Improvising Music with Keyboards that have COLORIZED LABELS or LIGHTING: Using a keyboard with Colorized Labels (that show chord-notes of the most common chords) produces many benefits - musical, educational, psychological, time-and-life. Using a keyboard with Lighting can produce similar benefits. But LABELS have a disadvantage for education when “scaling up” from individuals to groups in K-12 schools or senior living facilities, because colorizing requires time. { Details about the process of colorizing, for me and for others. } How can we get each kind of keyboard?
To get a lighted keyboard, three possibilities are to... 1A – use an existing keyboard with lights that show chord-notes, or 1B – motivate a company to design these lights into a keyboard, or 2 — use “do it yourself” software to modify an existing 1A-keyboard. After describing benefits & disadvantages for each kind of cue (by highlighting chord-notes with colored labels, or with lights) I'll examine each kind of option, considering multiple factors — re: music, musicians, education & economics, technology,... — and describing the pros & cons of various options.
[[ iou — This page, now being improved by revising ideas from an earlier version, is currently under-developed with rough edges. In the near future, instead of “polishing rough edges” I'll use my writing time to outline ideas, because I think this will be more time-effective for me (in thinking about options, pros & cons, complexities) and more learning-effective for you (so you can get an overview of the options and possibilities. ]]
Comparative Benefits & Disadvantages of a Colorized Keyboard and Lighted Keyboard Colorizing and Lighting produce Similar Musical Benefits When comparing keyboards with chord-note lighting and chord-note colorizing, the main similarity is that both give intuitive recognition of chord-notes (and thus non-chord notes), and this produces similar benefits for music, psychology, education, time-and-life.
When comparing keyboards with chord-note lighting and chord-note colorizing, we see... comparative benefits of colorizing: A keyboard with colored labels is better for helping a person see musically-logical patterns of harmony, and develop a strong cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music theory. comparative disadvantages of colorizing: I want to use colorized keyboards to teach young people (e.g. in a K-12 school) and older people (e.g. in a living facility), but it will be difficult to "scale up" when using large numbers of keyboards, especially in a school (or district) but also in a facility (or chain of facilities). With practice I've become skilled at efficiently colorizing a keyboard, but it still requires time. Even if another person (in a school or facility) learns the process of colorizing from my page with do-it-yourself tips, at first they will be less efficient, thus requiring more time. Also, paper labels (used for colorizing) "wear out" and replacing them requires additional time. / in other words [to be "worked into" this paragraph],... lights are better for “scaling up” if my way-to-improvise becomes popular in music education for the young (in pre-K and K-12 schools) and/or old (in community centers and living facilities), and in homes for all ages; although I can DIY-colorize fairly quickly for a few keyboards, it does require time, and it would be more difficult for others (without the experience I've gained from my DIY-ing) to colorize with labels.
But there are differences: chord-colorizing can be done with any keyboard, but only some keyboards (currently a small minority) could be chord-lighted; but if a keyboard lab uses chord-lighting there is no need to decide "how many should be colorized and not-colorized" because every lighted keyboard can easily become lighted-or-unlighted by pushing an on-or-off button. / their similarities (with overlaps in the functions-and-benefits they both offer) plus the ways that each can be more beneficial than the other.
benefits of colorizing: I began colorizing-and-playing keyboards in the late 1970s, after discovering the joys of improvising chord-based melodies during a chord progression of 12-Bar Blues. For more than five decades I've been exploring possibilities for improvising with chord progressions, especially by using a colorized keyboard, with the basics described in an Introduction (a “why-page” describing the benefits of colorizing) and Summary Page (a “how-page” to help you improve your musical skills).
