I own a Theremin (EW Standard), have been doing some design work recently in the field, and fancy myself more of a budding (though middle aged) controller designer than anything else when it comes to electronic instruments. I think Bob Moog said a long time ago (I'm paraphrasing) that sound synthesis was fairly mature and it was time to move on to developing more expressive controllers. (For all the good it has done I believe MIDI’s limited bandwidth has hindered this terribly, but that’s another story.)
So with controllers I'm always thinking about ergonomics: how the player will possibly hold the instrument and use it, if the input scheme and layout are intuitive and expressively playable in ways the designer might or might not have fully anticipated, whether it might cause injury long-term, etc. So the Theremin seems to me to be a kind of exotic and clever parlor trick that accidentally caught on more than anything else. The whole "The only instrument that you play without touching!" thing I see as more of a bug than a feature, because I'm acutely aware of how much tactile feedback is important in playing any musical instrument. To remove it completely is nonsensical and practically an act of musical heresy IMO. When I see a Theremin player incorporating the case in their technique by resting or sliding their hand on it I find myself nodding in agreement. Many non-musical lay and academic people I've encountered seem to perceive lack of tactile feedback as an evolutionary step forward, and I can't help but wonder if the Theremin is somewhat to blame for this notion.
Anyway, I haven't come here to bury the Theremin, but to possibly improve it. The point of this thread is to ask: what if the left hand could firmly hold onto the Theremin? If it could, then the player wouldn't have as much trouble gauging precisely where their right hand was because as animals we have a pretty good relative sense of where our limbs are in relation to each other. Every time I see a Thereminist I'm struck by how they have to stand there stock still like a stone statue, while drummers and guitarists get to emote all they want and still play fairly well. Granted, even with the left hand grasping it one would still need to remain relatively unmoving, but it would be a much easier thing to do with that support.
The left hand on the Theremin would also allow the player to manipulate more than one parameter with it - volume obviously, vocal tract formants, waveforms, filters, harmonics, unison notes, offset notes - the sky's the limit basically. Think of a semi-polyphonic Ondes Martenot or an Electronic Sackbut but updated with the abilities of today's technology.
I’m wondering what people here think about this - would the whole non-conforming left hand touching thing be accepted by Theremin players as a genuine Theremin, or do you think it would be largely rejected? Would something like this be desirable to you personally? What would you have the left hand control? Would you be interested in building or buying one of these? I’m not saying I’m going to start making anything like this tomorrow, but am entertaining building and selling some kind of musical instrument or controller at some point in the future.
TIA!
