Chart for Indicating Chords on Key-board Musical Instruments for Teaching Vamping thereon and for Analogous Purposes.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Chart for Indicating Chords on Key-board Musical Instruments
for Teaching Vamping thereon and for Analogous Purposes.
:
I, JOHN WILCHER, of Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, Clerk, do
liereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention relates to a chart and to a method of plotting the same for indicating
on a pianoforte, harmonium or organ, certain keys so selected and arranged that when
those indicated are struck or played together by one impulse of the hand a harmonious
combination of sounds is produced; a tone possessing the characteristics of a
"chord" resulting.
"
A chart constructed according to this invention has for its object the indication of
specific notes or keys to a player or performer on the said instruments in such a
manner that he may without resorting to memory be enabled to strike a number of
chords or produce a harmonious combination of sounds; such artificial help being
specially intended for the assistance of performers in accompanying or vamping on
keyboard instruments of the kind referred to.
In carrying out my said invention, I subdivide the chart longitudinally into three
parts, the lowest one having reference to chords of the minor keys, the intermediate
one to those of the major keys, and the uppermost one to those of the dominant seventh.
Or, this arrangement may be altered, if desired, by indicating the major keys in the lower
division, and so on. The mode of indicating the required notes on the chart consists
in dividing a card (which, when in use, is placed at the rear of the keyboard, resting
on the keys), into a number of vertical spaces, each space being of the width of one
key. The spaces corresponding with keys or notes the respective pitches of which
bear such a relation to another as to blend into a resultant harmonious tone are
indicated by one colour, those of another series by another colour, and so on. Instead
of distinguishing the notes by colouring the whole of the spaces, they may be indi-
cated by strips, blocks or plots of colour, or some other equivalent distinctive means,
as by dots, figures or the like. When the same note happens to be included in more
than one series or combination, such circumstance is indicated by running a strip
of colour representing its second or third value through the corresponding space.
Besides the vertical divisions or plots, the chart, as already mentioned, contains
three longitudinal divisions, into which the marking is extended for the purpose of
distinguishing the grade of key indicated; the minor keys being represented by
plots only extending through the first division, the major keys by plots carried upwards
through the first and second divisions, and the dominant seventh by plots extending
through the three divisions, or marked only in the uppermost division.
In the case
of chords of the dominant seventh, I find that, as they are seldom used, it is unneces-
sary to carry the distinguishing strips right across the chart; it being enough to
represent each note in the uppermost division by a coloured label arranged over the
space referring to the note to be indicated.
The more important or major keys are preferably represented by the most distinctive
colours, namely, red, blue and yellow; those of secondary importance or minor keys
by colours less distinctive, namely, black and green; and the dominant sevenths by
any other convenient colour, such as sepia. Instead of colouring the plots to impart
to them distinctive characteristics, their qualities or values may be respectively
denoted by marking them with longitudinal, transverse or diagonal thick or thin lines,
or by employing dots or figures or other alternative means for enabling them to be
distinguished one from another.
The harmonizing chords are found by practice, or by mathematical calculation of

page_text: :
Treble (4th Oct.) E, G; (5th Oct.) Bb, E.
Bass (4th Oct.) C; (3rd Oct.) C.

page_text: ⚫It must be borne in mind that the notes of one chord or of a series of a chord are
not necessarily concordant with those of another series or chord; and, therefore,
that only, notes of one of the above-stated arrangements should be sounded at one
time. It is unnecessary that all the notes shewn in these arrangements should be
sounded, for the perforiner may at pleasure sound a chord of different degrees of
intensity and pitch by striking notes higher or lower in the scale, or by striking
combinations of these notes as his experience may direct him; the chart will only
indicate to him a number of notes in a certain series and order, any of which in the
one series being sounded together will produce harmony.
It is at the performer's pleasure to select from the notes indicated by the chart
those which will produce a tone of the intensity or pitch required when sounded in
the same series.
Although I have only described the use of the chart with reference to the key "C,"
it is also capable of being employed with respect to any other key, for which purpose
it does not need altering or rearranging, but only requires to be placed over the key-
board in such a way that the key- or guiding-note of the chart corresponds with the
key-note of the instrument; whereupon the other plots on the chart indicating notes
assume proper relative positions, as before.
In the drawings, the chart shewn does not embrace the whole keyboard of the
piano, but a chart sufficiently extensive to do so may be easily constructed on the
same principle.
The key or guiding-note of the chart may be distinguished by marking it with a
star.
In the bass, only octaves are indicated, intermediate notes being omitted for
simplicity. These octaves may be the octaves of any note in the same chord as that
being sounded in the treble. In the major dominant (3rd) chord, an extra half tone
or semi-tone (in the key of "C," this half tone is "B" in the fourth octave) is added,
and may be used with its lower octave (in the key of "C," this is "B" in the third
octave) to effect modulation. In the dominant chord of C, the tonic seventh may be
used as a bass note for the second inversion chord of the key of C.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The plan and arrangement of chart to be used substantially as and for the
purposes herein described, such plan and arrangement consisting in dividing the
chart into two series of divisions, namely, three longitudinal divisions for denoting
the grades of key indicated within them respectively, and a number of vertical
divisions, plots or their equivalents, for denoting, either by different colours or by
other distinctive means, the series of note and the note itself; such series of note
being either the tonic, the dominant or the sub-dominant chord series of the major
grade, or the tonic or dominant chord series of the minor grade.
2. Indicating concordant or harmonious series of notes or chords on keyboard
musical instruments of the kind herein specified by means of a chart, such chart
consisting of a card divided into longitudinal spaces and also into vertical spaces or
plots, one of the latter being set apart for and surmounting each key of the instrument;
the longitudinal divisions being employed for the purpose of indicating the grade of
key (viz., whether major, minor or dominant seventh) and the vertical spaces being
used for the purpose of indicating the concordant notes themselves and also the series
to which such notes belong, substantially as herein described.
3. For the purpose of indicating, on keyboard musical instruments of the kind
herein specified, series of concordant notes and chords, the use of a chart placed
over and resting on the back of the keyboard; such chart consisting of a card
divided into a number of vertical spaces, each space being of the width of one key
of the instrument, and the several plots or spaces surmounting concordant notes in
one series being indicated by one colour (or by any other equivalent means' of

page_text: distinction), those corresponding with concordant notes in another series being
indicated by another colour, and so on; three longitudinal divisions being, more-
over, provided for the purpose of distinguishing the grade of note (major, minor, or
dominant seventh), substantially as herein described.
This 91st day of February 1889
. G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Associate Agent.: