Volume Hand

Hi, John.

You are correct. One must be very protective of one's wrist -- and bending one's hand too far back is all too easy to do.

One of the "gotcha's" is when you are in the the front seat of your car and reach to the backseat to grab something like an attache case -- Don't grab it backhanded!

Also, when you use a screwdriver -- don't twist from the top. Grab the handle while holding your forearm perpendicular to the screwdriver. Use your other hand to hold the screwdriver against the screw. Better yet, invest in an electric screwdriver if you do this very often.

Last night I decided to revisit the Clara Rockmore video. When she plays rapid articulations, she tends to "chop" at the antenna with the side of her hand (hand turned such that the "pinky finger" side of her hand is turned towards the antenna). It is a little bit of a sideways chop. The point is that she is not oscillating her hand from the wrist for the rapid articulations.

I utilize a wrist staccato motion, same as a pianists wrist staccato technique.

Guard your wrist bones! :)

The day after writing the above post, I tried experimenting with what appeared to be a sideways "chopping" motion in Clara's video.

I think that what looks like "chopping" is actually "bowing" -- as if she is holding an imaginary bow. I noticed that she mentioned "bowing" in the interview segment prior to that particular number.

That's interesting. I've been playing with that too but "chopping" up and down didn't feel right either. With the "bowing" metaphor, can you tell more about the direction and angle of the motion?

Extracting Rockmore's technique from that one video is so tough. Thanks for posting what you're mulling over currently.

Sometimes I place my left hand under the volume loop and either move like I am hitting an imaginary drum or plucking imaginary strings to get quick staccato notes.

Do any of you ever do this?

~~ the bowing motion and playing below the loop ~~

Well, the bowing technique is at an angle to the pitch antenna -- perhaps 30 degrees. The movement is inward... that is, the outside of the hand is closest to the outside of the loop and the motion is upwards and inwards. Having mentioned this, I have played around with the technique however haven't really utilized it in any way.

The same with playing below the loop -- I have played around with the technique but haven't used it to perform music.

~~ the utilitarian function of the volume hand ~~

The utilitarian function of the volume hand is basically the function that turns the sound on and off and the function that covers glisses. On a theremin, turning the sound on and off in a musical manner requires some thought and practice.

There are two basic steps for starting a Theremin note. Step one is the soft attack phase wherein the thereminist makes a quick adjustment to pitch prior to raising the volume loud enough for the listeners to hear. Step two is the completion of the attack that makes the note audible.

The use of a pitch preview separates step one and two in time -- to do steps one and two concurrently is doable however increases your workload while playing.

One of the challenges with the initial attack is that if one raises ones hand at a leisurely rate, the note fades in, the performer doesn't precisely control the moment of audibility, and the resulting note will sound "behind the beat". However, the effect of a note that is initially soft and then crescendos is a favorite. How can you produce this effect and play on the beat?

The solution is a rapid initial attack to a soft level... then a slower growth in volume from there. This takes a rapid and controlled initial movement followed by a slow movement away from the loop. To practice this, simply practice snapping your hand away from the loop to gain confidence with a rapid attack. Then, practice the same snap while snapping to a soft volume. In other words, not snapping as far as the snap to a loud note. You will have to develop some muscle memory to snap to the desired initial loudness.

Turning the note off is a similar challenge. Sometimes you just want the note to fade out and other times you want a definate stop.

The fade out is pretty easy -- just move your hand slowly towards the loop and the note fades away. The problem with this technique is that at some point during the fade, the note drops into inaudibility and you may not have perfect control over this. What if you want to cut off your note precisely with the accompaniament?

The trick is to reverse the snap. Fade the note down to a barely audible level and hold it... then, when it is time to stop, simply touch the volume loop securely. (I have clear plastic on my volume loop so that my touching it doesn't upset the pitch preview's pitch).

Cutoffs are the difference between a performance that sounds professional and one that sounds ragged. One of the "secrets" to music-making is that while it is desireable to have the notes start together, it is essential that they cut off together! This is a truism regardless of style, genre, etc. Nail those cutoffs and you'll have the tightest sound in town! :)

The other major "utilitarian" function is to develop a nice legato (smooth) technique while covering the glisses (sliding from one note to the next). How can this be accomplished?

In reality, your goal here is to play the target notes a little louder than the space between the notes. When you are moving from one pitch to the next, simply dip your volume hand slightly towards the loop. This is a subtle motion.
Think of it as pulling your hand thru water -- your fingertips will lag behind your wrist a little.

In this case, Mother Nature and the physiology of hearing helps us out... if you play the target notes slightly louder than the

Yes, good clues, thank you, watched again now. Just reviewing her opening introduction repeatedly gives so many hints, but it's tough to get the exact kinesiology.

Seems herself used two types of volume motion. For the broader arch of a phrase and sftz.s the arm moves from the shoulder keeping the elbow still at roughly a right angle, the hand tilting ever so slightly inward with the little finger towards the floor. Not keeping it fairly near the body like the pitch arm. For articulating separate notes within the arch and for subtle more ongoing nuances she uses the hand with a kinda dipping motion and maybe slight elbow motion but does not seem like much if any. And for staccato that quick plucking-bowing motion with the hand rotating towards the body and raising towards the shoulder as the elbow also lifts away from the body so as the fingers "pluck" additional propulsion comes from the elbow and the shoulder keeping the wrist stable in place. Looks like she has it tuned for just the right amount of response at her finger tips to play the sub elements of the longer phrase. At least that's what it looks like this time through.

Having to play around a lot to get that volume tuning. And who knows what special adjustments she had in that she always calls "my instrument". Boy do I wish we had Laban Notation of her playing!

Perfect time to review this. Thanks Kevin you have a real talent for writing this stuff out. Much appreciated.

~~ envisioning violin kinesiology ~~
Lately as I'm delving back into analyzing and training my body in Rockmore's technique I'm finding useful insights sometimes come when I stop thinking of the theremin and try to imagine what muscle habits I'd have if I were a violinist. Since that's what she was before it's makes sense that both conscious and unconscious choices would be made based on her previous training.
The bowing, and ptz. bowing we've discussed tie into that but it's also been helping with the volume arm by trying to envision what habits the shoulder muscles would have.
Just some thoughts.

My ultimate goal is not to sound just like Clara Rockmore but to sound just like John Hoge.

John wrote:

"My ultimate goal is not to sound just like Clara Rockmore but to sound just like John Hoge."

Yes, indeed! Of course, the "Hoge sound" may borrow a thing or two from Clara and some others, too. I think we all start out by imitating others and eventually diverge from the others.

I am looking forward to hearing John Hoge! :)

A wrist twinge reminded me to pay some attention there. Am working on gestures with a very stationary wrist with a more rotative motion of forearm and fingers plus lateral elbow lift from sholder. Seems better this AM at least.

I finally feel like my volume hand has made some new major breakthroughs, helped by a lot of work adjusting the volume field and the height of the instrument. As well as constant attention to the wrist shoulder and neck to protect them.

As earlier noted the arm as a unit is leading larger volume gestures but it is now also allowing a very subtle pulsing as needed during long notes or phrases. The hand seems to have mastered several techniques, hard to describe, mainly dipping or plucking with the middle two fingers as a unit, nodding the hand with the index finger slightly extended.

Except for specialty effects it's palm down and generally about 8 inches above the loop so the fingers can dip right at the edge of the field threshold. A big benefit to me of both the volume mod from Moog and adjustments to the terrifyingly sensitive hidden pot screw on the side of the EWPro.