comparative benefits of lighting: • when purchased it's ready to play, with no preparation needed [but maybe there will be "buttons to push" that aren't needed with colored labels] so teachers don't have to invest time for DIY-colorizing; • the simplicity of seeing only chord-notes highlighted with lights [but the permanence of labels is useful for "seeing patterns" and learning music theory, and seeing relationships between the notes of different chords]; etc [with comments]. comparative disadvantages of lighting: some are in [italicized bracketed comments] above; also, Most current keyboards use lights mainly to show the notes of song-melodies. But they could design an additional mode so it “lights up all chord notes” (across the whole keyboard) for each chord being played – e.g. when playing in the key of C, for the main major chords (C,F,G - I,IV,V) or a minor chord (Dm,Em,Am - ii,iii,vi). The resulting benefits would be similar to my red-blue-green colorizing, but in some ways lighting would be better; and in other ways colorizing is better. { Many companies make a “lighted keyboard” but afaik almost always the lights are used in another way – to show the notes of songs – although my Yamaha EZ-300 sometimes shows lights for a few chord notes but not all chord-notes. This is a wasted opportunity to show chord-notes so players can improvise harmonious melodies, similar to the musical benefits of a colorized keyboard. }
another desirable feature of a keyboard Any electronic keyboard (with or without colorizing or lighting) should have two ways to transpose and thus change the key of a song: with the typical repeating of a button (labeled + or –) to move all pitches down by a semitone (–) or up by a semitone (–) each time a button is pushed; AND ALSO by pushing a button (labeled flat or sharp) so the key has one more flat or one more sharp.
how to program a keyboard for a chord progression, so it matches the changing-of-chords during the progression: I'll decribe the goals in terms of WHAT-and-WHEN. WHAT: The KB can be programmed to light all notes of each chord. e.g. for a C-Chord it lights every C,E,G (i.e. all C's, all E's, all G's) across the whole keyboard. But it can do more than with color-labels because it also could include supplemented chords like C7 (by lighting every C,E,G,Bb). WHEN: e.g. for a simple CP of C-F-G-C, tell the keyboard to light up a C-Chord, then F-Chord, G-Chord, C-Chord.
How? To control the What-and-When, some options are to... • have pre-programmed chord progressions (as in Yamaha's E373 & EZ300, but with better music) that are a “backing track” for improvising, and include the lighting-up of all chord notes [this is ok for practicing, but isn't "real music" that's interesting & motivating, and in my page for chord progressions the focus is using recordings of songs or backing tracks; it would be useful for initial playing, but too limiting for the long run.] / IOW, If an internal built-in "song" is a CP (like C-F-G-C or 12-Bar Blues, or 50s Progression) the programming also can include instructions to change the lighting as each chord changes. This would be similar to the programming of Yamaha EZ-300, which has built-in CP's and lights up SOME chord-notes. The main change would be that it lights ALL chord-notes. • design software-programming that “tells the keyboard” WHAT to light-up and WHEN, during a chord progression, perhaps with what-and-when modules that can be downloaded into a keyboard, or with memory-registers that can accept external music ----- {to be continued} [[ iou – later there will be more “added value” with details (re: importing external music with videos or mp3's, plus other options) about ways to put program functional What-and-When into a keyboard. • What-and-When decisions could be made "in real time" by the player, who presses a kb-button (or foot pedal that is independent-from-kb yet connected-to-kb) to change the chord. Doing this could be mentally-physically complex for the player – especially if they must decide which button to push, for the What – and this would decrease the "non-multitasking simplicity" and thus the "melody-making focus" that is possible with colorizing and (if the What-and-When problem is solved) with lighting. This option could be made less-complex (and thus more-ok) by programming the sequence of chords into the keyboard (or into a computer that sends info to the KeyBoard, or to all KBs in a KB Lab) so a player only has to push the button/pedal for the When, with the program deciding the What. But even doing the When would increase the complexity and decrease the melody-making focus, so hopefully there will be better solutions. / IOW,... The CP sequencing can be programmed-in, but with the timing controlled by a kb-button or foot pedal, operated by the KB-player. {maybe have both options, button and pedal}
Below you'll find descriptions – beginning with quotes from the main page, but with extras – for a musically-valuable feature, for a keyboard that...
