef which corresponds to lower tone.
The full range of traditional music system contains 88 music notes in which 88 different tones can be played on a traditional 88-key piano or electronic keyboard, as shown in
The key on the farthest left of the piano produces the lowest tone. As a musician plays the next key to the right, the higher tone is produced. In a similar manner, the next key to the right always produces a higher tone than the key at present. And, the last key on the farthest right produces the highest tone of them all. Other musical instruments contain less than 88 keys so we will use the 88-key piano or electronic keyboard arrangement for the analysis of the traditional (standard) music notation system and for finding the solutions by using our present DAMONN music notation system.
Within those 88 keys, there are 52 white keys 20 and 36 black keys 19. By looking at the piano keyboard on
Historically, each key of 88 piano keys was set at a specific frequency and was given a music note name and its frequency. Scientific pitch was originally proposed in 1713 by French physicist Joseph Sauveur and based on the numerically convenient frequency of 256 Hz for middle C 14, all C's being power of two. And in 1939, the Acoustical Society of America published new frequency tables for scientific use. All 88 keys were divided into seven full octaves 17 in which each octave consists of 12 keys with 7 white keys 20 and 5 black keys 19. Each octave starts with music note C and consists of music notes C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, B respectively from left to right and also in order of frequency from lower tone to higher tone respectively. A music note with a sharp symbol (#) or a flat (b) symbol indicate that it refers to a black key.
As shown in
By looking at those 8 music note names of C1 to C8, we can see the complexity of mental memorization required for their graphical notations which depend on their locations; some music notes are either on one of 4 spaces of Treble clef, or on one of 4 spaces of Bass clef, or on one of 5 lines of Treble clef, or on one of 5 lines of Bass clef, or above the Treble clef, or below the Bass clef, or in between the Bass clef 13 and Treble clef 11.
Beside 5 lines of Treble clef 11, there are 9 additional invisible lines, called ledger lines 115, above the Treble clef, and they are to be used for much higher tones. For examples, the music note name C6 has 2 ledger lines which are shown by two short lines at the stem of this music note; the music note name C7 has 5 ledger lines which are shown by five short lines at the stem of this music note; the music note name C8 has 9 ledger lines which are shown by nine short lines at the stem of this music note.
Similarly, beside 5 lines of Bass clef 13, there are 9 additional invisible lines, called ledger lines, below the Bass clef, and they are to be used for much lower tones. For examples, the music note name C2 has 2 ledger lines which are shown by two short lines at the stem of this music note; the music note name C1 has 5 ledger lines which are shown by five short lines at the stem of this music note; and lastly for theoretical purpose, the music note name C0 has 9 ledger lines which are shown by nine short lines at the stem of this music note.
In addition, there is one additional invisible line, called ledger line, which is in the middle between the Bass clef staff and the Treble clef staff. This is the music note name C4 which has 1 ledger line that is shown by one short line at the stem of this music note. As mentioned earlier, the music note name C4 is called the Middle C 14.
Considering the traditional standard music notation system as shown in
In music, a music note is a symbol denoting a musical sound. Each line and space of the staff correspond to a musical pitch, which is determined by the clef Music note names are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The two clefs that are primarily used are the Treble clef and Bass clef. The Treble clef is used by instruments that have higher registers, like the flute, violin, trumpet, and some high-tone keys of the piano (all keys to the right of the middle-C key). The Bass clef is used by instruments with lower registers, like the cello, trombone, bassoon, and some low-tone keys of the piano (all keys to the left of the middle-C key).
Similarly, we can also put 10 more graphic symbols of the next 10 white keys (of octave 3 and some of octave 2) which are G2, A2, B2, C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, A3, and B3 116 on the Bass clef 13 of
In summary for music notes in Treble clef, the lines, from bottom to top, normally represent the note names E, G, B, D, F 93. The spaces, from bottom to top, normally represent the note names F, A, C, E 94 as shown in
The components of the traditional music notation will be discussed further here using the diagram shown in
An experienced music reader can tell at a glance what key the music is written in by recognizing the pattern of sharps or flats in the Key Signature. A scale is a listing or playing of the valid notes of any particular key. The key of C has no sharps or flats. The key of G has one sharp (F). The key of D has two sharps (F and C). The key of F has one flat (B). The key of B flat has two flats (B and E), etc.
Each line and each space of the traditional musical staff 96 represents one of the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale. The chromatic scale or twelve-tone scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone, also known as a half-step, above or below its adjacent pitches. The 12 notes of the chromatic scale are C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, and B. The great majority of music utilizes keys which consist of seven notes. These seven-note keys are called Diatonic scales.
Diatonic scales are a sub-set of the chromatic scale. The more restrictive definition, which defines a diatonic scale as consisting of five tones and two semi-tones, for a total of seven notes, is not utilized in this specification. To play the seven notes of a diatonic scale, the appropriate keys of the keyboard are depressed, and through practice and memorization, the musician knows which keys to play for a particular diatonic scale, and which keys to skip (the excess chromatic keys).
At the far left of each staff is also positioned a clef There are three possible types of clefs; the G-clef 11, the C-clef 12, and the F-clef 13 as shown in
Using a modern piano as an example, music written for pianists ordinally includes a pair of staves which are connected with a brace 97. In the conventional music notation system, two or more staves can be displayed, and when they are connected by a brace as shown in
Any pitch that is higher or lower than those pitches represented by the lines and spaces of a staff are accommodated by ledger lines 15 that are stacked above the Treble staff or extend below the Bass staff. Each of these ledger lines, and the intervening spaces, designate a particular pitch of the diatonic scale, as do the respective lines 91 and spaces 92 of the staff 96 as shown in
Another component of the traditional music notation is the Time Signature as shown in
The problems which arise in the traditional system of illustrating music, as shown in
Determining the correct music note to be played is difficult because it must first be determined if the displayed music note is raised or lowered by one semi-tone, as indicated by sharps and flats in the Key Signature 10. The sharps 16 or flats at the beginning of the staff are shown only once whereas the note alteration is done for all of the same notes regardless of where they appear on the staff. For instance, a G-sharp is shown only once on the fourth line at the beginning of the staff but must apply to any G note, regardless of how many extension lines above or below the staff are added. This feature of Key Signature requires additional mental memory of a professional musician, as well as a child, and an adult beginner, while he(she) is performing.
As shown in
Some of the existing problems of the traditional music notation system are knowing which Key Signature 10 is selected; determining which notes are to be played as flat or sharp 16; knowing which notes on the keyboard to skip in order to play the correct diatonic scale; and correlating the position of a note on the staff to which key on a keyboard must be played as shown in
It is readily apparent that writing the seven music notes in a diatonic scale in a non-repetitive notation scheme, with additional five notes with sharp or flat notation, while perhaps readable by a musician but with a slower speed than the required speed by the Time Signature 18 of the sheet music. In general cases for most players, that is the truth of actual experiences especially for the first-time reading of any particular sheet music.
