A computerized music teaching instrument including a computer provided with a sound system capable of reproducing the tones of a music scale stored in a tone base, and a video screen adapted to exhibit an image of the instrument selected from a series thereof stored in a data base. Each image exhibits a virtual keyboard having a row of numbered keys representing the respective tones in a musical scale, behind which is a row of puppets of progressively greater height, all puppets being shown in a reclining state except the puppet corresponding to the key in the keyboard shown in a depressed and activated state, as if actually pressed by the finger of a player. Associated with the computer is a remote controller provided with a keypad having an array of numbered switches corresponding to the keyboard keys and operating in conjunction with a digitizer whereby when a keypad switch is depressed by a player, the digitizer then generates a binary signal representing the number of the depressed key. The digital signal is entered in the computer where it acts to extract from the tone base the particular tone corresponding to the number represented by the signal. And it extracts from the database and displays on the screen the image in the series showing the depressed key on the keyboard corresponding to the then depressed switch on the controller keypad. In the displayed image, the corresponding puppet is seen in an erect state, the sound of the related tone which seems to be emanating from the puppet then being reproduced by the sound system.
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