Instrument for musical therapy

A musical instrument for musical therapy which stimulates and urges patients suffering from dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the brain to voluntarily play and to sing a song comprises an indicating part for displaying the lyrics of a song or other musical indicia in a predetermined pattern, an operating panel, and a scale generator. The indicating part is mounted upon the operating panel, which is provided with a plurality of switch elements arranged in physical alignment with the respective lyrics of the song or other musical indicia. The plural switch elements are connected to the scale generator such that a musical tone or voice signal is output by the scale generator in accordance with a selected switch element. By use of the inventive device, a patient is stimulated and urged to sing the song when the patient successively activates the switch elements corresponding to the displayed lyrics of the song.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates generally to a musical instrument and, more 
particularly, to a musical therapy instrument for assisting in the 
development of verbal and musical skills in children, for the 
rehabilitation of such skills in the elderly, and for the treatment of 
patients suffering from disorders such as dementia, aphasia, and other 
functional disorders of the brain. 
2. Background Information 
The beneficial effects of musical therapy in the development of verbal and 
musical skills in children, in the reconstruction of the speech faculty 
and memory of the elderly, and in the treatment of patients suffering from 
disorders such as dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the 
brain, have been widely recognized. It is well known that musical therapy 
has significant beneficial effects in the treatment of such disorders, and 
this is especially so when songs familiar to and enjoyed by the patient 
are used during administration of the therapy. 
For example, in patients suffering from dementia, musical therapy has been 
demonstrated to be an effective and useful therapy widely administered to 
assist such patients in the recovery of his or her sense of reality and to 
enable the patient to return to active life. In such cases, the therapy 
has an uplifting and positive effect on the patient, and serves to 
stimulate the patient's desire and ability to regain forgotten memories by 
use of cognitive associative functions enabled when the patient is urged 
to listen to or sing a song familiar to and enjoyed by him or her. 
In addition, in patients suffering from aphasia caused by severe head 
trauma or other damage to the brain, it is well known that many patients 
undergoing musical therapy begin to vocalize the words of particular songs 
within their memories when the patients are stimulated and urged to listen 
to or to sing a song familiar to him or her. Accordingly, musical therapy 
has, in many instances, served as a highly effective therapy for 
reconstruction of the speech faculty in the brain of aphasiac patients. 
In patients suffering from severe physical disabilities, however, the 
administration of musical therapy using conventional musical instruments 
or devices is difficult. For example, functional disorders of the brain 
such as dementia and aphasia are often accompanied by physical 
manifestations or conditions which limit or profoundly curtail the 
patient's ability of physical movement. As a result, it is often difficult 
for such patients to voluntarily sing a song, and, in many cases, it is 
difficult or impossible for such patients to manipulate the keys or 
strings of a conventional musical instrument due to the loss of manual 
dexterity. Small children and some elderly persons may also lack the 
physical and/or mental ability to play a conventional instrument. 
It is also known that the beneficial effects of musical therapy are highly 
related to individual musical tastes and abilities. Thus, while 
physicians, nurses and other therapists engaged in the administration of 
musical therapy generally attempt to select a song for a therapy session 
that is well suited to a particular patient, the selection process becomes 
more complicated in the administration of group therapy. When a group of 
patients are urged to listen to a selected song and, if possible, to sing 
along with the melody or play the song using a musical instrument or other 
device specially designed to produce musical and/or vocal accompaniment, 
the therapy is more effective in patients to whom the song is best suited, 
i.e., those patients who are familiar with and enjoy the song. 
Due to the lack of an adequate number of qualified therapists to 
accommodate the rapidly increasing number of persons in need of such 
treatment, musical therapy is often administered simultaneously to a group 
of patients. Since musical abilities and tastes vary widely among patients 
in different age groups and in patients having different physical and 
mental disabilities and life experiences, however, group therapy has not 
generally obtained the same level of success obtained by individual 
treatment. 
