Piano teaching aid

A sequence of first, second and third overlay segments that are initially lightly adhered to the white keys of a replica of a piano keyboard defined on a backing strip. The first, second and third overlay segments are subsequently removed from the backing strip and adhered to the white keys of a piano keyboard. The first and second overlay segments when mounted on the white keys of a piano keyboard visually define a treble signature and a bass signature. Elongate tabs extend from the first and second overlay segments and visually indicate to a user the keys on the keyboard that correspond to notes on the lines of the upper and lower groups thereof on the music. The third overlay identifies the middle C key on the piano keyboard. Overlay segments in the form of sharps and flats are provided that are secured to appropriate white keys of the keyboard to visually indicate that they are to be sharped or flatted. Notes in spaces on the music between lines in the upper and lower groups are identified on the piano keyboard as being between an appropriate two of the tabs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
Piano Teaching Aid. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
In the teaching of piano, one of the major obstacles for a beginning 
student is to visually associate a note on either the treble or bass lines 
of a sheet of music with the correct key on a piano keyboard, as well as 
to remember which white keys on the piano keyboard are to be sharped or 
flatted. Various devices have been proposed and used in the past to assist 
the student in overcoming the above mentioned obstacle. However, in the 
main such prior art piano teaching aids have been unduly complicated, are 
difficult to use and understand, and as a result have been of limited 
assistance to a beginning student. 
A major object of the present invention is to provide a piano teaching aid 
that is simple and easy to use, is inexpensive, and one that will 
facilitate the student in acquiring the ability to sight read music. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
First, second and third overlay segments that are initially removably 
secured to a backing strip on which a replica of the white and black keys 
of a piano keyboard are defined. The overlay segments are subsequently 
removed from the backing strip and removably secured to the white keys of 
a piano keyboard. The first overlay segments when so mounted on the white 
keys define a treble signature, and from which signature elongate tabs 
project to indicate to the user that the keys on which the tabs are 
mounted correspond to notes on the lines in the upper group of the latter 
on sheet music. 
The second overlay segments when removably mounted on white keys of a piano 
keyboard define a bass signature from which elongate tabs project. The 
white keys identified by the elongate tabs indicate to a user that these 
keys correspond to notes on lines in the bass of the sheet music. The 
third overlay segment is removably mounted on middle C key of the piano 
keyboard, which corresponds to a note on the line between the treble and 
bass of sheet music. Notes in spaces between the lines in sheet music are 
easily identified by a user on a piano keyboard, by the user referring to 
the two tabs on the piano keyboard that are on opposite sides of the white 
keys. If desired, fourth overlay segments may be provided that are affixed 
to white keys on the piano keyboard above and below the treble and bass to 
indicate to a user the position of additional notes on the music. Fifth 
overlay segments in the form of sharps and flats are provided that may be 
removably secured to appropriate white keys on the piano keyboard to 
remind a user that these keys must be sharpened or flatted.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The present invention includes an elongate backing strip H best seen in 
FIG. 3 that has a replica J of a portion of a conventional piano keyboard 
defined thereon. In the drawing the replica J is illustrated as including 
the octaves above and below middle C and portions of the octaves adjacent 
the upper and lower octaves. 
A number of first overlay segments K are provided that are formed from a 
pliable sheet material that have first and second oppositely disposed 
surfaces 30 and 32. The first surfaces 30 are coated with a film of 
pressure sensitive adhesive 34 as shown in FIG. 4 and the second surfaces 
are of a color that contrasts to the black and white color of a piano 
keyboard. 
The first overlay segments K are removably disposed on the replica J and 
define a treble signature thereon as shown in FIG. 2. A conventional key 
board L is shown in FIG. 1 that has a sheet of music M disposed adjacent 
thereto, which sheet has treble lines N, bass lines O and middle C line P, 
and notes Q on these lines, imprinted thereon. 
The first overlay segments K are adhered to the white keys of the keyboard 
L as shown in FIG. 1 to correspond to the treble lines N, with the overlay 
segments on keys e, f, g, b, and d having forwardly extending tabs K-1 
included as a part thereof that visually indicate to a user that the keys 
on which they are mounted correspond to the treble lines N. Thus, when a 
user sees a note Q on a line of the group of treble lines N he immediately 
relates it to the keys of the keyboard L on which the overlay segments K 
are mounted. The tabs K-1 identify the keys of the keyboard L with 
corresponding treble lines N and the user when he sees a note Q on a 
treble line N knows which key to strike. 
When a note Q is in a space between two treble lines N on the sheet of 
music M, the user knows immediately that the key to strike on keyboard L 
is situated between two of the tabs K-1. 
A second group of overlay segments R with tabs R-1 is provided, that is of 
the same structure as the first group K, but in the form of a bass 
signature that is applied to the white keys of the keyboard L as shown in 
FIG. 1. The overlay segments R serve the same function in identifying keys 
in the first octave below middle C on the keyboard L, as the first overlay 
segments K do on keys in the first octave above middle C. 
Third, fourth and fifth groups of tabs S, T and U are provided that are 
removably secured to the middle C key of keyboard L, keys corresponding to 
lines of the treble above the group N, and keys corresponding to lines of 
the bass below the group O on music M. 
In FIG. 3 a hand 2 is shown sequentially removing the overlay segments K, 
R, S, T and U from the backing strip H and in FIG. 3a a portion of the 
overlay segments is shown being applied to the keyboard L. The phantom 
lines in FIG. 1 illustrate the relationship between the sheet of music M 
and the invention when mounted on the keyboard L. Overlay segments V and W 
in the form of sharps and flats may be removably mounted on backing strip 
H and removed therefrom and applied to appropriate keys of keyboard L to 
remind a user that these keys must be sharped or flatted. 
The use and operation of the invention has been explained previously in 
detail and need not be repeated.