Theremin Arrangements & Accompaniments for Practice

And for those who want to get their Beethoven on, I also posted a string accompaniment arrangement I made a while back for practice of the Adagio cantabile from his Pathetique sonata, Op. 13 for piano. Just did up part of the piece here (about three minutes worth) as I was doing it more for practice than to try and play the whole piece. Had to trim down a couple ornamental passages to be ok for theremin.

Theremin Arrangements & Accompaniments for Practice

Almost at the end of the pieces I've adapted for theremin practice this year (yes it's been almost exactly a year since I bought that Etherwave and lost my life and mind this past year). Added Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - actually the Chorale: Jesus bleibet meine Freude, from the Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147.

Of course everyone knows this piece. But it's a nasty, nasty bit of business for a thereminist. Too many notes that go by way too quickly no matter how fast you play it - with zero tolerence for error (as everyone knows the piece and will pick out even the slightest misstep).

Still, if you can play this baby, you've made it to the big show!

Apologies to Herr Bach, I did this one up for electronics (Omnisphere voices and bass) as I originally used it for Theremini practice here. I've updated the accompaniment to be the entire piece (the original was just the first few phrases). It's not meant to be totally in style as I've added a few extra lines - heavens sacrilege!

Actually for any budding composers out there, a great exercise you can do it take a Bach piece and add some voices to it. Bach's harmonies are so strong and directed that you can create some very interesting things starting with that pyramid of a harmonic bass.

And added a setting of Sir Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord. Took the original song for voice and piano and arranged it for theremin, organ, strings and brass (with a bit of Omnisphere doubling on the East West Symphonic orchestra string samples). 

I'd found that sometimes I just want to crank things up a bit a "go large". You may have to dial back the accompaniment, but for those who want to play with a larger orchestration for a change, I've found this is a fun piece to practice around with. Not really that difficult and one of my favorite art songs.