Accordingly, there is a need for a musical therapy instrument which is 
capable of use by patients having severely limited physical abilities and 
which is effective in restoring verbal and speech faculties without the 
need for direct therapist supervision. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide 
a musical instrument effective for use in the development of basic verbal 
and musical skills in children. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a musical 
instrument effective for use in restoring the speech faculty and basic 
mechanical abilities in elderly persons. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an instrument for the 
administration of musical therapy for the treatment of patients suffering 
from dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the brain, and 
which enables such patients to voluntarily play a desired song and to sing 
the song by the induction in the patient's memory of its melody and rhythm 
even in the case of patients who do not have the knowledge or physical 
ability to play a conventional musical instrument. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an instrument 
for the administration of musical therapy which is effective without the 
presence of a therapist. 
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide an 
instrument for the administration of musical therapy which is effective 
regardless of the age, musical ability and musical taste of the patient. 
It is expected that if such a musical therapy instrument is made available 
to patients for individual use at medical institutions, rehabilitation 
centers, or at home, the favorable results of musical therapy will be 
achieved to facilitate the recovery of patients suffering from dementia 
and other brain disorders. 
Such a musical instrument will also serve as an invaluable tool to promote 
the development of basic verbal, musical, and mechanical abilities in 
small children and in the rehabilitation of such skills in elderly 
persons. 
The above objects and others are achieved by the musical instrument of the 
present invention, which comprises indicating means for displaying musical 
indicia arranged in a predetermined pattern, an operating panel receptive 
of the indicating means and having a plurality of switch elements in 
physical alignment with the musical indicia displayed by the indicating 
means, and a scale generator connected to the plurality of switch elements 
to output a musical tone signal having a pitch corresponding to a selected 
switch element. 
Preferably, the musical indicia comprises the lyrics of a song and the 
indicating means comprises a card formed of a sheet of plain or laminated 
paper, light stock cardboard or a plastic sheet imprinted with the lyrics 
of a song. A plurality of such cards are preferably made available for the 
treatment of patients, each card being imprinted with the lyrics of a 
different song arranged in a predetermined pattern. The lyrics of the song 
are preferably arranged on the indicating means in a manner such that when 
the indicating means is mounted on the operating panel, the individual 
lyrics of the song are physically aligned with respective ones of the 
switch elements such that when a switch element corresponding to a 
respective lyric of the song is selected, the tone generator generates a 
corresponding tone. Accordingly, when the patient sequentially selects the 
switch elements corresponding to the lyrics of the song displayed by the 
indicating means by use of his or her fingertip or an input device, for 
example, the words of the song are converted by the tone generator into a 
series of musical tone signals to output the melody of the selected song. 
Preferably, the musical indicia is arranged in a predetermined pattern to 
cooperate with the arrangement of switch elements of the operating panel 
such that a song represented by the musical indicia may be played by 
sequentially activating the switch elements by a swiping motion of the 
user's fingertip or an input device across the indicating means in the 
predetermined pattern. 
In accordance with the foregoing structure, the musical therapy instrument 
of the present invention may be used by patients having little or no 
musical knowledge or ability, and is effective to stimulate and urge a 
patient to vocalize the melody and/or lyrics of a selected song displayed 
by the indicating means when the switch elements corresponding to the 
lyrics of the song are operated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Various preferred embodiments of the musical instrument of the present 
invention will now be described in conjunction with the attached drawings, 
in which identical reference numerals are used to denote identical 
elements throughout. 
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic construction of the musical instrument of the 
present invention. More specifically, the left-hand side of FIG. 1 is 
divided into three portions, i.e., an upper portion, a middle portion and 
a lower portion, for the purpose of illustrating the construction of three 
preferred types of input devices of the inventive musical instrument. As 
shown in FIG. 1, in each of these three basic constructions, the musical 
instrument comprises an indicating part 1 for displaying the lyrics of a 
song or other musical indicia (generally denoted by reference numeral 2), 
an operating panel 3 having a plurality of switch elements corresponding 
to the lyrics of the song or other musical indicia 2 displayed by the 
indicating part 1, and a scale generator 4 connected to the switch 
elements of the operating panel 3. A scale controller 14 is used for 
controlling the scale generator 4. 
As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the musical therapy instrument may also 
include additional input means, each of which is described in greater 
detail below, such as a code reader 18 for reading encoded musical data 
stored on a floppy disk (FD) 16 or in a memory device (ROM) 17 and 
converting such musical data into a signal for driving the scale 
controller 14. As illustrated in the upper portion of FIG. 1, the 
indicating part 1 may be further provided with a code 15 containing 
encoded musical data in the form of a bar code, for example, which is 
representative of the lyrics, music or tempo of a song or other musical 
indicia 2 displayed by the indicating part 1. The code reader 18 serves to 
read the code 15, to distinguish or discriminate the musical indication, 
and to output a corresponding signal to the scale controller 14 for 
control of the scale generator 4. 