1a – use Existing Keyboards (as-is) Usually (with two exceptions afaik) the lighting only helps a person play song-melodies. If a KB has only white lights, the visual patterns we see on a colorized keyboard would be less apparent, and these color-coded patterns are very useful for playing music and for understanding theory.
Colorized Lights – Facts, Pros/Cons Most current KB's have only white lights, but some have Red-Green-Blue (RGB). I'll begin by looking at two KB's with RGB, PopuPiano and LUMI. These two keyboards are lighted-with-colors so they now have (or could have) many of the features I want, with colors made by LEDs of Red-Green-Blue. But each KB also has features that could make these impractical for the kind of Keyboard Lab that I think would be useful for K-12 schools or for seniors in living facilities or community centers. Or for players of any age, at home. { disadvantages: relatively high cost, small size of keys, range of notes that's musically crippled by not having highest-C. } {if modules were F-C-C-C-E with 3 full octaves, they could be more musically useful as-is, but still be expandable to 6 octaves by hooking two modules together Based on the little I've learned so far, it seems that the major innovations were done by ROLI {company} in designing-and-manufacturing their LUMI {keyboard}; and then many of Lumi's features were copied by PopuPiano. But I'm not sure, and this might be wrong.
PROS: colorized lights: the keyboards have LED's that are pure-RGB, and probably* their software does color-mixing (as on a computer display) to produce other colors. {* But maybe this is wrong, and each key-lighting is done by a single-color LED, so the only color it showis R or G or B.} sophisticated software that can do many interesting things; I assume these include light-ups for all notes (thru the whole keyboard) for each chord in any chord progression; and I assume that each note can have different colors, depending... so a C-Note could be Red when it's the 1-Note of a C-Chord, but Blue when it's the 5-Note of an F-Chord.
CONS: high prices: compared with cheaper alternatives for a "budget" keyboard lab. strange colors: PopuPiano has two versions, with keys that (when unlighted) are either "all white" or "all black" instead of the "white and black" that is standard. mini-keys: they are not the full-sized keys that — especially useful for a k-12 school with young students who want to "keep their options open" — would let a player develop correct "spatial skills" for traditional two-hand playing (without looking). limited range of notes: Lumi has "units" that can be connected magnetically, so each isolated unit is "musically crippled" by missing a note it should have; e.g. Lumi has only 24 notes (not the typical 61, or even 32 or 37 with mini-keyboards) that are C-thru-C-to-B, and many melodies that would use the top-C cannot be played. Similarly, PopuPiano has 29 keys, C-thru-C-thru-C-to-E, instead of having a top-F and top-G that would be very useful for melodies. / My preference is for notes-below-C that go down thru G and F, and notes-above-C that go up thru F and G. Or just have "whole octaves" as in the typical numbers of keys (25, 37, 49, 61) that allow melodies going down to a low-C and up to a high-C. ROLI - Lumi Jam Mode: Like other lighted keyboards, its main focus is to "show the notes of songs" but it also has a "jam" mode that lights up all chord-notes, even though afaik the manual for Lumi doesn't describe this. MusicRadar says "if you want to jam rather than just copy every note in a song, you can choose to have the chords in a song light up so that you can improvise around them," and this is what I want. And TheNextWeb gives details: "The Lumi lights up two sets of keys in Jam mode: in vibrant colors are notes that match the particular chord being played, while in dimmer colors are the rest of the notes in the scale. [this is too much, too complex, because the "dimmer colors" are not needed for "colorizing in C Major" with only white notes] This makes it easy to sound ‘good’ by simply pressing the chord lights, or you can be a little more adventurous with the wider notes in the scale. I can’t stress the awesomeness of this enough. My first real “a-ha!” moment learning piano came when I started to learn chords and scales; learn some basic chords and scales, and you can learn to play the bulk of music out there." NEGATIVES — Lumi got mostly-negative personal reviews in Reddit. But I haven't yet looked at other reviews, except to search 8 of them for "jam" without finding this word in any review, except briefly (with no details) by MusicRadar and with details by TheNextWeb. / Also, for my educational goals – making a functional keyboard lab for a reasonable cost – it's not promising, due to its 24 keys (not even two full C-to-C-to-C octaves with 25 notes) that cripples it musically, and its high cost ($249 for 24 keys and another $249 for 24 more keys, plus a monthly subscription fee of $80 annually), and (based on the reviewers in Reddit) unreliability of its hardware, since an educational keyboard lab should be virtually maintenance-free. Sigh. After seeing it initially, I had high hopes, but so far (based on the little I've found) it doesn't seem to be a reasonable option for keyboard labs, or for most individuals. iou – There are many other lighted keyboards, so I'll do fact-finding research and will “ask in forums” to see if other people know more about what's now available (do any "light up all chord-notes"?) and the possibilities for DIY-modifying, or persuading a current maker to modify their software so their keyboard can light-up all chord notes. iou – I'll continue searching for information, will post the info here, or maybe in an appendix (at the end of this page) or in a separate page.