In overall view of traditional notation problem, we can see clearly from
For the past four hundred years or more, all musical instruments available today pivot around the audio spectrum of the 88 keys on a classical piano, as shown in
Generally, it is not simple for an experienced musician to translate five or six notes in each second for a full 88-key piano or electronic keyboard. This is a full concentration task to read six notes which are to be translated into his (her) memory to which six keys on a keyboard must be played in each second. Even for an experienced musician, he (she) will need more time than one second for note translation, for identification of keys of a piano, and for playing correct keys of the piano. The experienced musician will have to practice that sheet music several times earlier so that he (she) can memorize how to play that particular sheet music in a way of learning-by-heart or playing without looking at that music sheet. After practicing that sheet music for thirty times or more, the experienced musician will be able to play the sheet music in time specified by its specific Time Signature 18 and Time Duration. The traditional music notation has been used in this musical practice, that ‘Every player has to memorize the whole sheet music’, which is considered to be inefficient and time-consuming method for more than three hundred years but there has been no other better alternative in existence.
This difficulty naturally prohibits untutored persons from reading the music sheet and playing an instrument such as the piano. The explanation for this difficulty is because the sheet music reading is a complex process for note translation, for identification of keys of a piano, and for playing correct keys of the piano within a short and limited time duration, for example, in one second time-frame. In order to play a particular sheet music as specified by its Time Signature 18 and Time Duration, the musician will have to use a lot of memorization to do so otherwise his (her) performance will not be as smooth and ‘in tempo’ as required by the sheet music of the song (or called a musical piece). In general cases or in most cases, reading a traditional sheet music will require a lot of memorization of the musician.
There are two main kinds of memorization required for any musician. The first kind of memorization is for note translation and for identification of keys of an instrument, or a piano as in this example, within a short and limited time duration. This first kind of memorization is a much bigger problem than the second kind (to be discussed later) because this memorization for note translation is a boring and tedious process that a child or an adult beginner will have to memorize from at least 48 notes and up to 88 notes of traditional music sheet (as shown in
On a line staff of the Treble clef, “Every Good Boy Does Fine” is a mnemonic for notes of E, G, B, D, F. On a space staff of the Treble clef, “F A C E” is a mnemonic for notes of F, A, C, E. On a line staff of the Bass clef, “Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart” is a mnemonic for notes of G, B, D, F, A. On a space staff of the Bass clef, “All Cows Eat Grass’ is a mnemonic for notes of A, C, E, G.
Music teachers will often stress how important it is to use memorization by saying some familiar sentences like, “It is good to learn how to read ahead of what you are currently playing, or else it can be difficult to comprehend the information in time and you will stumble. Use mnemonics to help you remember the order of the notes.” In addition, experienced sheet-music readers would also need to learn the skill of reading something while playing something else. But the personal problem of every musician is that memorization and music playing ability would take years for any beginner to become an experienced sheet-music reader. Even when he (she) has become an experienced sheet-music reader, he (she) would have to speed up the mental translation process from standard music notes, which are in fact the graphical symbols, to instrument keys, as shown in
During a musical performance, professional musicians will have to be able to translate each music note which is a graphic symbol into a corresponding note name at a fast speed tempo of one beat per second. For example, let's look at the farthest left white key which has the music name as AO. The corresponding music note below the Bass clef has nine ledger lines on the stem of the oval head. During a performance, when this music note comes up for the musician to play, would he (she) be able to tell that it represents the music note name of AO in one second? I would doubt that he (she) would be able to count how many ledger lines it has and not to mention what music note name that is supposed to be played in one second.
The fact has been obvious that in reality the musician has to memorize what keys to play for all music notes of that musical piece (song). In actual performance, he (she) would not read all music notes on the music sheet of that song at all during the performance. That means he (she) had practiced that particular piece (song) for at least a hundred times or until he (she) can memorize all keys to play on the piano. There is no alternative way. In reality, if a musician wants to perform well, he (she) must memorize all music notes of the song to play in concert. The professional musician has to accept the fact that he (she) cannot read the music sheet in the same manner like reading a book. And that is the reason for a steep learning curve for each music sheet of the piece. This is more so for a beginner and may be to a lesser degree for professional musicians. But with the same result, every music performer has to memorize all music notes of the musical piece in order to perform well.
As a matter of our better understanding of this mental translation process, we need to analyze in a detailed scenario further. For a slow-tempo music sheet as said in the example, in each beat or each second of time interval, there can be three or up to six musical notes in the Treble clef 11 and there can be one or up to four musical notes in the Bass clef 13. Therefore, there can be four or up to ten notes that need to be translated into one of the twelve tones such as C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, B. The translation of 10 music notes must be done in one-second time-frame until the completion of the song that can last for 150 seconds. That means a child, or adult beginner, or musician will have to translate those 10 music notes for 150 times at least. Another words, the number of translated notes is equal to 10 times 150 which is equal to 1,500 music notes to be done for this song of two and a half minutes long. This is unbelievable!! That much of brain work would have to be done quickly for the mental translation process. Imagine further for the case of fast tempo of 120 beats per minute or 2 beats per second, the brain work would be double or about 3,000 music notes to be translated mentally for that song of two and a half minutes long!!
To many beginners, this is a boring task that requires quite a concentration of mind as tense as solving a mathematic problem during an examination period in school. No wonder why a lot of beginners quitted learning of reading music after a few months of lessons. This is a big problem to some parents to encourage their children that the music is supposed to be fun.
If a professional musician was given a music sheet of a new song that he (she) had never heard or played before, he (she) would not be able to perform well and probably would be embarrassed if he (she) tried to play it for the first time because he (she) would not be able to keep up with the beats according to the Time Signature of the new song. In most cases, the musician would deny to play in concert for the first-time experience of the new sheet music. Is it the fault of that professional musician? Does it mean that the musician is less qualified to be professional? When most of professional musicians have similar problems, more or less, it is not their fault. Most musicians have realized for many years that the traditional music notation is the main problem. Unfortunately, there is no other music notation system for them to choose from. And, they all have to live with that problem for many past years.
Personally, we, my wife and I, had some uneasy experiences on teaching our family members, two teenagers and two adults, how to read traditional sheet music and we found that the actual progress of playing abilities were quite very slow. And, after three months or so, reading and playing music became boring tasks for them to do. There was no fun in the learning process of reading music any more. From reading articles and conversation about teaching or learning sheet music, there are similar problems happened to a lot of beginners. Parents have difficulties to convince their children to learn sheet music in order to play musical instruments and sometimes they have to force their children to practice music reading before they can enjoy their free time doing something else at home. For a few years, we have been searching for a simpler solution of how to make reading music become easier and enjoyable, and how we can improve traditional music notation and standard sheet music. The personal objective was set for our journey to develop a new simple way to read sheet music for our family members as well as for others' family members. We believe that this new solution will make our lives a little more fun and happier from actual musical experience.
