Visual model of harmonic relationships of simultaneous tones in music based on psychoacoustic model of sound perception

It happens quite often that someone sits down in front of a piano or takes another instrument and tries to play for the first time, but eventually quits trying after first few unsuccessful attempts. Random presses of the piano keys can become pleasant music only with a very small probability. Easy melodies are manageable, but what chords can accompany the melody and when to play them, what is tonality, what is for example modulation? These are concepts that most students are taught during their education in music schools. How can we bring music theory closer to those, who have not attended a music school or have not received musical education? Can music be visualized to make it easier to understand? Can we, like we can see that red and orange are similar, visualize two chords in such a way that we can say that they are similar? In this thesis I will present a novel model of visual representation of harmony in music. The model is based on tone perception, aimed to enable easier analysis of music, easier understanding of harmonic structure of music and can consequently complement traditional musical education. To demonstrate and test the model we developed a prototype application and integrated the model into a digital piano keyboard.