Music instruction system

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions to receive a user selection of a musical piece; provide performance cues to a user to perform musical events on a musical instrument, wherein the performance cues are synchronized to expert performance data of the musical piece; receive audio data corresponding to musical events performed by the user on the musical instrument; detect fundamental frequencies associated with the user-performed musical events; determine an extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed; and provide real-time or near real-time audio feedback and/or visual feedback indicating the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a user selection of a musical piece from a plurality of stored musical pieces, wherein each musical piece includes expert performance data;   providing performance cues to a user to perform musical events of the musical piece via a musical instrument, wherein the performance cues are synchronized to expert performance data of the musical piece;   receiving audio data from the musical instrument, wherein the audio data includes user-performed musical events;   detecting fundamental frequencies associated with the user-performed musical events;   determining an extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on one or more musical characteristic tolerances associated with the musical events; and   providing real-time or near real-time visual feedback and/or audio feedback indicating the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed, to the user, based on the determining.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing in a database the user-performed musical events, performance data, and a date and a time of the user's performance of the user-performed musical events.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the database resides on a server remotely located from the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 presenting the performance data, which is stored in the database, to another user, wherein the other user includes at least one of a parent, an instructor, or a friend of the user.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 recommending one of the plurality of stored musical pieces to the user for music training based on prior user-performed musical events and prior performance data stored in the database.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the audio data is received via a microphone. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each musical characteristic tolerance includes a range of values corresponding to a musical characteristic associated with the musical events, wherein the musical characteristic includes at least one of frequency, amplitude, onset time, release time, rhythm, or duration, and each range of values includes a value corresponding to an expert performance of the musical events, and the determining further comprises:
 evaluating the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events;   comparing values corresponding to the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events to the range of values; and   determining the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on the comparison.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the musical instrument is one of the user's voice, a string instrument, a wind instrument, a keyboard instrument, a drum, a percussion instrument, a single reed instrument, a double reed instrument, or a brass instrument. 
     
     
         9 . A music training system comprising:
 a selection module that selects a musical piece from a plurality of stored musical pieces, wherein each musical piece includes expert performance data;   a presentation module that provides performance cues to a user to perform musical events of the musical piece via a musical instrument, wherein the performance cues are synchronized to expert performance data of the musical piece;   a listening module that receives audio data from the musical instrument, wherein the audio data includes user-performed musical events;   a comparison module that detects fundamental frequencies associated with the user-performed musical events and determines an extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on one or more musical characteristic tolerances associated with the musical events; and   a feedback module that provides real-time or near real-time visual feedback and/or audio feedback that indicates the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed, to the user, based on the determination of the extent.   
     
     
         10 . The music training system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a database module that stores the user-performed musical events, performance data, and a date and a time of the user's performance of the user-performed musical events.   
     
     
         11 . The music training system of  claim 10 , wherein the database module resides on a server or a device remotely located from the listening module. 
     
     
         12 . The music training system of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a viewing module that presents the performance data to another user, wherein the other user includes at least one of a parent, an instructor, or a friend of the user, and presents statistical information, score information, and performance data associated with other users of the music training system.   
     
     
         13 . The music training system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a recommendation module that recommends one of the plurality of stored musical pieces to the user for music training based on prior user-performed musical events and prior performance data; and   a microphone, wherein the microphone acoustically couples the musical instrument to the music training system.   
     
     
         14 . The music training system of  claim 9 , wherein each musical characteristic tolerance includes a range of values corresponding to a musical characteristic associated with the musical events, wherein the musical characteristic includes at least one of frequency, amplitude, onset time, release time, rhythm, or duration, and each range of values includes a value corresponding to an expert performance of the musical events, and wherein the comparison module:
 evaluates the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events;   compares values corresponding to the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events to the range of values; and   determines the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on the comparison.   
     
     
         15 . The music training system of  claim 9 , wherein the musical instrument is one of the user's voice, a string instrument, a wind instrument, a keyboard instrument, a drum, a percussion instrument, a single reed instrument, a double reed instrument, or a brass instrument. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:
 select a musical piece from a plurality of stored musical pieces, wherein each musical piece includes expert performance data;   provide performance cues to a user to perform musical events of the musical piece via a musical instrument, wherein the performance cues are synchronized to expert performance data of the musical piece;   receive audio data from the musical instrument, wherein the audio data includes user-performed musical events;   detect fundamental frequencies associated with the user-performed musical events;   determine an extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on one or more musical characteristic tolerances associated with the musical events; and   provide real-time or near real-time visual feedback and/or audio feedback that indicates the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed, to the user, based on the determination of the extent.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising instructions executable by the processor of the computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:
 store a database that stores the user-performed musical events, performance data, and a date and a time of the user's performance of the user-performed musical events.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising instructions executable by the processor of the computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:
 recommend one of the plurality of stored musical pieces to the user for music training based on prior user-performed musical events and prior performance data;   present the performance data to another user, wherein the other user includes at least one of a parent, an instructor, or a friend of the user; and   present statistical information, score information, and performance data associated with other users.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the musical instrument is one of the user's voice, a string instrument, a wind instrument, a keyboard instrument, a drum, a percussion instrument, a single reed instrument, a double reed instrument, or a brass instrument. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein each musical characteristic tolerance includes a range of values corresponding to a musical characteristic associated with the musical events, wherein the musical characteristic includes at least one of frequency, amplitude, onset time, release time, rhythm, or duration, and each range of values includes a value corresponding to an expert performance of the musical events, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprising instructions executable by the processor of the computational device, which when executed cause the computational device to:
 evaluate the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events; and   compare values corresponding to the musical characteristics associated with the user-performed musical events to the range of values; and wherein the instructions to determine further comprise instructions to:   determines the extent to which the user-performed musical events have been correctly or incorrectly performed based on the comparison.