As illustrated in the upper portion of FIG. 1, in one embodiment of the 
present invention the indicating part 1 is a sheet-type indicating body 5 
in the nature of a plain or laminated rectangular sheet of paper, light 
stock cardboard, or plastic, and is imprinted with the musical indicia 2 
and code 15. As illustrated in the middle portion of FIG. 1, the operating 
panel 3 may instead be provided with a fixedly mounted indicating body 5 
having an erasable surface such that the user or therapist may manually 
imprint musical indicia 2 such as the lyrics of a song or a melody thereon 
in a predetermined pattern which later may be erased using an appropriate 
eraser 11. Alternatively, as illustrated in the lower portion of FIG. 1, 
the indicating part 1 may also be constructed using an electronic display 
device 6 for electrically displaying the lyrics of a song or other musical 
indicia 2 by use of a CRT display, a liquid crystal display device, or the 
like. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, any 
device or member capable of selectively displaying the lyrics of a song or 
other musical indicia 2 in a predetermined pattern may generally serve as 
the indicating part 1 as long as such device or member is capable of 
displaying such musical indicia in alignment with a plurality of switch 
elements to permit selective activation of the respective switch elements 
in accordance with the arrangement of the lyrics of the song or other 
musical indicia 2. 
For example, when the indicating body 5 is in the nature of a card formed 
of a sheet of paper or the like, the musical indicia 2 is imprinted on the 
indicating body 5 by use of printing, photocopying, hand writing, or the 
like. Thus, a plurality of pre-printed cards may be provided each having a 
different song or other musical indicia imprinted thereon. 
Alternatively, the indicating body 5 may be provided in the nature of a 
sheet of paper, cardboard, or plastic, and a particular song or other 
musical indicia 2 may be printed on the indicating body 5 by the user or 
therapist using a marker or other writing instrument. In such case, it is 
preferable to provide such indicating body 5 with pre-printed indica 
representing the outlines of the respective switch elements. 
The words or other musical indicia may be arranged on the indicating part 1 
in a countless variety of ways in accordance with the degree of mental and 
physical disability of the patient. Numerous arrangements are hereinafter 
described. 
For example, for patients who are not severely mentally or physically 
disabled, the indicating part 1 may be imprinted with the external design 
and arrangement of a conventional musical instrument, such as the keyboard 
of a piano, in the upper and lower portions thereof, as well as a series 
of horizontal lines to illustrate the process of time, such as a musical 
time pattern and rhythm as shown in FIG. 2. Such a "dual keyboard" layout 
of the indicating part 1 is effective for use of the device in conjunction 
by an instructor and student for the purpose of teaching basic musical and 
verbal skills, and is effective to enable users to sing a displayed song 
because the natural division of the lyrics of the song and melodic lines 
are clearly depicted by the indicating part 1. 
However, because it becomes increasingly difficult for patients to process 
complicated graphical information as the degree of mental and physical 
disorder progresses, it is desirable to provide the least indication 
necessary to meet the purpose, and to require the least possible amount of 
movement and manual dexterity to operate the instrument. 
For example, when the degree of disorder is serious, conventional musical 
indicia, such as the depiction of a musical instrument and the 
illustration of a score, serve no useful advantage since patients 
suffering from profound functional brain disorders generally lack the 
cognitive ability to comprehend such illustration and will likely be 
confused by the complex graphical display. Similarly, in many such cases, 
the patient will lack the manual dexterity needed to manipulate a 
keyboard. Thus, in more serious cases, visual depictions such as those 
illustrated in FIG. 2 are not desirable for use in musical therapy. 
Accordingly, in such cases, the dotted horizontal score lines shown in 
FIG. 2 can be omitted as a visual feature, as can the depiction of a 
conventional musical instrument. Instead, data indicative of the progress 
of time, such as musical time pattern and rhythm of a song familiar to 
patients, can be stored in memory for patients suffering from a serious 
degree of disorder, thus simplifying the musical indication, as shown in 
FIG. 3. 