With this invention of the DAMONN music notation, people will have a better choice to change the way that they read music and play musical instruments. The methods in prior art still carry many disadvantages that are still too complex for children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly alike to comprehend when reading music and playing a musical instrument.
From
As shown in
Similarly, in the Bass staff, the music composer has the option to add another optional octave space 27 in the cross-over area 110 for decoupling music notes from octave 3 on Bass staff and put some of those music notes into this optional octave space. This optional octave space can be used for the second octave 3 which has a label of [3] by using a square bracket to indicate that this is the optional octave space. Another use of optional octave space would be for octave 4 27 which has a label of [4] by using a square bracket to indicate that this is the optional octave space to hold some music notes that is to be played by left hand.
In order to understand the big picture of the music system, we will now look at the direct relationship that underlies the three systems: the traditional (standard) music notation system, the 52-white-key piano and electronic keyboard system, and the DAMONN notation system of music notes for 52 white keys.
Then, we can stack these said three systems, one system on top of another system, and end up with some diagrams like the one shown in
However, if a piano player reads music from the traditional notation, he (she) would see a graphic symbol 80 which looks like a black oval under 7 ledger lines at a stem on the Bass clef. This graphic symbol has to be translated into piano key of A0 using his (her) mental memory alone. It is like a translation from an ancient language letter into an English letter and a number; or other words, it is like a translation from a computer graphic symbol into an English letter and a number. It is a decipher process of a code that needs only human mental memory and it has to be done very quickly. For an example of a slow song with a tempo of 60 beats per minute (bpm), at every second there can be one graphic symbol from Treble staff and two graphic symbols from Bass staff show up for the decipher process that need the musician to translate those three graphic symbols into three note names with their corresponding octaves.
After the note names and their corresponding octaves are translated, the locations of piano keys are known and then the next process is playing piano keys which is much easier than the decipher process. The process of playing piano keys uses less brain work than the decipher process; in our opinion, about 80 percent of brain power is used for decipher process and about 20 percent of brain power is used for playing piano keys especially during a performance. The process of playing piano keys can be improved as the piano player has more experience with the help of developing muscle memory and the natural learning process of a human brain.
However, the decipher process can hardly be improved over time because it needs human mental memory alone for translating 88 graphic symbols (music symbols of traditional notation) into 88 solution sets of music note names (A, A #, B, C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #) with their corresponding octaves (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). The decipher process or decryption has to be done very quickly for each graphic symbol, so a piano player has to memorize these 88 graphic symbols because there is no time to think. Most of music teachers understand the undesired effect of this decipher process, and have recommended their students to memorize these 88 graphic symbols. It is possible to memorize a few simple recognizable graphic symbols if they are within Treble clef or within Bass clef. And, that is why music teacher often recommend the use of mnemonic phrases, something like, ‘All Cows Eat Grass” for music note names in letters of A, C, E, G, and so on. Using mnemonic phrases help a little bit for decipher process. We would give some beneficial credit of 20 percent to those mnemonic phrases which can help reducing brain work, for the sake of discussion and analysis, but there is still about 60 percent of brain power that is required to be used for decipher process. And, the bad news is the musician will have to do the decoding of this graphic symbol every time he (she) encounters it again even though this same graphic symbol has been done ten seconds ago during the performance of the same song! And, this is a tedious task to accomplish in one second timing of the musical beat that keeps on going until the end of the song.
We can look at the second possible case of other graphic symbols on the traditional notation for a better understanding. If a piano player reads music from the traditional notation, he (she) now sees a graphic symbol 81 which looks like a black oval on 9 ledger lines at a stem on the Treble clef. Although there is one symbol for each of the three systems, but it is one and the same note name C8 81. This graphic symbol on the traditional music sheet has to be translated into piano key using 80 percent of his (her) mental memory alone. It is another task of decipher process of a code that needs only human mental memory and it has to be done very quickly in one second time frame. After the note names and their corresponding octaves are translated into C8, the locations of piano keys are known and then the next process is playing piano keys of note name C of the octave 8 on the piano keyboard.
The next second comes, and another graphic symbol is shown as a black oval on 3 ledger lines 106 at a stem on the Treble clef. This graphic symbol has to be translated into piano key using 80 percent of his (her) mental memory alone again. It is another task of decipher process of a code that needs only human mental memory and it has to be clone very quickly in one second time frame. After the note name and its corresponding octaves is translated into F6 106, the location of piano key is known and then the next process is playing piano keys of note name F of the octave 6 on the piano keyboard.
Then, the next second comes, and another graphic symbol is shown as a black oval on the fourth lines (from the bottom) 107 on the Treble clef. This graphic symbol has to be translated into piano key using 60 percent, instead of 80 percent, of his (her) mental memory alone because of a helpful mnemonic phrase of “Every Good Boy Does Fine” translates a graphic symbol into music note of D5. After knowing the music note is ‘D’ with its corresponding octave being octave 5, he (she) can play the key D5 on the piano keyboard.
And then, the fifth graphic symbol comes, and is shown as a black oval on the fourth lines (from the bottom) 86 on the Bass clef. This graphic symbol has to be translated into piano key using 60 percent, instead of 80 percent, of his (her) mental memory alone because of a helpful mnemonic phrase of “Good Burritos Doesn't Fall Apart” translates a graphic symbol into music note of F3. After knowing the music note is ‘F’ with its corresponding octave being octave 3, he (she) can play the key F3 on the piano keyboard.
Then the sixth graphic symbol comes, and is shown as a black oval below one ledger lines 85 at a stem on the Bass clef. This graphic symbol has to be translated into piano key using 80 percent of his (her) mental memory alone again. It is another task of decipher process of a code that needs only human mental memory and it has to be done very quickly in one second time frame. After the note name and its corresponding octaves is translated into D2 85, the location of piano key is known and then the next process is playing piano keys of note name D of the octave 2 on the piano keyboard.
In summary for the examples of 6 music notes of a slow song to be played for the 6-second performance, there are always 6 music-note translation by the decipher process for each of graphic symbols on the traditional notation system. Every second of the 6-second performance, the musician's brain is put under tense pressure of brain work. From this short example, we can understand why it is difficult and rarely possible for the musician to read and play music notes well on the traditional music sheet for the first five times of experience when he (she) encounters the new sheet music. The musician needs to work slowly at the first five times at least until he (she) can memorize all the music notes to play correctly and timely without looking at the music sheet during his (her) performance. And of course, it would be very difficult for children, and adult beginners to read and play well without memorizing the whole song for every music notes to be played. This has been a time-consuming and boring process without having fun and enjoyable time for many past years.