1b – use Existing Keyboards (modified by company) Probably this kind of keyboard (lighted for chord progressions) would be economically practical only for a company with a keyboard that now (as-is) has lighted keys as part of its hardware. For one of these companies, "lighting all chord-notes" would be mainly software-based (thus easier and more practical, more likely to happen) instead of hardware-based. And... Maybe the software would have to be included "within the keyboard" (thus 1a or 1b) instead of being added-on with a DIY solution (2). Maybe the existing hardware cannot supply enough electrical current to light up ALL chord-notes instead of only a few chord-notes, or they want it to use less power when it's running on batteries; but maybe it has enough capacity to light MORE chord notes, e.g. on a 61-note keyboard instead of lighting 5.08 12-note octaves (C thru C) it lights only 2.67 octaves (beginning with the "middle F" thru the next-higher C, plus plus two more octaves, for F-C-C-C), or maybe 2.08 octaves (C thru C thru C, for C-C-C), with either option (2.67 octaves or 2.08 octaves) or 3.25 octaves (F thru C-and-C thru G); these options (2.67 octaves, 3.25 octaves, 2.08 octaves) gives a player enough range-of-notes to creatively improvise melodies. A company could design the circuites for 5.08 octaves, and give players options for 2.08 octaves if they want, especially when using batteries. Another 1b-solution (with new designing by a keyboard maker) would be to increase a keyboard's ability to light MORE notes (or ALL notes) with increased capacity for electrical current. / Maybe this could be done with software (by just "telling more keys to light up"); or it might require changing the electrical circuitry so it can handle & deliver more power. The chord-notes could include supplementary notes, like the flatted-7 of 7th chords. Of course, this would increase the electrical current that's required (especially important when a KB is operating as a battery-operated portable) because it now has 4 chord-notes (in each octave) instead of 3 chord-notes. [ iou – Later, here I'll describe other benefits of lighted vs colorized. And my suggestion that IF a keyboard lab has mostly lighted keyboards – if this somehow becomes possible & practical – it should have at least one colorized keyboard, and we should encourage students to consider the possibility of colorizing their own personal keyboard (if they have one) that they use outside the lab. ]
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Here are some extra comments now: Probably this feature would be economically practical only for a company that already has a keyboard that now (as-is) has lighted keys as part of its hardware. For one of these companies, "lighting all chord-notes" would be mainly software-based (thus easier and more practical, more likely to happen) instead of hardware-based. And... Maybe the software would have to be included "within the keyboard" (thus 1a or 1b) instead of being added-on with a DIY solution (2).
The chord-notes could include supplementary notes, like the flatted-7 of 7th chords. Of course, this would increase the electrical current that's required, due to having 4 chord-notes (in each octave) instead of 3 chord-notes.
[ iou – Soon, in late September, here I'll describe other benefits of lighted vs colorized. And my suggestion that IF a keyboard lab has mostly lighted keyboards – if this somehow becomes possible & practical – it should have at least one colorized keyboard, and we should encourage students to consider the possibility of colorizing their own personal keyboard (if they have one) that they use outside the lab, or to buy a lighted keyboard. ]
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