The indication of musical notes such a s "do, re, me, fa . . ." 
corresponding to a melody can also be omitted from the musical indicia 2, 
although such indicia is generally useful to a therapist. In addition, it 
is possible to display the musical indicia 2 in a horizontal rather than 
vertical manner in any language, such as English, German, French, etc., as 
shown in FIG. 4. 
The front side of the operating panel 3 has approximately the same size as 
the indicating part 1. It is possible to use various types of switches 
which can be manually operated by the user, such as contact type switches, 
touch sensitive switches, photoelectric switches, or any combination 
thereof, for the plural switch elements. For example, the switch elements 
of the operating panel 3 shown in the upper and middle portions of FIG. 1 
each comprise strip-shaped contact switches 7 which may be activated when 
depressed by the user at any position along the length of a respective 
switch 7. This type of switch element is highly advantageous for patients 
having profound disorders or limited manual dexterity. Such construction 
is also advantageous for use in the treatment of patients who have lost 
the use of their hands and must operate the device using a different 
portion of their body or a mouth stick 20, as shown in the upper portion 
of FIG. 1. 
One embodiment of a contact-type switch 7 is illustrated in FIGS. 5(A) and 
5(B). In this embodiment, the operating panel 3 is provided with a base 
plate 8 on which are provided a plurality of lattice-shaped contacts 7a 
each arranged in the shape of an elongated strip that constitutes one 
section of the switch 7. A surface sheet 9 is adhered to the surface of 
the base plate 8 with an interval formed therebetween by a suitable 
flexible spacer or spring (not shown). Another plurality of contacts 7b, 
formed of a conductive material such as carbon and conductive rubber, are 
provided at locations on the back of the surface sheet 9 in alignment with 
the contacts 7a. When the indicating part 1 such as the sheet-type 
indicating body 5 is mounted upon the surface sheet 9 as shown in FIG. 
5(B), the switch elements 7 are arranged in a position shown by the dotted 
lines in FIG. 6 when viewed from the surface. 
Rather than being formed in elongated strips, the plural switch elements 7 
can each be formed in a rectangular shape and can be arranged in a series 
of straight lines. When the indicating body 5 is mounted upon an operating 
panel 3 with plural switch elements of this type, the switch elements 7 
are arranged in a position as shown by the rectangular frame in FIG. 7. 
When the indicating part 1 is in the form of a sheet on which the lyrics of 
a selected song can be written with a writing utensil such as marker and 
erased when desired, it is advantageous to incorporate the indicating part 
1 and the operating panel 3 in a single unit, as shown in the central 
portion of FIG. 1. An example of such embodiment using a plurality of 
contact type switch elements 7 is shown in FIGS. 8(A) and 8(B). In this 
embodiment, the construction of the switch elements 7 of the operating 
panel 3 is similar to the construction of the switch elements shown in 
FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B), however, the surface sheet 9 serves as the indicating 
part 1 and is formed of a flat dry erasable material so that the lyrics of 
song or other musical indicia can be written using a writing instrument 10 
such as a felt-tip marker and may be erased with the eraser 11 as 
described above. This is a convenient arrangement because there is no need 
to provide the indicating body and operating part separately. 
Similarly, when an electric display indicator 6 is used as the indicating 
part 1, as shown in the lower portion of FIG. 1, the operating panel 3 and 
the display 6 may be provided as a single integrated unit so that the 
operating panel 3 is formed on the screen of the indicator 6 using a 
photoelectric switch, touch sensitive switch, or the like, many of which 
devices are known to be activated using an indicating pen 12 or the user's 
fingertip. Also in this case, the switch elements may each be formed in 
the shape of an elongated strip or a series of aligned rectangles in the 
manner described above. 
The scale generator 4 is provided to output a tone and/or voice signal to a 
speaker (SP) 21 when a respective switch element 7 is activated. Although 
the scale generator 4 is illustrated separately in FIG. 1, it may also be 
incorporated within the operating panel 3 or display type indicator 6. 
The scale generator 4 of the present invention is a conventional music 
synthesizing device connected to the plurality of switch elements to 
produce a tone signal output corresponding to a selected switch element. 
