A new forum for working thereminists

LOL! Hookahs, the things that look like bongs. LOL :)

Hey, I've bonged a few hookahs in my time.

Is both an option?

@coalport, @GordonC LOL

Right. Well, back to topic. ;)

Thereminists who are playing theremins for a living really need a good agent, as with any prerformance industry. Unfortunately, good agents are hard, if not impossible to find for thereminists. I've actually had some agencies tell me that most agents fear for their reputation when it comes to the theremin, and they're less likely to work with thereminists because they wrongly still think the instrument is just a noise toy. So, one has to do their own leg work, produce publicity kits, have a working professional web site, make phone calls, go in to venues with contracts in hand, same for studios. It's a hard job just to do all that, let alone actually play the music.

... And try to do all that with a full time job and a part time job! I am surprised that I even find time to actually practice!

@Amethyste Indeed. Having other jobs compunds matters that much more, because you have to work around your leave time, particularly if you've got an away mission to deal with. Some venues won't even touch you if you're not a member of a union too.

I would suggest getting in touch with "Broadway" Danny Rose. 

I think there are a group of peolple, distribuited in every country, with a lot of enthutiasm to see a Theremin performance in Live, maybe they wants to play theremin some day but they are not sure for buying one yet, or they just enjoys to listen the Theremin. They are tired of seeing videos in youtube of Theremin, most of the best, made it in controlled environments, and if we talk honestly, those videos are the best recordings of a simple rehersal, made it an alone home without audience. That is not the "real" theremin performance. When you play for an audience you are playing for the world, you are sharing the music. If you play only in your house and you recorded that, later you upload your videos in YT, you only plays to feed your ego.

If i see an opportunity to play Theremin Live for an audience, i take it and i try to give my best, always at the final of the performamce i've received grateful people speaking the marvelous things of the instruments in its differents aspects, maybe they don't know too much about the Theremin, but every each of us lived the same experience before to get into the world of this instrument, our musical instrument.

@robonil Perhaps, in the beginning, I started posting to "show off" a little. However, I do not view youtube as a means of feeding the ego. These days, I view it as a much larger audience. A way to draw more attention to the instrument, and my work with it. Each youtube video is a full out performance, and not a rehearsal. I produce my videos in much the same way a network television broadcast is done. A lot has changed since the days when I parked a camera in front of me, and I simply took a crack at a piece I barely knew. It takes weeks if not months to produce videos, which is why I don't post as frequently as I'd like.

I must, however, agree with you completely in that it is ultimately better to perform live, sharing a commen experience with an audience in real time, which is the way I prefer to perform. I enjoy getting feedback from the audience, and it thrills me to no end when someone walks up, and takes a crack at experiencing the theremin first hand.

Now that I've established a new physical point of presense in my area, where I can get to easily, I fully intend to do more live performing at the local level, although it would be great to do a little touring with the instrument.

robonil wrote: When you play for an audience you are playing for the world, you are sharing the music. If you play only in your house and you recorded that, later you upload your videos in YT, you only play to feed your ego.

I don't think that video performances are any more, or less, "ego-feeding" or "ego-boosting" than live performances. It is part of the nature of a performer to bask in the approval of an audience wherever he or she finds it. There's nothing wrong with a little ego gratification unless you are a Buddhist monk or a Hindu ascetic!

There is a big difference between a video performance created for the camera, a live performance before a live audience, and a video of a live performance. These are THREE very different things and they should not be compared.

A video (or an audio recording) of a live performance can never convey the effect and the presence of the artist in concert. Likewise, a stage performer will not be able to convey the intimacy and perfection that is possible on video or film.  

As for videos of live performances, they are usually a failure and I have often heard people say of them that "you had to be there". I personally know some highly successful singers who are wonderful recording artists but terrible in live performance. Likewise, there are many fine movie actors who are lost on the stage, and excellent stage actors who are not good on film.

In a letter to Thomas Alva Edison in 1888, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote, "I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of this evening's experiment [with the gramophone]. Astonished at the wonderful form you have developed and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music will be put on record forever."