Thanks to the DAMONN music notation system that the decipher process of graphic symbols of the traditional notation system can be eliminated for good in the musical experience of people who choose to use this new DAMONN notation system. When a child, an adult beginner, or even a musician reads the DAMONN music sheet, he (she) will see the music note names (a, a #, b, c, c #, d, d #, e, f, f #, g, g #) with their corresponding octaves (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), and then he (she) will be able to play the piano keys promptly without hesitation or without a burden task on his (her) brain for any decipher process.
In order to facilitate the translation or decryption of existing sheet music of the traditional music notes into DAMONN music notes,
Similarly, the second music note in the said example is described as a graphic symbol 81 which looks like a black oval on 9 ledger lines at a stem on the Treble clef. This graphic symbol is translated directly and visually into a music note name “c8” for the DAMONN notation which refers to music note name “c” of the octave 8. In
Another music note, the third graphic symbol is shown as a black oval on 3 ledger lines 106 at a stem on the Treble clef. This graphic symbol is translated graphically and visually into a music note name “f6” of the DAMONN notation which refers to music note name “f” of the octave 6. In
Then, another note, the fourth graphic symbol is shown as a black oval on the fourth lines (from the bottom) 107 on the Treble clef. This graphic symbol is translated graphically and visually into a music note name “d5” of the DAMONN notation which refers to music note name “d” of the octave 5. In
After that, the fifth graphic symbol is shown as a black oval on the fourth lines (from the bottom) 86 on the Bass clef. This graphic symbol is translated graphically and visually into a music note name “f3” of the DAMONN notation which refers to music note name “f” of the octave 3. In
And lastly in the said example, the sixth graphic symbol is shown as a black oval below one ledger lines 85 at a stem on the Bass clef. This graphic symbol is translated into a music note name “d2” of the DAMONN notation which refers to music note name “d” of the octave 2. In
In summary, with the Translation Chart in
Each of these 36 black keys on a piano keyboard, as seen in
Since the main purpose of the DAMONN music notation system is to simplify reading, writing, and playing sheet music in any way possible for the benefits of all musical instrument players, it is strongly recommended that the Key Signature 10 will not be used because of its disadvantages are more than the benefits in many folds. However, we will use the Key 108 of the music piece (song) instead. Also, the DAMONN system is aimed toward the benefit of the instrument players much more than the song composer in that if there are music notes with sharp (#) symbols, all the sharp symbols will have to be put in next to the music notes on each and every note and not at the beginning of the measure and force the instrument players to remember them. We want to minimize the work load of the brain memory of every musical performer and that is the primary objective of the DAMONN notation system.
As discussed earlier, a piano and electronic keyboard with 88 keys are the musical instruments that have the widest range of musical tones from A0 to C8. All other musical instruments have narrower ranges than a piano and electronic keyboard as shown for each type of musical instruments in
In the keyboard category, the 88-key piano and electronic keyboard have the lowest tone as A0 and the highest tone as C0. The 76-key piano and keyboard have the lowest tone as E1 and the highest tone as G7. The 61-key piano and keyboard have the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as C7. The 49-key piano and keyboard have the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as C6. The harpsichord has the lowest tone as F1 and the highest tone as F6. The clavichord has the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as C6. The celesta has the lowest tone as C3 and the highest tone as C8, The accordion has the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as A7. Therefore, the present DAMONN music notation system can be used efficiently with these musical instruments in the keyboard category.
In the string instrument category, the violin has the lowest tone as A3 and the highest tone as B5. The viola has the lowest tone as C3 and the highest tone as E5. The cello has the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as D #4. The 6-string chord guitar has the lowest tone as E2 and the highest tone as E6. The 4-string electric bass guitar has the lowest tone as E1 and the highest tone as G4. The harp has the lowest tone as C2 and the highest tone as C7. The ukulele has the lowest tone as G3 and the highest tone as A5. The double bass has the lowest tone as E1 and the highest tone as G4. The banjo has the lowest tone as D3 and the highest tone as D5. Therefore, the present DAMONN music notation system can be used efficiently with these musical instruments in the string instrument category.
In the brass and woodwind category, the flute has the lowest tone as C4 and the highest tone as C7. The French horn has the lowest tone as F3 and the highest tone as C6. The clarinet has the lowest tone as E3 and the highest tone as G6. The trumpet has the lowest tone as F #3 and the highest tone as C6. The saxophone has the lowest tone as A #3 and the highest tone as F6. The trombone has the lowest tone as E2 and the highest tone as G4. The baritone has the lowest tone as E2 and the highest tone as A #4. The tuba has the lowest tone as E1 and the highest tone as A #3. Therefore, the present DAMONN music notation system can be used efficiently with these musical instruments in the brass and woodwind category.
In the percussion instruments category, the xylophone has the lowest tone as F3 and the highest tone as F6. The drum set (consists of rack toms, floor toms, snare drum, bass drum) has the lowest tone as A1 and the highest tone as A3. The cymbals and hi-hat have the lowest tone as D4 and the highest tone as A5. Therefore, the present DAMONN music notation system can be used efficiently with these musical instruments in the percussion instruments category.
In conclusion, comparing all the ranges of music notes of several musical instruments, in the family categories of keyboard, string, brass and woodwind, and percussion instruments, all types of musical instruments can be used efficiently with DAMONN music notation system.
The objectives and some present improvements of this invention are explained in the following paragraphs which would cover the beginning, the development, and the final solutions that we, my wife and I, had real-life experiences regarding learning music and playing musical instruments over several years.
In 1965, I learned a few months of traditional music lessons on guitar lessons since I was 15 years old and then I learned music theories from other teachers and friends. I changed to Tablature (TAB) at a later time because of its simplicity and more efficient way of playing a guitar. I played my guitar as a hobby experience for about 50 years. In early 1990s, my wife and I also had a few months of traditional music lessons on piano but we found that it required a lot of time for practicing a single song to be considered a fair performance to show to our friends at a party. And, also it became boring and time-consuming experience to learn a few more songs in addition to our full-time work. That was the reason why we quitted our practice on the piano.
