Aerial Fingering Technique

RE: Mr. Kevin Jumps
Very handy exercises thank you Kevin!

After slow then steady rhythmic practice, are you adding any rhythmic variation to the patterns?

Someone just found and gave me Ignacio Berroa's Clave exercise book it has a CD and I have the crazy thought to try it out doing basic exercises like this to the clave part rhythm. If I don't 'splode it might be helpful.

I just ask because my former teacher would have me do things like that when working on scales and progressions and even entire pieces (e.g. playing Bach's little Dulce Jubilo dotted, 3 against 2, or even). It helps prepare you for real life.

I still start out though with the most basic "contemplative" exercises like Kip (schielenkrahe) and Kenny Werner (pianist) describe.

[b]Video Example[/b]

Hello! As suggested I have made a little video that demonstrates a few techniques for practicing jumps.

The major aerial fingering techniques in use today are the traditional positions 1 thru 4 and another method that utilizes positions 0 thru 9 (achieved through a combination of closer pitch spacing and bending the wrist).

I use the former method because I am uncomfortable with bending my wrist. Regardless of your method, you can use combinations of arm and finger (knuckle) extensions to aid in playing jumps.

I enjoyed putting this together and hope you find it useful.

[i]-- Kevin[/i]

link (http://kevinkissinger.com/downloads/video/ThereminJumps.wmv)

Kevin.

The way that I play is actually almost indistinguishable from yours. The only central differences are that I rarely let my thumb and index finger detach from one another, and that I never really pay much attention to what positions I'm using (I just sort of randomly guess what might work, and it usually does).

I appreciate the video you made - it really says infinitely more than any long ream of text can, and has given me quite a lot to consider with regards my technique.

[i]I appreciate the video you made - it really says infinitely more than any long ream of text can, and has given me quite a lot to consider with regards my technique.[/i]

That bears repeating! And a big [b]Thank You[/b] from me.

Also really good to put a voice to your words. And half a face! Just teasing - I get that it was about the hand, not about Kevin. Nonetheless it does lead me into a couple of comments that I hope will be taken as intended, as well meaning suggestions for future consideration, rather than as criticisms of an undeniably useful, interesting, well thought out and shot video clip.

It might be good to establish eye contact with the viewer at the start by doing the introductory preamble central to the frame rather than peaking in from the side.

The choice of putting your hand against a generally dark background was good. Perhaps a plain drape would work even better.

Finally it might be interesting to put the various techniques together and show them in action by playing a simple and familiar melody that an aspiring player could reasonably emulate.

Hi everybody,

Thanks Kevin for posting the video. After watching your video I suddenly felt compelled to contribute my 2 cents. Theremin technique seems to have spawned quite the informative 13 page forum discussion.

about a month ago I noticed a stunning shift in my playing. it was very soon after I decided to throw everything I learned out the window and start playing with my eyes closed. My right hand now looks like a claw and I adjust all fingers at the same rate, sort of like opening and closing a hand in a cup holding position. So there is no resting position, no specific finger movements, no set intervallic motions. The reason I say there are no specific movements and positions is simply to say I am not making a conscious effort to create and abide by these things in my head.

After making this change from practicing 1,2,3,4 postions to simply using the unrestricted claw/arm motions, I can't even explain how much easier things are. The best analogy I can think of is simple. Vocalists use nothing but their larynx, diaphram, oral cavity, lungs and air to create and control their voices. Everything is naturally concealed within their body cavities, yet skilled vocalists are able to produce melodies with mind boggling pitch accuracy without being able to see and adjust their anatomy by sight. thereminists should also be able to naturally adjust their hands, fingers and body to get the same mind boggling accuracy... all without the variable of our conscious effort to adjust our technique by sight.

The key has to be time. Practice time. Clara Rockmore played theremin for almost her entire life. it would be wrong to think she did not develop some serious muscle memory after devoting her life to the instrument.

i'll be the guinea pig for this line of thinking and post a video shortly. hopefully i can convice others to join my crazy idea club once they see the results.

Cheers!

-Randy

[i]"conscious effort to adjust our technique by sight"[/i]

To play the Theremin requires a combination of ear training and muscle memory.

To adjust technique by sight would be counter-productive.

thanks for posting that Randy.
I've seen the technique you described used by some highly skilled and precise players. [Perhaps one of whom will chime in later.]

this forum topic has not only grown long, it has remained one of the most respectful and friendly discussions of playing technique around. (that's not always the case, theremin kitties have claws too)

Learning any art usually proceeds from initial imitation to personal adoption and transformative internalization of technique.

The moments when I have been entirely focused on the sound and either closed my eyes or simply stopped paying attention to them and later noticed my hands had found variations of technique I did not consciously request of them hold special revelatory places in my progress.

I've realized you need both a personal core of technique and carpet bag full of deviations and options. In the heat of performance the unexpected will happen and sometimes the only thing you can do is let go and listen and only the combination of conventional and unconventional practice and experience can prepare you.

I do not believe that the theremin is the hardest thing on earth to play or that there is only one way to play it, I really enjoy seeing the variety of approaches in this thread.

much appreciated!


"The performers do not have to discover these techniques and processes ab ovo; they learn them from the previous generation, who learned them from their predecessors, and so on."
-- William L. Benzon, Beethoven's Anvil
But I would add "And then made them their own."

I've been reading more excerpts from that book and just ordered it, check it out you may too.

@ Triple-o-six: You're certainly not the only one who has switched to a more loose style of play. I myself have been playing like that almost since the beggining. For some reason the strict aerial fingering technique just didn't feel as comfortable as relying basically on instinct. Being from Greece, I've been practicing a lot on eastern scales and eastern music in general, and the absolute finger positions seemed to restrict me from achieving those extra chromatic elements that this kind of music demands.
So what you're actually doing is taking the main idea of the aerial fingering technique and "loosening" it up a little. I believe Armen Ra has a similar technique and I think it's not a coincidence that he's performing iranian music.

Armen's technique, to me at least, seems to be more derived from the knuckle/finger extension orintation than the claw/palm towards the rod orientation. He tends to play with the back or edge of the hand towards it.

From what he's told me he started out with the same Clara video most of us did and later internalized it and made it his own.
Like all advanced players I've met, he's still evolving it.

From what I know, it took him a long time before he played Iranian music in public, I don't think he started with it. But that music is such a part of his artistic soul I've come to consider it a trademark of his rep.

Yes, I am a big fan of his and don't care who knows it! :~)

For me a basic but variable fingering approach actually helps with descreet intervals. The Rockmore derived technique still works best for me. But there are many factors also involed like your stance, how you tune the pitch field, and your body itself.

Tenosix sounds like he's doing something kind of like my untutored technique. Early on, I realized my forefingers were much easier to control than my pinky/ring finger, and I've played like that ever since. I've tried without success to adapt to the "conventional" approach, and finally decided I'm happy refining what I already do, despite the fact that it's "Theresy". I also create vibrato with fingers -- a much more focused and controlled vibrato technique (for me) using smaller muscles.

But be assured: I don't teach, despite several requests, because I'm sure l'd be charged with some kind of corruption of impressionable thereminists.