So far, most people who have submitted theremin versions of national anthems seem to be playing on top of completed, rousing, commercial recordings in which the melody is already being played by some other instrument.
The problem is with some natuonal anthems - like the Dutch one - that there's a possibility of - in the case of this video - that there's singing along the backing music where's clearly some melody line noticable within ;-)
http://youtu.be/Gqr4ZyD_Dlw
... And it's NOT only with soccer ... Check this video out ;-) The first anthem is the Israelian anthem, the 2nd one the Wilhelmus around 1:20 ;-) But with BOTH national anthems in case, there goes a melody line around the singing ;-)
http://youtu.be/Qq5N9zMfixs
I think they do this because an anthem has to be for the crowd too, and if you want to have an entire crowd sing an anthem, you have to be sure that they know - besides the lyrics - the melody line too :D
Emotion, musicality, originality...everything has already been provided by whoever created the basic performance. All the thereminist is doing is getting in the way of someone else's work in an attempt to show that he or she can play a simple melody without going off key.
I agree with you, but again, in some situations it's not possible in another way ...
Playing on key should not be the goal of an artist. It should be the basic foundation on which something else is built.
That's correct too and most people with a couple of absolute musical ears can do this :D
I understand that some people are perhaps not able, or not equipped, to create their own "made to measure" accompaniment but playing along with someone else's completed performance puts them at a disadvantage. When there are two solo instruments both playing the same melody, you are locked into somebody else's interpretation and the sound you hear is not a solo theremin. It is a mix of theremin and whatever is already on the track.
In some ways, I'm agreeing with you, except for the anthem part of it ;-) Another thing is that people not always have time & energy to put into remastering someone else's things ... I mostly work with MIDIs where I cut the melody part out ;-)
Thereminists who play over top of someone else's music often give the impression that they believe they are adding the crown jewel to the listening experience. Perhaps that is what they are feeling as they are playing.
Oh it's not in my case ... In my case it's PURE time & energy based! And partly inspiration based as I think that ALTHOUGH you are remastering someone else's stuff, you need to be in the right mood for that ...