In 2018, my wife bought a new electronic keyboard after her retirement and wanted to learn and practice more on piano songs but she found that it was too difficult to do so. She asked me for help and I agreed with her on how to find an easier way to just simply play the piano songs without reading through difficult traditional music sheets. With my good experience on playing a guitar with TAB music sheets, I used to do warm-up practice on each of 12 music notes, C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, B, on each of 6 guitar strings. On each string, those 12 music notes are located sequentially along adjacent frets on the fretboard. I have been practicing my fINgers this way on each of 6 strings for years in order to develop muscle memories. With the thought of helping my wife on her piano practice, I put music-note stickers on 88 keys of her piano with octave numbers from 0 to 8 in order to differentiate each octave from one another. Then, I realized the similarities of the 12-note pattern on each string on the guitar with the 12-note pattern in each octave on the piano. My wife and I discussed about a new simpler method, for her to play her piano, would be that I would have to translate the traditional music sheets, that I bought, into octave numbers and alphabetical music-notes of C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, B. And, I would keep any other applicable traditional music notations and symbols including music theories as they are at the present with respect to our DAMONN music notations.
This new method of invention will help improving the impressive experience of a music learner as well as an experienced musician by eliminating or minimizing the translation process of traditional music notation that has been in use for several hundred years or more. This invention of a new music notation system, specifically referred to as the ‘DAMONN music notation’ system as shown in
The second kind of memorization is for playing correct piano_keys within a short and limited time duration and to match with the tempo 109 of the song. In the example of a piano, or any other instrument, this is a correlation task between brain memory and muscle memory that require repetitive practice through months and years by musicians or players. This practice is a natural development process for a musician as same as other professional practice in comparison. And, this new music notation invention may have a minor positive effect to the improvement of the second kind of memorization.
Accordingly, it is an objective of this invention to provide a new musical notation system without the selected Key Signature 10 at the beginning of any Treble clef 11 or Bass clef 13. It is another objective of this invention to provide a Grand staff which has a direct graphical correlation to a hill keyboard of 88 keys, so that each key of the keyboard is represented by an octave number and an alphabetical music-note on an octave space between lines of the Grand staff. And basically, the DAMONN music notation system is the newly present invention that provides a new method of music reading or music writing in a more efficient and direct way specifically and fully for different tones of the 88 keys (both white and black keys) with comparison to the traditional music notation system, as shown earlier in
Before we, my wife and I, had completely developed this new DAMONN music notation system to be used with my wife's learning to play her piano for a few songs that I translated from traditional music sheets into DAMONN music sheets, we had never searched or learned any music-notation information from any existing patents of USPTO or of other countries. However, we started our DAMONN invention by our own way of understanding and preference method of playing an instrument since early 2018 and by trial-and-error ways of improvement on playing a piano. We started from a short-and-simple song by translation of traditional sheet music, testing and playing on a piano, and modifying the DAMONN music notations and symbols. Once we satisfied with simple-and-short songs, we applied these characteristics of DAMONN music notations for more complex songs and then kept adding any necessary notations and symbols to the DAMONN system. After we have tested more than ten songs, I said to my wife that we might have created a sheet-music book with DAMONN notation system in the next several months. That was the start of the idea of copyright of our DAMONN music book. And by December 2020, we realized that our DAMONN music notation system was fully developed and became a piece of our new invention that could be patented with USPTO as well.
During the first few months of 2021, we were busy with the pandemic preparation and health protection and did not work on patent issues. In March 2021, we started reading the USPTO website and learned how to apply for a patent of our DAMONN invention but did not learn any information from existing patents on music notations. In April 2021, we started to write up the content of our DAMONN patent application starting from abstract, drawings, background of invention, summary of the invention, and claims except the cited documents of related patents of the USPTO because we had never read or used any information from those existing patents. We figured that the comparison of existing patent documents would be the last step to do for our patent application.
In June 2021, we started to search for related U.S. patents that had the term ‘music notation’ in their titles, abstracts, drawings, or summaries. We found 17 patents that seemed to be in the similar field of our invention. We then read those 17 patents and analyzed their contents further to find their similarities or differences to the claims of our DAMONN patent application. Then we found one more non-patented document from information referred by one of said 17 patents.
Some people might say that most of the development process is a top-down approach that should start from patent search, then write up the abstract, cited documents, claims, summary of invention, and drawings. However, we did the opposite as a bottom-up approach for our development process because that was the actual development of our DAMONN invention which started from our need for a personal desire to learn how to play a piano in the simplest and most efficient method. That is why we put the writing part of cited or related documents in the last step because we did not use them in our actual development process.
Although these 18 related documents were not used to develop our DAMONN music notation system, we studied and summarized to see what parts of these cited documents were similar or different from the characteristics and claims of our DAMONN system that was described in the patent application. These short analyses will be shown in following paragraphs.
The related document #1 is the patent number ‘US 2021/0049987 A1’, dated Feb. 18, 2021, which has a title of ‘Music Notation Using A Disproportionate Correlated Scale’. This patent refers to methods and systems of music notation for visually representing music that provide a visual scale representing a range of an auditory scale of a portion of a musical composition spanning at least four and a half steps. The use of a line or a space has no correlation to the interval between the notes. The visual scale may comprise a plurality of whole-step segments each representing one whole step in the auditory scale. Each whole-step segment may be approximately a first height. This patent is different from our invention in that it uses a visual horizontal scale in auditory scale of a song such as congregational singing, karaoke, or even choir singing but our DAMONN invention does not use a visual horizontal scale; however, there is a similar opinion of both inventions that the standard music notation needs to be improved for music community as shown in its paragraph [0004].
The related document #2 is the patent number ‘US 2020/0066239 A1’ which has a title of ‘Sang Lee's Music Notation System, SALEMN, Maps Out Space-Time Topology of Sound, Enriches Palettes of Colors via Hand-Brush Techniques’. This patent refers to assigning each musical note with Pitch ID, that comprises of two components: Octave number and Note ID within an octave, and Hand-Brushing Notation system which uses hands, fists, palms, fingers to enrich sound pallet. Above the Middle C, octave number is assigned a positive Integer number, 1, 2, 3 . . . in ascending order of octaves. Below the Middle C, is assigned −1, −2, −3 . . . in descending order of octaves. Note ID is assigned to 12 keys in each octave as follows: 1=C, 2=C #, 3=D, 4=D #, 5=E, 6=F, 7=F #, 8=G, 9=G #, 10=A, 11=A #, 12=B. For example, note E in the second octave above the Middle C, would have Pitch ID of 2.5 as described in its paragraphs [0003] and [0004]. This patent is different from our invention in that it assigns each musical note into numerical value of octave and numerical value of keys and uses a dot to separate the two numerical values. The five-line staff and all musical notes are eliminated. This is different from our invention.
The related document #3 is the patent number ‘US 2019/0304328 A1’ which has a title of ‘Method and Apparatus for Colored Music Notation’. This patent refers to an approach is provided for encoding musical information according to a music notation based on color. A computer-implemented method for encoding musical information according to a music notation comprising: designating a base octave of a musical note range comprising a plurality of octaves, the sequence of musical notes repeating in each of the plurality of octaves, and representing the sequence of musical notes as a set of colors, wherein each color of the set of colors is unique to each note in the sequence of musical notes. This patent is different from our invention in that it uses an approach for encoding musical information according to a music notation based on color and also uses a computer-implemented method for encoding musical information according to a music notation but our invention does not use color to differentiate musical notes nor octaves as described in its paragraphs [0004] and [0005].
