Looking for a home :-( Uk - near Hampshire ideally

"... so I would be on the dole...."

Not trying to minimize your plight (far from it) but if you were over here you might find yourself bankrupt from medical bills, living under an underpass, and bathing in a ditch.  The insanity level is so high that we have Governors threatening to refuse federal medical funds for their state's citizenry on ideological (?) grounds.  But it's the best democracy money can buy, so at least we've got that going for us.

"Not trying to minimize your plight ..." - Dewster

Oh, I fully agree with you - my "plight" is trivial compared to the plight of the majority of people on this planet.

What is most insane to me is that I will get (from the state - although in effect I have paid for it from tax and NI etc over my working life) enough to just survive .. But there is no mechanism wherebye my skills and knowledge could be utilised.

There are thousands of individuals with the ability to contribute greatly to society, who, through medical and other reasons are not able to participate in the "normal" work environment..

We now have all the tools required to allow most of these people to do some useful work from home - to contribute rather than living off the meagre "handout" from the state.. And a large number of these people would welcome the chance to be "usefull" again.

But, I suppose, when even healthy people are unable to find work, there is little motivation to tap this resource.

All rather depressing.

If I am stuck without a lab, I wont be able to manufacture anything - but I have started writing some books on musical technology and electronics(including theremins - LOL - I have probably already written a "book" at TW, and what I have posted here is less than half of what I could write) ..

I dont intend to just roll over and die.

Fred.

Thinking of you dear Fred...if you lived in my area I would gladly offer you a warm place to stay... 

"Thinking of you dear Fred...if you lived in my area I would gladly offer you a warm place to stay... " - Amy

Awww - Thank you Amy!

If it wasnt for the children, I might jump at that offer! ;-) ..... But commuting from somewhere between the pitch and volume hand, to see the kids each week - well, it could get expensive! ;-)

Fred.

dewster wrote: "We need a higher class of [theremin] instruments out there in the general public."

What we need is a higher class of player.

There are few people among those who have the aptitude to do it, who are willing to dedicate thousands of hours to practice, and to the development of the skill to play an instrument that will not offer them a means to make a living, and that is relatively unknown and unappreciated. 

The problem does not seem to be a lack of instruments. Thereminists like Thorwald Jorgensen have done remarkably well playing the standard Moog Etherwave (although Thorwald now plays his own custom Thierry Frenkel).

The problem is not the theremin. It's the "ists".

The irony is that the theremin is most likely to attract and hold those people who are least likely to be able to play it - namely, those with a poor sense of pitch. For players who are not blessed with an exceptionally keen ear, the theremin is everything that RCA promised back in 1929; an instrument that is as easy to play as humming or whistling a tune.

"A child....an elderly lady....a skilled musician....a blind man.....all can learn to play this instrument with the same facility! It is the easiest of all instruments to play!"

Many people still believe this absurd claim because they are without the necessary musical faculties to know why it's a lie. This is one of the reasons why I always tell theremin newbies never to take any advice on playing the theremin from anyone whose playing they haven't heard. 

At the same time, I think it is great that a musical instrument exists - the theremin - that offers even the most unmusical and ungifted of music lovers, the opportunity to enjoy and explore their own musical creativity. Throughout the history of music, there have been those who have found tremendous personal fulfillment in the creation of music that no one but they themselves could stand to listen to for more than a few seconds!

Problems only arise for these good people when they mistake their love of making music for the quality of the music they make, and go public.

dewster wrote: "We need a higher class of [theremin] instruments out there in the general public."

coalport wrote: "What we need is a higher class of player."

To me these are highly related.  Poor instruments can be quite discouraging to play / practice on, which often leads directly to less practice and hence poorer playing.  If every kid could afford a Stradivarius quality instrument, there might be more and better musicians in the world.  I wonder how many Theremins out there are capable of being played well, and if so, how many are properly adjusted?

dewster, I'm getting the impression that you have not often met or worked with professional thereminists. They naturally prefer all well adjusted, stable and linear instruments with an adapted pitch range etc. But the examples of Lydia Kavina playing on the highly unlined tVox tour, Peter Pringle playing all kinds of historic tube ovens and Thorwald Jorgensen who has played for years on a simple Etherwave Standard show the following:

A true genius does not forcibly need the "perfect" instrument, one which does just not limit his musical expression is enough. The rest is the cherry on the cake.

On the other side, a Steinway will by itself not improve the performance of an untalented musician.

In order to make the theremin more popular, we need more professional players and teachers and also common quality standard for teachers, lessons and players. Actually, everybody can call himself a thereminist, even if he has never seen a music university from inside. A lot of "nebbachs" publish tons of unqualified theremin stuff on the internet and many performances which find favor in the eyes of the theremin community would just earn tomatoes and eggs when given at the same quality level on the violin.

What we need to do first is to raise the bar considerably, to sort the sheep from the goats and to raise the reputation of "our" instrument in the eyes of compositors, conductors and music teaching institutions. The day when the first thereminist will obtain his diploma from the Juilliard School of Music we will see an important increasing of durable and relevant interest. Then, there will also be a market for professional instruments.

A professional violinist will spend $30,000 or more for a professional instrument because it is commonly accepted that the violin is a precious instrument. Seen the number of mails in which people ask me where to buy a used instrument because they find $500 too expensive for an Etherwave Standard, the Theremin is still playing in the toy league.

Thus we will not have to build cheaper, but more expensive and less easy to play instruments in order to valorize them in the eyes of potential musicians!

@Fred: Sorry for partaking in the hijacking of your thread. My house is open for you whenever you want.

"dewster, I'm getting the impression that you have not often met or worked with professional thereminists." - Thierry

Very true, I've never knowingly met a professional Thereminist in the flesh.

"A true genius does not forcibly need the "perfect" instrument, one which does just not limit his musical expression is enough. The rest is the cherry on the cake.

On the other side, a Steinway will by itself not improve the performance of an untalented musician." - Thierry

My wife teaches private piano and I've seen many of her students improve dramatically in a very short time once they ditch the $99 unweighted toy keyboard and start practicing on something decent.  I agree that a true genius can make anything sound good, but how many potential true geniuses are discouraged by poor instruments before they reach any level of mastery?  I remember the first decent guitar and the first decent trumpet I played - they were a revelation!  Utterly different instruments (much easier to play, much better tone, etc.) than what I learned on.

" I've seen many of her students improve dramatically in a very short time once they ditch the $99 unweighted toy keyboard and start practicing on something decent." - Dewster.

Amen to that!

It is true that someone like Lydia can play better (by a long way) on a Gakken than I could on any theremin, no matter how linear..

But perhaps (?) one of the reasons for this is because her first encounters with the theremin (as I understand it) was with instruments designed and built by Lev himself, and that Lev was her tutor when she was young (6 years old, I believe). The other great living thereminist (Lydia and PP are IMO the 2 greatest) did not, I think, develop his skills using a Gakken - probably started with an instrument superior to the EW. (please correct me if I am wong on this, Peter)

The greatest thereminist who has lived also never had a crappy theremin to start on, and had the theremins inventor as a tutor (untill she surpassed him).

Fred.

I promised Fred I would think “happy thoughts”. . . Freedom!

The argument can be summed up in this expression:

“Clara Rockmore’s theremin does not sound the same today because she is not playing it.”

A seasoned Thereminist knows well there can be other reasons but leaves those out.

What reaction would there be if the theremin became easy to play with a redesign of a few aspects?  Sales, I always figured China would come out with a kids version operating at the same level we are today or better.