Patent ID: 8207436

Claim:
A device for entering, editing, and outputting representations of a series of notes to be played on a bass pan set of a plurality of steel pans, each pan having three note pads, a first pad of each pan capable of producing a first musical pitch when struck, a second pad of each pan capable of producing a second musical pitch an octave above the first musical pitch when struck, and a third pad of each pan capable of producing a third musical pitch intermediate between the first and the second musical pitch when struck, the device comprising: a processor; a display in signal communication with the processor; an input and an output device in signal communication with the processor; and software encoded on a computer-readable medium and installable on the processor, the software having code segments adapted to: display a representation of a steel pan having a plurality of concentric rings of note pads, each note pad capable of producing a distinct musical pitch when struck; receive a user selection via the input device of a series of notes to be played on the steel pan; display on the display the user-selected note series with a tablature system comprising: a pan staff comprising three horizontal staff lines positioned atop, and in spaced relation from, each other, each staff line for representing a set of note pads in chromatic sequence, a first staff line representing the first pad on each pan, a second staff line positioned adjacent the first staff line representing the second pad on each pan, and a third staff line positioned adjacent the second staff line on an opposite side from the first staff line representing the third pad on each pan; for each note pad to be represented, a rhythmic indicator adjacent the staff line in the set of which the note pad belongs; and for each note pad to be represented, a note name corresponding to the note pad to be represented, the note name positioned adjacent the respective rhythmic indicator; output at least a portion of an electronic representation of the user-selected note series to the output device.