The related document #4 is the patent number ‘US 2017/0236443 A1’ which has a title of ‘Music Notation System.’ This patent refers to a method for visually representing music to be played on a musical instrument by providing a tablature staff, representing a portion of a musical instrument, which is divided into individual measures by segmenting the tablature staff with measure lines. Each measure is then further divided into proportional time subdivisions using subdivision lines. Alphanumeric notes are then printed between these subdivision lines on the tablature staff, wherein the duration of notes is indicated by the font size of an alphanumeric note. This patent is different from our invention in that it uses tablature notation which is the music tablature staff to represent a musical instrument and proportional time subdivisions into measures as described in its paragraphs [0003] and [0005].
The related document #5 is the patent number ‘US 2017/0243506 A1’ which has a title of ‘Musical Notation Keyboard’. This patent refers to the digital music writing being a digital musical notation symbols input tool. This invention is a keyboard specially dedicated for digital input of musical notation symbols. The keyboard is used for digital input of sheet music. The keyboard can be implemented as a physical device and shaped as combination of images in a touch screen. Every musical notation symbol shall be input with the keyboard control element specially dedicated for input of such symbol. This patent is different from our invention in that it is the keyboard that is a device specially dedicated for input of musical notation which does not require any accessories as described in its paragraphs [0002] and [0003].
The related document #6 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 9,224,373 B2’ which has a title of ‘Musical notation systems for guitar fretboard, visual displays thereof, and uses thereof.’ This patent refers to a music notation method for representing a location relationship between a given chord, its chord tones and the scale tones of the scale to which said given chord belong, on a visual representation of at least a portion of a guitar fretboard; and visual display for expressing musical harmonic functions. The summary is found that there is no structural difference between any major chord or between any major scale. These relationships can be visually seen as visual symbols (such as colored shapes) on the fretboard, all of which are perfectly transposable (movable from key to key without changing shape). These shapes preserve all the theoretical information needed and allow the student to bypass the letter naming system all together, and instead use numbers. This patent is different from our invention as shown in the summary and paragraphs of line 8 to line 15 on page 4 of this related document #6.
The related document #7 is the patent number ‘US 2014/0360339 A1’ which has a title of ‘3jcn music notation.’ This patent refers to the 3JCN Music Notation which has no staff in. Therefore, 3JCN Music Notation is claimed to be very simple compare to Western Notation. A note in 3JCN Music Notation is represented by a lowercase letter for the pitch class (a through g), preceded by the note's octave (1 through 11) and followed by the note's duration (a real number). For example, 6c1 is for note “c” in 6th octave (middle C) with 1 unit of duration. This patent is different from our invention as shown in paragraph [0008] saying, “Those are staff, clef, and ledger line. As a consequence, the grand staff of piano music of Western music notation has been eliminated. There are no more treble clef and bass clef. “However, in our DAMONN invention, staves, clefs, and other standard notation are still in use and our notation system is different from this invention.
The related document #8 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 8,686,268 B1’ which has a title of ‘System of Associating Sheet Music Notation with Keyboard Keys and Sight Reading.’ This patent refers to a system of associating sheet music notation with keyboard keys of a keyboard instrument and sight reading. The system comprises a rectilinear colored strip adapted to be disposed upon the keyboard instrument adjacent to the keyboard. The rectilinear colored strip has a color-coded indicia disposed on an upper surface thereof and having a direct relationship to each of the octaves and each of the depressible keys of the keyboard as described in the summary. This patent is different from our DAMONN invention which does not have the rectilinear colored strip but changes meaning of the music staves and the display of music notes and music notations instead.
The related document #9 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 8,039,721 B2’ which has a title of ‘Kit and method for learning to play an instrument.’ This patent refers to an instructional kit for assisting a user of the kit to learn to read musical notation comprising a container, having within the container a set of hands on manipulatives. The set of hands on manipulatives assemble into a structured system of interactive musical instrument concept training components according to a set of prepared exercises in at least one or more training manuals as described in the summary of paragraph 2. This patent is different from our DAMONN invention which does not have the training sets for hand exercises. However, the common idea is that the notation is the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music is notated, along with instructions on how to perform the music. The study of how to read notation involves music theory, harmony, the study of performance practice technique as described in third paragraph of page 1. And, our DAMONN invention still includes most of traditional notation, pitches, and rhythms in the simplest way to read and perform the music.
The related document #10 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 7,439,438 B2’ which has a title of ‘Musical notation system patterned upon the standard piano keyboard.’ This patent refers to an improved musical notation system, which uses a staff patterned upon the standard piano keyboard. It replaces the Grand Staffs system of lines and spaces with a system of “pitch stripes” of two colors arranged in the same pattern as the black and white keys of the standard piano keyboard. The system comprises of a multiple of horizontal stripes of two colors, stacked up together. Pitch stripes of darker color represent the black keys of the piano keyboard. Pitch stripes of the lighter color represent the white keys of the piano keyboard. Pitch stripes of the relatively lower positions correspond to the piano keys lying relatively more towards the left-hand side. Pitch stripes of the relatively higher positions correspond to the piano keys lying relatively more towards the right-hand side. The vertical pattern of sequence (from low to high) of the pitch stripes of two colors is the same as the horizontal sequence (from left to right) of the black and white keys of the piano keyboard as described from line 49 to line 61 of the summary. For example, on this new invention of starves of 25 lines, 24 piano keys would be represented by 24 spaces of pitch stripes, wherein the music notes will be put on some of pitch stripes according to the pitch of relative corresponding piano keys. Therefore, this patent is quite different from our DAMONN invention. However, the similarity is the recognition that the traditional method using the difficult Grand Staff has been a high threshold today for the entrance to the world of music. The height of this threshold makes the process of entering the world of music a difficult and painful one, depriving many of the chance to enter, enjoy and excel in the world of music as described in its seventh paragraph on page 1.
The related document #11 is the patent number ‘US 2008/0141849 A1’ which has a title of ‘Music Notation System.’ This patent refers to a music notation system that uses a grid with vertical columns representing musical notes and horizontal rows representing time intervals. This music notation system uses a grid laid out in a fashion analogous to a piano keyboard with some vertical columns corresponding to the white keys on a piano, and other columns corresponding to the black keys on a piano. Each note of a musical piece is indicated by a selected note symbol in the appropriate column, and extending across multiple rows if intended to be sounded for more than one-time interval. Different note symbol shapes are used to indicate different tone qualities or playing styles. Note symbols are colored or graphically textured to indicate different sound intensities. Therefore, this patent is quite different from our DAMONN invention.
