Shrilling - uneven tone in upper resgister

Oh So Beautiful you’re up late,

If I could play half as good I would be blessed, this must make you angelic. What I enjoyed about the sound of your new Wavefront is its real, not the synthetic voice that fools many of what is true beauty. So you don’t like the sine wave, yet in nature sound begins there, then we distort it into our own personal voice. Keep up the nice work.

Hey Jeff - THanks for the observation... I think i'll need to find myself a platform of some kind to stand on. i'll have to experiment. The easiest would be to ship the legs to Gene and have him trim them for me... It does sadden me to be this short! lol. I'll raise myself up and I'll report in a little bit...

PS: Email sent. :) Hope you enjoy :)

Dear Touchless -

Welcome to the Night Owl's club :) I love the evening time - so quiet and perfectly solitary. I love its gentleness :)

I am really touched by your kind comment, but alas, I have a lot of work ahead of me to become "good" in my eyes... I think the sound of the Wavefront is amazing. With time, hopefully, I'll be able to give its own voice with an improved vibrato and accurately delivered dynamics. I am enjoying the Journey. I love to learn its complexities :) Thank you for watching the video, it is truly a humbling experience!!! :)

... *I am actually dreading what Coalport will say on it lol* I like people's direct honesty packaged into positive criticism. It's a big help! :)

I think you sound really great for having been playing only for two months, Amethyste.

About the body position, well, I'm not an expert but I would personally get tired very soon if I had to keep the left forearm in that angle. I think the position in which I feel more comfortable is when the forearm is approximately horizontal (as when writing or typing). So if I were you I would try to get some kind of platform to stand on. But this is just a personal opinion of a newbie.

Amey,

Your PIE JESU was damn good! Especially considering the problems you had said you were having with your instrument. Here are a couple of suggestions. In regard to the height of your instrument, use a small platform to determine the optimum height for your technique and body size and then once you are sure of exactly how high you want your theremin to be, CUT IT DOWN. It is a simple thing to do and you cannot be constantly looking for your platform, or your special pair of theremin shoes with the lifts in them! This is YOUR instrument, you should customize it to your own specifications. It is not some rare and valuable RCA that you would be desecrating, and it would certainly not reduce the instrument's resale value should you ever wish to part with it.

I think you would find that working on relaxing your pitch hand, as well as "fanning" exercises for your fingers, would improve intonation and pitch hand expression. You are not really attempting "aerial fingering" and you often move your entire fist "en bloc" rather than using finger or knuckle extensions. This means that you are not distributing the tasks of vibrato and intonation to separate muscle groups. The more groups you use, the easier it is to play, the more control you will have, and the more relaxed you will be.

I thought you might get a kick out of my recording of this piece - Julian Lloyd Webber's PIE JESU - which I made about 10 years ago. It was originally written for two voices, so I used two RCA theremins: Julius Goldberg's instrument (which is the first one you hear), and Samuel Hoffman's. I find the sound on this recording very harsh (Goldberg's RCA has a naturally harsh sound to begin with), and I think I would do it quite differently if I were to perform it today.....at least I HOPE I would!

Webber PIE JESU (http://www.PeterPringle.com/music/jesu.mp3)

Alk -
I know it is tiring to play in this position - I think I am going to try getting my hands on some sort of platform to stand on. I think it will help a little bite more! And of course, practicing more will help too :)

Thanks for commenting :)

Coalport -

*sniff* your version of pie jesu brought tears to my eyes. You have this amazing ability to make your theremins sing. Your approach on how you are playing a particular piece is just so sensitive and loving. You are a master at your instrument - even if you said you recorded this almost a decade ago, the beauty of your playing still transcends through and it touched me deeply ... Thank you for sharing this link with me, I am in awe!

I have to keep practicing my hand with finger exercises. I will be helpful for certain! I think with time I will feel more confident. I was soooo nervous when I recorded this! My oh my! lol
I will find a platform of some sort and try to experiment with height before I decide to chop the legs off... THank you all for your ideas and support - i love this community!

Since I am not proficient at the THeremin, I thought I'd share the vocal version I did for the song... :)

Amethyste's vocal version - Pie Jesu (http://soundcloud.com/amethyste/amethyste-pie-jesu)

Amethyste,

It is important for me in design to capture and tame the “natural” voice of a seraph in my theremin box without the use of degenerating sound effects as simple as reverb. I think I have found this angel. (edit-1:50:22 PM) How many angels can fit on the head of a pin? (-;

Touchless,
Your first original post, you were asking me how big I was to see if I could fit into your theremin box :) I think a touch too big I am afraid :) Thank you for listening and offering such nice comments :)