"The Joy of Theremin, the first experience is an Enigma"

In His Service ---- Dana

That Enigma does sound quite nice - Impossible to tell what the linearity is like from this video, but it certainly looks like it could be playable if the musician had a sense of pitch and some basic techniques.

I am impressed!

SewerPipe - that is the true Spirit of Theremin. When I meet one of my students for the first time and set up… this is the same happiness I see. If the theremin makes someone bitter they need to move on as they are on the wrong yellow brick road. www.hwy79.com There is nothing Oz could give the tin man that he did not already have.

Christopher

hey it sounds nice!!! The player is getting into it!!! :)

Why do I get the feeling I just wasted two minutes & 5 seconds?

"Why do I get the feeling I just wasted two minutes & 5 seconds?" - Coalport

Probably because you just wasted 2m5s ! ;-)

I was surprised by what I heard - having listened to demo sample of the "Enigma" I was not expecting to hear a clean "nice" or even "ok" sound.

As for "the joy of theremin" - I have probably witnessed more "first encounters" than most (many hundreds if not thousands) during my week at the Royal Festival Hall with my 16 "H1" pitch-only theremins, and dozens when showing various prototypes to friends and aquantances..

I have found that the "first encounter" reaction usually has little to do with the quality of the instrument or its sound - People react IMO more to the novelty factor than anything else.. I had a really horrible little theremin built into some small active PC loudspeakers (the idea was to combine PC playback with a desk-top playable theremin, in a cheap compact form) - I abandoned the project (well actually, I completed the project .. its production ready - but decided against taking it any further) because it was so horrible.. But A lot of people got to play this instrument, and (apart from musicians who mostly hated it) I got the same "joy" from "first encounters" as I did from my lovely sounding and playable theremins at the Festival hall.

Apart from "critical" musicians who have a good ear for tone quality (who hated my toy but mostly loved the H1 theremins ), the reaction on "first encounter" has, IMO, no relationship to the instruments quality.

I must just say that the sound from my toy was horrible compared to the Enigma, but it still produced "joy" reactions - although rarely (if ever) as silly and unmusical and OTT as the reactions shown in this video! ;-)

Fred.

One other thing should, I think, be said..

IMO it is absurd (and does nothing to promote the theremin) to plonk someone in front of the instrument, give them no guidance (he didnt even know what the volume antenna did!) put some music on, and leave them to it..

Yeah, you may get some silly "joy" - But could you be sure this isnt in fact a mask for embarrasment ? - particularly when a camera is pointed at you! .. You are there, clueless, being filmed - You can try to play, and make a fool of yourself - or you can play the part of a jolly joyful fool...

You need IMO to take a newcomer through the basics - play a scale slowly on something like a keyboard with sustain, and get them to find the note you are playing - then go to the next note.. Then advance to simple tunes for the victim to follow, slowly, step-by-step.

I was really glad to have expierienced Lydias tuition prior to showing people the theremin for the first time - So I could show them a few basics, like the fact that they didnt need to wave their arms about - they could just change the shape of their hand and get better control.

I watched people excitedly waving their arms about, and was bussily running from one person to the next, and giving the most elementary guidance to those who were interested.. The real satisfaction came from the joy people got when they could play something simple and recognisable - even though hugely imperfect.. This "joy" was far more meaningful - they got far more from even managing a few notes of some song than from sliding all over the place.

Some people werent interested - they were at a fairground, showing off their stupidity to their girlfriends etc.. These people got the same "joy" from the encounter as if they had thrown a coconut..

But for those who were facinated by the instrument, I believe the joy was far greater when they were actually able to accomplish something musical with it.

IMO "muscle memory" does not apply at all to a newcomer (and IMO, hardly at all with the theremin in general) - They need to be shown how to simplify their movements.. Despite understanding capacitance and having built a few (horrible) theremins, It was only after being shown how to finely use the hand - how, for less than an octave pitch change, you dont usually need to move your arm at all, how you can use your body to vary the field charactaristics etc, that I started to love the theremin.. I had been using arm movement to control pitch prior to that - "Muscle memory" didnt advance me - But after my first short lesson from Lydia, I could play!

(in fact, I learned the basics of playing just from watching Lydia teach others - By the time it was my turn, I played far better even before the lesson began, than I had ever done before!)

ps - please understand that when I say "I could play" this simply means that I could hit the notes, probably +/- 25 cents, that I was aiming for.. by the time I get a note, the next required note should be playing! I cannot play - I play keyboards badly, and the theremin 100 times worse! ;-) .. If I try to control both volume and pitch, I cannot even play a recognisable tune.. I can just play well enough to know that I cannot play ;-)

For many people their first encounter with a theremin, although it may be very positive, is not a musical experience at all. I am reminded of the woman who was interviewed on CNN back in 1996 following the 100th anniversary celebration of the birth of Leon Theremin. The event was held outdoors near Lincoln Center in New York City, and number of thereminists had been assembled. Hundreds of people milled around, and there were TV cameras and roving reporters. 

The reporter from CNN went up to a woman in the crowd of spectators and asked her if she was enjoying her theremin experience.

"Oh, it's WONDERFUL!" said the woman. "I neva hoid of the theremin before. It's so interesting and I'm so glad I came."

"But what do you think of the music you are hearing?" asked the reporter.

"It's TERRIBLE! My cat sounds betta than that!"

Novelty will trump art every time.

... Is that why perhaps when you hear someone that can somewhat play, are called "Master of the theremin"? I have gotten that several times and it baffles me every time. Like "you are so lucky to be able to play the theremin like that".

Well, it's a lot of work. People have no idea of what it takes to become a master at anything. let it be theremin, piano, violin, painting, carpentry etc...

"... Is that why perhaps when you hear someone that can somewhat play, are called "Master of the theremin"? I have gotten that several times and it baffles me every time. Like "you are so lucky to be able to play the theremin like that". Amey

I think there are a few "groups" of people - There are those who will never be able to play the theremin - they just dont have what it takes.. They may be able to play a keyboard by learning to read music, but will never be able to improvise. Then there are those (the majority I think) who, with enough effort, will be able to play in a tollerable way.. Then those who will manage reasonable competency and actually be able, on occasions, to do an enjoyable rendition when the moon is in the right phase..

Those (like you) who can do better than the above, are the "masters" .. And us mere mortals can only observe you and enjoy your playing with a touch of envy in our hearts.

Among the few masters, I think all have needed to invest a lot in obtaining this mastery - But some are more "natural" than others - have an 'advantage' of greater 'inate' ability on this particular instrument

I believe I have seen two people with a supreme 'inate' ability - One was a man I met at the Festival Hall, who, after less than 4 hours since his first encounter with the theremin could do a perfect rendition of "Hebrew Melody" along with a video of Clara playing.. But he had no interest in becoming a thereminist.. .(he had a life - and wasnt suffering from OCD! LOL ;-)

And the other person is you.

So yes - I do think you are lucky! But I also think that the theremin community is luckier - because you have chosen to develop this ability, and (IMO) you are well placed to eventually take the torch from Clara..

Fred.