The related document #12 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 7,241,945 B1’ which has a title of ‘Morpheus music notation system.’ This patent refers to the Morpheus music notation comprises methods, devices and system for learning and teaching any musical instruments. This system is designed to read or write its sheet music by designating alphanumeric symbols to ten fingers of the player and designating numeric symbols to all playing parts of the musical instrument. The alphabets A, B, C, D, E are assigned to left-hand fingers and the alphabets F, G, H, I, J are assigned to right-hand fingers. For an 88-key piano, the numbers 1 to 88 will be assigned from 1 to the far-left key (note A of the octave 0), 2 to the next key, and so on, until lastly 88 is assigned to the far-right key which is note C of the 8th octave. Hence, this patent is quite different from our DAMONN invention because each musical note is represented by one number and one alphabet on a six-line staff of the Morpheus system (see
The related document #13 is the patent number ‘US 2004/0182226 A1’ which has a title of ‘Simplified system for writing music.’ This patent refers to a system for writing music without the use of conventional musical notation but by using a rectangularly ruled sheet of paper, a simplified sound designation notation, a simplified method of designating the time scheme for a group of sounds, and a way to efficiently and easily designate the repetition of a group of sounds. It is an object to provide a simplified way of composing music without the use of staff lines. A feature of patent is the use of rectangularly ruled paper defining boxes and rectangles to designate the time value and length of groups of sounds. Another feature of this patent is the use of lines written in the boxes above and below a sound designating means to indicate changes of one octave or more. Another feature is the use of a letter to represent a note or chord without relation to a space on corresponding staff lines. Another feature is the use of letters to designate notes and chords. Another feature of the present invention is the use of conventional note notation or numerals to designate the time value for each box. However, this patent is quite different from our DAMONN invention because we use staff consisting of octave spaces between lines, but with different meaning of using octave numbers and time described as beats and measures. Most of conventional music theories are still applied except key signature for some beneficial reasons such that it will be a simpler and more efficient method to read and write music for everybody and to play any type of musical instrument with simpler DAMONN notations.
The related document #14 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,800 A’ which has a title of ‘Scale-Based Music Notation system.’ This patent refers to a music notation system which is programmed to play only seven valid notes of said selected musical scale. It displays the seven notes of any chosen scale on a staff of eight lines and seven spaces, which are typically arranged in a vertical fashion, and which is a graphical representation of a keyboard. No Sharps or flats are used to designate a key, but rather only the valid notes of any particular diatonic scale are provided with positions on the staff. This eliminates the mental calculation required for the carrying of flats and sharps through a whole piece of music. This notation can be in the form of numbers or letters which indicate which hand and which finger are to be used. Therefore, this system is very different from our present DAMONN invention which contains a lot more music notations and is more efficient way to read and play any type of musical instrument.
The related document #15 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,387 B1’ which has a title of ‘Apparatus and method for editing a music score based on an intermediate data set including note data and sign data.’ This patent refers to an apparatus (with a computer and software programs) and a method for editing a music score (music sheets for a piano), and more particularly to such an apparatus and a method processing a music score data set. This patent includes information to display a music score in musical notation, a performance data set including information to perform a piece of music as defined by the music score. And in addition, it has an intermediate data set including information to mediate between the music score data set and the performance data set. And the system also reflects edition of the music score data set into the performance data set, so that the performance data set is efficiently composed reflecting the edition on to the music score data set. Therefore, this system is very different from our present DAMONN invention which is a new music notation system itself but not the method for editing music sheets.
The related document #16 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,238A’ which has a title of ‘Musical Notation for Keyboard Instruments.’ This patent refers to a method of musical notation for a 12-tones-per-octave keyboard instrument enabling the sight reader to play with greater facility. The musical notation and colored markers or color stickers placed on the keyboard will facilitate the sight-reading and playing of music on a keyboard instrument. Therefore, this system is very different from our present DAMONN invention which is a new music notation system itself but not the colored markers or color stickers placed on the keyboard of a piano.
The related document #17 is the patent number ‘U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,066’, dated Jun. 26, 1973, which has a title of ‘Musical Notation and Actuator System.’ This patent generally relates to a musical notation technique and to a corresponding actuator arrangement. More particularly, the invention concerns a musical notation system including three-lined staves, the lines and spaces of which correspond to the particular tones in a diatonic scale and which may be readily correlated with the actuators of certain musical instruments, i.e., piano keyboard, to permit a musician to readily sight-read written music. This invention uses the music actuator which is a part of a switch causing change of the contact connections (e.g. toggle, push-button, or rocker). Briefly described, this invention involves a musical notation system that permits written music to be readily sight-read and translated to mechanical movement of particular actuators on an instrument to provide a desired sound having a selected tone. The invention also involves an instrument actuator system which is particularly correlated with the staves used in the notation system.
This said patent includes the use of several identical staves which uniquely correspond to octaves. Each of the staves includes three uniformly spaced lines which correspond to particular musical tones. Alphanumeric designators may be used to particularly identify a stave with an octave. Music notes superposed on the staves designate tones to be sounded by a musical instrument. Music notes are provided with particular shapes (upward triangle, downward triangle, or 0) to indicate when semi-tones, either higher or lower than the tone defined by the line or space of a stave, are to be sounded. These particular shapes are designed for music note with sharp, flat, or natural accidentals. The system mainly concentrates on the actuator system which is typified by being physically marked to correspond to the lines and spaces of a stave.
In our opinion, this invention has some differences from our DAMONN notation invention in that its main concern deals with the actuator system design which uses 7 sets of staves in which each set of staves has 3 lines with 4 spaces (a space above the top line, two spaces between lines, and a space below the bottom line). The sub-total number of lines is 21 lines and the sub-total number of spaces is 28 spaces. These 21 lines and 28 spaces makes up 49 containers for 49 pitches which corresponds to 49 white keys of a piano. Another words, the piano has 7 white keys for each octave; a total of 49 white keys for 7 octaves that matches with the number of 49 pitches (or music notes) from 7 sets of staves of this invention as mentioned earlier. This actuator design also includes flat or sharp functions to account for the black keys which sums up to 35 music notes. The total number of 49 white keys and 35 black keys is 84 keys which covers most types of musical instruments or very close for covering of the 88-key piano.
In general, this system still uses oval symbols with stems and flags with addition of upward or downward triangles in order to change standard five-lined staves into seven sets of its three-lined staves with four spaces. Therefore, this invention is very complicated and different from our present DAMONN invention.
