Update

I, too, have very limited space, and need to set up the theremin each time it is used. This certainly makes it harder to grab a spare ten or fifteen minutes of practice time. Those wires, the amp and the microphone stand can, at times, seem a lot of bother, and I imagine that with your circumstance they are possibly a greater problem.

I think your idea of playing along with some music is perhaps a good one at this stage. It's great you are having fun, and I think it's wise to keep it that way. I know that in the early stages, before settling down to learn any pieces right through properly, I would simply play along with favourite tunes, working my way through CDs or my iPod, not necessarily repeating or practicing pieces over and over, but keeping it fresh and fun by trying a piece I liked and then moving on to the next one. I'm not sure whether this is somthing generally advised, but I felt it worked well for me - even though it might seem undisciplined, I think it helped to train my ear; I think it's easier to drift out of tune without realising when playing unaccompanied, whilst playing along with music helps you to keep making needed corrections. I also found that it was much, much easier to play something I knew really very well indeed; often something firmly entrenched in the brain, like songs sung years ago at school, or, in my case, melodies I'd either sung or played on another instrument and felt thoroughly familiar with.

The important thing is enjoying the process ... which you sound as if you are doing!

I actually don't have a microphone stand. My etherwave sits on my dining room table when it's in use because that's really the only place with enough space for it. I'm just glad I picked a smaller model. About all I find to complain about with the Etherwave is its more brassy sound, but I imagine once I get better at it that will become less of an issue. It is unfortunate that the DVD that came with it isn't more blind friendly, because it was actually extremely interesting.

BrianP22 - I wanted to reply to your first posting back in January with this, but I could not remember this guy's name or find the info to save my life. So, today I gave it one more try.

I'm sure you already know a blind person, and many people with disabilities, are able to play the theremin. To what degree would depend on their individual circumstances.

I wanted to introduce you to a gentleman named Kevin Utter. He is also blind, but he is able to play the organ and the theremin quite beautifully. As proof, there are two links below; one to his website home page and one to his rendition of Jesu Bambino. I think they will speak for themselves.

Happy Theremining!

Kevin Utter (http://www.utter-joy.com/index.shtml)

Jesu Bambino (http://users.frii.com/kvutter/kevin/xmascd/audio/06_bambino.mp3)

[i]I wonder if it might help if I try playing along with a piece of music.[/i]

The bad news is that it won't help you to play more accurately, beyond providing a reliable pitch reference. The good news is that it'll be more fun than practicing without any accompaniment.

So, for example, your exercise in trying to hold a steady tone is worthwhile, but probably not much fun. (I know I have an embarrassingly short attention span for this sort of thing.) Doing the same exercise along with a recording will probably help you to pursue it for a longer time, with less boredom. And that'll pay off in playing more interesting melodies, later on.

P.S. Also no harm in trying to play along with a favorite piece of music, so long as you allow yourself license to be really, really bad at it, at first. :-) Maybe once a month, to check your progress... just don't let it discourage you.

P.P.S. I'm reminded of Robert Fripp's advice to learn to do [i]one thing[/i], really well. Once you've mastered it, you can move on to another. Not thrilling, but eventually you accumulate the technique to do whatever you wish.

Exactly. That's why I've just been working on pitch and volume. Once I get the hang of those, which will hopefully be much easier afer I've fiddled with the waveform and brightness cotrols on my Etherwave until I've found a less piercing sound, I an move onto scales, actual melodies and incorporating a nice, expressive vibrato. Right now my Etherwave sounds more like a combination of a police siren and an electric guitar solo in a rock band. I'm surprised my cat hasn't freaked when I've gotten it out to practice. I only wish the DVD that cae with my Etherwave was more blind friendly, but at least it's still very cool to listen to. I never would have pictured Greensleeves as a piece that would sound good coming from a therimin. Nor would I have imagined Debussy's Claire DeLune for that matter, and yet Lydia Kavina pulls off both. She demonstrates Greensleeves on the DVD and I found a video of her playing along to Claire DeLune on Youtube. I can at least be thankful that I didn't go into this expecting to learn overnight, otherwise I'd have been in for a nasty shock.

The timbre of your etherwave should be at its least piercing with the rightmost knob turned fully anticlockwise and the one to the left of it turned fully clockwise.

Thanks. I'll have to remember that one. When I get home tomorrow I should have plenty of time to practice.