Because I've probably added just about everyone on this forum to my Facebook friends, I guess I better properly introduce myself. I'm Ben Miller, and I'm a student at Barrington High School, Rhode Island (USA). I chose to learn how to play the theremin for my senior project.
In case you don't know (especially if you're outside the USA), every student in their senior year of high school must choose a topic of their interest and research it. By the end of the school year, every student needs to have a log of physical work, an argumentative essay, a portfolio, and an oral presentation.
Anyways, I've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument and I've played a couple, but none have ever really held my interest. I've felt bad about that, so I figured that the senior project was a good reason to learn how to play an instrument.
I discovered the theremin via Youtube (how else?). I thought it was amazing, and I've been fascinated by it ever since. I practice with an Etherwave standard that my school owns (why do they have one? nobody knows) every day. The presentation is in late May.
I don't expect to master this instrument by then, only to play a simple piece of music that will impress the judges. I don't think that will be too hard - they were equally fascinated by the instrument when I presented my topic to them.
Also, every student needs a mentor that they need to work and communicate with, and I'm very fortunate to have Lydia Kavina act as my mentor via Skype. I haven't been able to talk to her in a while due to exams, college applications, holidays and other extracurricular activities, but hopefully by next week we can start communicating regularly again. It's too bad she lives on the other side of the Atlantic, I'd love to attend her workshop. :/
Hmm...well overall I'd say this is an instrument I actually enjoy playing with all of its difficulties, and I definitely want to continue learning after high school. :)