The related non-patented document #18 is ‘WYSIWYP—A Simplified Notation for Sheet Music’. On Apr. 11, 2019, Stuart Byrom disclosed ‘WYSIWYP’ (i.e., what you see is what you play) notation to the Music Notation Modernization Association (‘MNMA’). This non-patented article, ‘WYSIWYP’, was found when we searched the patent number ‘US 2021/0049987 A1’ by Benjamin Barnett Spratling IV, that has a title of ‘Music Notation Using A Disproportionate Correlated Scale’. From its paragraph [0010], “At first, WYSIWYP may appear to use lines for the half steps in the scale and blank spaces for the whole steps. However, there is no visual marking delineating the boundary of one whole-step space with an adjacent whole-step space. So, when drawn in the published examples, WYSIWYP actually uses spaces of two different sizes, which then represent two or three whole steps. Furthermore, in the published example, the three-step spaces were only 1.375 times as tall as the two-step spaces, meaning they did not proportionately represent three steps equally as compared to the two-step spaces. The disclosure's explicit references to Clair-Note (a chromatic notation which uses lines and spaces for half notes and omits lines uncommon to the diatonic scale) as prior art suggests its pitch coordinates may instead be aligned to another, unseen, geometric construction. WYSIWYP is also redundant, using both numbered octaves and large gothic letters to represent clefs. WYSIWYP also interferes with artistic expression by preselecting colors for the C and F lines.”
In our opinion, our DAMONN notation is very different from the WYSIWYP notation which uses an oval to represent natural music note same as the standard notation but introduce new symbols for sharp and flat. Instead of using sharp symbol (or #) of standard notation, the new sharp symbol is represented by a solid triangle pointing up like an arrowhead indicating increase by one semi-tone interval. And, instead of flat symbol (or b) symbol of standard notation, the new flat symbol is represented by a solid triangle pointing down like an arrowhead indicating decrease by one semi-tone interval.
In addition, the staff lines of standard notation are modified into a number of 17 staff lines for an 88-key piano. These 17 lines consists of 16 spaces; there are two types of spaces: a narrow space containing two music notes and a wide space containing three music notes. At the bottom, the first staff line contains note C and the first staff space contains note D and note E; this is called the C group. The next line upward, the second staff line contains note F and the second staff space contains note G, note A, and note B; this is called the F group. And then, the WYSIWYP notation is assigned to have the next higher octave for C group and then the next higher octave for F group. These assignments are done until all 17 lines are complete to cover the 88 keys of the piano. So, we can see alternating sequence of a narrow space and a wide space across from the bottom to the top of this new staff lines for the WYSIWYP notation.
In our opinion, these new modifications of the WYSIWYP notation may be beneficial to a beginner but probably not for experienced musicians who would have to re-learn these new notations or may choose not to re-learn this new method at all. With this new issue, Mr. Benjamin Barnett Spratling mentioned in his document, “It should be noted that this design is driven by a desire to make reading music easier for beginners regardless of age. Therefore, it may not satisfy the goals of musicologists and professional musicians. It should be re-emphasized that this design is aimed at new students of music in order to make their paths to playing music easier and less stressful. It is not the intent to convert musicians already trained in the traditional system to a different one.”
In conclusion, the WYSIWYP notation still have the similar serious problem as the standard notation such that musicians still have the mental transformation problem (or translation problems) in converting oval music notes into one of 12 piano-key names (C, C #, D, D #, E, F, F #, G, G #, A, A #, B). This has been the major problem for musicians for many, many years.
Fortunately, with the DAMONN music notation invention, any musicians, beginners or experienced musicians, can read directly and visually these 12 piano-key names right off the Treble staff and Bass staff instantly without having to do any mental transformation tasks any more. And lastly, the DAMONN music notation may be able to provide musicians the new capability, “What you see on DAMONN music sheet is actually what you play your musical instrument,” for years to come.
This invention comprises methods, system, and devices for reading, writing, learning, playing, and teaching keyboard, string, brass and woodwind, and percussion musical instruments through a simplified and more efficient music notation system, that can be referred to as the ‘DAMONN music notation’ system, as shown in
The present invention concerns a new different and improved music notation system which consists of a ‘Treble staff or ‘Treble Note area 21 and a ‘Bass staff or ‘Bass Note area’ 22 but these two ‘Treble staff and ‘Bass staff have different meaning from the Treble clef 11 and the Bass Clef 13 of the traditional notation. The Treble staff may consist of two or more of octave spaces. Similarly, the Bass staff may consist of two or more of octave spaces. Although an octave space is created between two staff lines but these staff lines are not used and have no significant meaning in our new DAMONN notation system because all music notes must be in these 9 octave spaces only, i.e., octave 0 to octave 8. The music notes on the present DAMONN musical notation system will provide readily correlated with the actual position of any certain musical instruments, i.e., piano keyboard, to permit a musician to visually-and-directly read written music.
The present music notes may be created by using alphabets, numbers, and special signs. However, the enormous difference between the traditional methods and our new present method is that the DAMONN music notation system can be easily learned to read and write with minimum memorization of the instrument players for both beginners or experienced musicians. This simplicity provides the music creativity window that has never been offered before. Because of the simplicity of the DAMONN system, a child or beginner will be able to read music notes directly from DAMONN system correctly from the very beginning. Parents will find that the DAMONN musical notation system is easy to learn by themselves with effortless such that they will be able to explain it to their children. And, their children will understand it quickly especially with less difficulty to learn complex sheet music on their own.
Another direct benefit to people is the simplicity to translate or convert any existing written music in traditional sheet music into DAMONN music notes on music sheet of the DAMONN music notation system. With the aid of the music conversion charts as shown in
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by the DAMONN music notation system for displaying the music notes, for both Treble notes and Bass notes, of a musical score and their corresponding octave, which are combined to match with a keyboard note. The grand staff of the invention corresponds to keyboard notes and utilizes a repeating pattern of keys in each octave and is helpful to play notes relating directly on a piano, as a preferred mode of instrument, or any other type of musical instruments.
In the DAMONN music notation system of the best preferred mode of this invention, the present grand staff consists of nine positions of Octave Numbers from octave 0 to octave 8 in which 12 music alphabetical notes can be written horizontally within each octave. In this preferred mode, the music alphabetical notes in each octave can be written as any of 12 music notes of chromatic scale using a lower-case letter such as c, c #, d, d #, e, f, f #, g, g #, a, a #, b. In addition, there is an optional area called the cross-over area which is the area between the Treble Clef (Musical-Note area) and the Bass Clef (Musical-Note area). This cross-over area is optional for writing music notes in octave numbers 3 and 2 for Treble Clef (if needed), and also writing music notes in octave numbers 4 and 5 for Bass Clef (if needed) for better clarity of reading music sheet.
The reader can now readily see how the above detailed description of DAMONN music notation system results in the following benefits of the invention over the prior art.
While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to a person of average skill in the art upon reference to this description. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims cover any such modifications, embodiments as fall within the true scope of this present invention.
