Holiday/Christmas cheer? Post here!

Hey TW community!

I think it would be fun to post videos of us playing a Favorite Christmas/holiday song!
post your link here, of you playing a song, or even one of your favorite thereminist playing a holiday song that you enjoy for us to enjoy, as well :)

Let's have fun! :)

Here is my entry: I'll be home for Christmas... :)

 

Bravo Amethyste!  Very nice (as usual for you)!

Thank you Dewster ~ you are too kind :)

Silent Night

Dewster....In case you don't recognize it this is the theremin you built with your YAEWSBM bass mod!

Wow bisem!  That EWS + YAEWSBM never looked / sounded so good!

Bisem,

That is REALLY impressive! - Both the sound and the playing!

Amey,

Theres no contest when you play !  - Not unless that Pringle guy or Lydia or perhaps the worlds (IMO) 2 other precision thereminists enter the contest.. But apart from that, lovely - as is now the norm from you!

Thank you Fred! You are so sweet. This was really no contest, just sharing our favorite pieces for the holidays :) I send you an email a few days ago... Did you receive it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fred wrote: "Bisem,

That is REALLY impressive! - Both the sound and the playing!

Amey,

Theres no contest when you play !  - Not unless that Pringle guy or Lydia or perhaps the worlds (IMO) 2 other precision thereminists enter the contest.. But apart from that, lovely - as is now the norm from you!"

"This was really no contest, just sharing our favorite pieces for the holidays :) " - Amey

Yeah, I know that.. ;-)  And so far its been really high quality stuff! ;-)

I think this is one of the problems with the theremin - There is (at least for me, and im sure im not alone) a threshold which is difficult to cross - Below this threshold, even ones best performances are (or certanly feel like they are) too bad to "publish" - So even if one is improving and "doing ok" one is reluctant to expose oneself to get the critical feedback one probably needs to improve.. particularly if this means "publishing" somewhere like you-tube where the whole world can see it.

So its only those who have crossed this threshold, or those who are bold and arent put off by what is said (the minority I think) or those who havent got a clue but delude themselves into thinking they can play (the majority I think- certainly on you-tube) who publish their stuff.

I think its easy, particularly when new to the instrument, to find that one can "play" it with ease - One gets elated because, after hearing all the tales about how hard it is, the idea that one has some special "gift" embeds itself.. Sadly, the reality is different IMO - turning that "close to" playing into "spot on" playing isnt as easy as one is first inclined to believe.

Fred.

@Amey ps .. my email server is down at the moment - I will hopefully get your email tomorrow

Fred,

First of all thanks for your kind comments ;^)

I know exactly what you are talking about.  Until recently I felt like I had reached that "threshold" or wall to where I just could not break through.   Lately I have been recording practice sessions like Ameythyste and posting them on my Facebook page.  The process of making 20 recordings of the same song and only one is decent enough to publish is a helpful learning experience by itself.  I have found that posting the work is an important part of the process.  Once you hit the upload button you have committed yourself to the scrutiny of others and this can be an important tool for improvement. It allows you to see and listen to your playing with an objective eye and ear. 

Recording is very difficult and time consuming work.  For the Christmas video I just used my Samsung S3 phone for expediency.... otherwise it would not have been posted until Easter!  The most visually impressive video I made took almost a month of learning Sony Movie Studio which involved mixing live video and stills with a separately recorded soundtrack. It started out as a thank you card for the hospitality of my partner's Mom when we visited her in the Dominican and turned into a production nightmare...LOL!  Here is the link in case anyone is curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8kJFfykZHg

Amey is right...this isn't a contest.  The forum she set up was so non threatening that even I subjected myself to the professionals on the TW community..LOL!  

This is about the joy and magic of the holidays and expressing that though the wonderful instrument we all love so let's get some more entries!

Brian