As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, the scale 
generator of a conventional electronic music synthesizing device may be 
used as the scale generator 4. 
It is desirable to adjust the scale of the indicating part 1 to a 
particular major key to enable a patient to most easily sing a song in his 
or her natural voice. The melody of tonal signals generated by the scale 
generator 4 can be output in C major, D major, E major, etc., by use of a 
key controller 13. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in 
the art, the key controller 13 is provided to change the major key while 
maintaining a constant musical pitch for the desired song. This 
construction makes it possible to play a melody in any major key that 
enables a person requiring treatment to sing a song easily without 
changing the scale of the indicating part 1. Moreover, as many songs have 
various scale changes including various major and minor keys, or, for 
example, the positive scale and negative scale of Japanese music or the 
scales and modulation of other folk music, it is advisable to control the 
scale generator 4 using the scale controller 14 to provide data concerning 
the type of rhythm associated with a particular song (i.e., average 
rhythm, genuine rhythm, etc.) and scales for the desired song. Such data 
can be obtained, for example, from a floppy disk (FD) 16, memory (ROM) 17 
or code data 15 stored on the indicating body 5. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, 6, and 7, not all of the scale indications 
provided on the operating panel 3 are used with every song displayed on 
the indicating part 1. Since many patients undergoing musical therapy have 
limited manual dexterity, it is desirable to allow selective assignment of 
the tone signals produced by activation of the respective switch elements 
for different songs. Such assignment is preferably effected to omit any 
unnecessary scales as shown in FIG. 9. In this case, the code data 15, 
such as a bar-code, and the corresponding musical information on the 
rhythm and melody of the desired song, is stored in a memory unit such as 
the floppy disk (FD) 16 or memory (ROM) 17 so that the assignment of the 
respective switch elements 7, i.e., the relationship between the 
respective switch elements 7 and the scale generator 4, can be controlled 
by the scale controller 14. In such operation, the code reader 18 reads 
the code data 15 provided on the indicating body 5 and/or the floppy disk 
(FD) 16 or memory (ROM) 17 in advance, and the scale controller 14 
controls the scale generator 4. This measure proves to be effective in 
patients suffering from serious disorders. 
Moreover, by controlling the relationship between the respective switch 
elements 7 and the scale generator 4 using the scale controller 14 in the 
manner described above, it is also possible to alter the relationship 
between the musical indicia 2 and the switch elements of the operating 
panel 3 in various respects. FIG. 10 shows an example of such an 
embodiment. As illustrated, the lyrics of a song 2 are imprinted on the 
indicating part 1 successively such that the song may be played by the 
user by successive operation of the switch elements 7. In this embodiment, 
a plurality of rectangular switch elements 7 for the same successive sound 
are grouped into one unit 19. By controlling the musical scale for each 
unit, it is possible to output the song from the scale generator 4. 
A person requiring treatment can generate a melody corresponding to the 
lyrics of a displayed song with sound and/or voice controlled using the 
scale generator 4, by pressing or touching the control panel 3 at a region 
corresponding to the respective words of the song 2 displayed by the 
indicating part 1. The above-described structure is advantageous since it 
enables the patient to control the operating panel 3 using his or her 
finger or toe, or other part of the body, such as by use of a mouth stick 
20 or the CRT indicating pen 12 to operate the respective switch elements. 
The musical therapy instrument of the present invention is constructed in 
the above-described manner to generate a melody corresponding to the words 
of a selected song familiar to a patient undergoing treatment. The patient 
is able to play the song by depressing in a sequential manner respective 
switch elements disposed in physical alignment with the lyrics of a song 
or other musical indicia 2 displayed on an indicating part 1. This may be 
accomplished, for example, by arranging the lyrics of the song in a 
predetermined pattern to permit the user to play the song by merely 
swiping the indicating part 1 in the predetermined pattern. Accordingly, 
the knowledge and skill required to play a conventional musical instrument 
are unnecessary, and the instrument may thus be used by small children to 
promote the development of basic verbal, musical and mechanical skills. In 
addition, using the inventive musical instrument, patients suffering from 
severe disorders such as dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders 
of the brain are capable of voluntarily playing and singing a desired song 
with or without direct supervision by a therapist. Thus, the beneficial 
effects of musical therapy in reconstructing the functions of brain can be 
achieved.