Progress Reports

Dani,

Very interesting conversation about thereminists performing too soon and the general perception that the novelty of the instrument to most audiences can mask the quality of performance. 

Rich

hi rich,

yes, many good storys of proofed ones. also something, that shows how stupid some could get in their enthusiasm, is that story about: " hey! you have that famous theremin! can i drop by and do some whoieees on it?  "  such things give me the creeps. kalaschnikov. 

links to soundloud , sorry soundcloud, posted here can help. but to clear things out better from start:  i can't /won't comment to anything by anybody regarding ones progresses because i'm no expert. if someone needs the urge to go public i would suggest: if you're cat didn't left and you' re friends and family are somewhat still with you, maybe do something on yt but the echo might be small.  then try buskin in the streets. (cons: theremin needs power, so does the amp. use accus for that. earthing? so don't play in rubber boots. people walking into your magical field. or do worse.) (pros.: directest input about your playing, get recognised, for good or bad, get some money, naturals, etc, if not: you can still use the vegetables in your face for a humble soup.)

 soundcloud. recorded with good quality. not much effect or better: none at all. so other get a better impression and might give you a echo. 

 my stonemasons pupils  had  hard times when doing wrong. but thats necessary. 

dani

Well Theremin World, like it or not, here I come. As a theorist and composer the whole point of this darned instrument is to make some music with it so I'm writing a series of progressive studies (that make sense to me) to help myself learn.

My initial attack with this instrument was just to try and match pitches. Now it's time to start thinking more in terms of process. The first piece/exercise is totally step-wise motion within the range of a 5th, so I can play it basically keeping a fixed hand position expanding and contracting as the notes move up and down the serpentine scalar passage (though I find moving that hand a bit helps me get better in tune). Still a ways to go to get perfectly in tune, but I see a glimmer of progress (which can disappear in a millisecond with an errant twitch of a finger).

Part of the goal of these pieces is to create something that is also hopefully listenable (though right now the extreme melodic and rhythmic simplicity of the pieces required for the intended training purpose makes them a bit lacking musically - so I tried to put some harmonies to the tunes that are interesting). I'll be writing these in a number of styles as I go. 

The first one is only about a minute of playing - but as I found out, just playing simple little scale-wise motion in tune for a minute ain't no easy task for a beginner. The original version was longer and I realized the first piece has to be short to be useful.

If any newbies want to take this journey with me - I'm posting the score (if you read music and perhaps have a pianist friend that can play them with you). I'm also posting just the accompaniments if you want to play along and a MIDI file you can load up in your DAW and play whatever synth or virtual instrument you like (the MIDI files are also good in that you can easily transpose them). I'll have to play these things in a variety of keys.

I'm posting these to my IMSLP page. This may not be available for viewing for a day or so. 

Here's my feeble performance (I'm going to replace these as I get better)

Study #1 - Fixed Hand, Seconds - 5th Range

And the main studies page is here:

Progressive Studies for Theremin

My journey continues.

Rich

Very nice Rich!  Thanks for posting your progress and these learning aids for others to use.  How many hours do you imagine you have in at this point?

It seems to me that precision Theremin playing is similar to trombone playing, where the likely main goal is to hit the note as quickly and as accurately as possible in the continuum.

(IMSLP is a wonderful sheet music resource!  I wasn't aware that you could use it as you are doing, but it makes sense.)

Dewster,

Thanks. I guess I have 30+ hours in now (minus some Theremini distractions). Maybe I should keep track to see how long it really takes to do some things. I figure I played this one at least 50 times to get the version I posted (the best complete one I've done so far). No pitch preview used. I did cheat for the beginning note. Since I'm multitracking, I can play the initial note before it really comes in and then just silence the track until the real start in the DAW. I've also played around with pitch preview by putting it out to a little speaker behind my ear instead of shoving an ear bud in which I hate and frankly is totally distracting (again this works fine as I am recording Etherwave line out directly to the digital mixer). But even that method of pitch preview is really distracting. I've come to the conclusion, I don't like pitch preview.

It is surprisingly difficult to keep everything right on key, especially if I limit my use of vibrato so I can really hear what's going on. Just have to practice my guts out I guess and tune my ear to the theremin as much as trying to tune the theremin to my ear (if that makes any sense).

Yes. IMSLP is a terrific site for composers who want to distribute their music under non-commercial common copyright (i.e. anyone can play it as long as they don't try and profit from it), or even teachers that want to distribute things. And a great place to store your compositions (you can have multiple versions stored you can go back to if you want). Not just music sheet. They now have recordings, MIDI files, books, all kinds of stuff. It now has most works for any well known composer you can think of who is out of copyright (and many more not so well known).

Rich

"I've come to the conclusion, I don't like pitch preview."  - rkram53

I also wonder how much the preview earbud wire interferes with the pitch field?  I've seen my headphone wire do so when I'm farting around on the Theremini.

My current working theory (which I've probably stated too often here at TW) is that Theremins are incomplete without a highly responsive and intuitive pitch display.  Guitar tuners and the like aren't nearly fast enough for immediate feedback, and the information they present is fairly useless to the player.  The Theremini pitch display seems quick enough, but what can the brain really do in the very short term with an alpha (plus #, plus offset) indication of pitch?  Doing this kind of thing on a slow LCD is also problematic.

And the trombone analogy is nice but there is one big difference that is the deal-breaker on the theremin (that extra degree of freedom - not to mention there is no exact fixed starting point as each time turn it on or adjust the pitch range the pitch field is slightly different so you are altering hand positions from the last time you played). An absolute fixed reference would be so nice.

When playing a trombone or cello or ribbon controller for that matter you only have to worry about keeping your hand on a fixed two-dimentional axis (well cello is more complicated because of the multiple strings and stings can bend). A trombone player only has to worry about X-Y axis motions and they also have a friend in the overtone series to help them out a bit as well. That makes tuning to hand position totally predictable (assuming consistent embrochure). The whole complexity of the theremin to me comes down to that one issue - predictability.

The theremin player has to worry about the dreaded Z axis as well in combination with field distortions of the body itself as you move. Slight pertubations on that third axis I have found can throw you out of tune before you can recover (that is on a recording, that note was "bad"). So the thereminist is always making micro corrections in that three dimensional space (the idea that you can learn a truly fixed hand position to play this instrument is somewhat anecdotal as far as I can see so far). And another thing is that I can play a C in an innumerable number of places in that three dimensional field - and you know what, the sound is actually a little different depending where you play that C (actually sometimes a lot different if say I'm playing between the antennas versus 90 degrees off from there).  And I might like the sound of that C in a place I'm not actually playing it at the moment. What a crazy instrument!

Right now, getting use to that third axis is my main concern (working on steady hand positioning trying to remove the unpredictable element that third axis imposes). But what an amazingly interesting instrument this is. Every time I play it I'm still flabbergasted that some inventive mind created this thing nearly 100 years ago. 

Well, gotta go practice now.

Rich 

Dewster,

I'm afraid there is no good solution to the tuner issue. As you say, humans just can't react and recover quick enough to make use of the tuner while playing (maybe only for slow practice). The fine little things that throw a note out of tune happen so fast there's no way a tuner can help.

The help has to come from the instrument itself. That's why the Theremini idea is so great (and I have hope they will work out many of the current kinks). To still maintain portamento to some adjustable extent while also expanding the "sweet spot" of a note is a great idea. 

I think perhaps the theremin of the future does not interact with a field but the field simply senses the hand position (as some new controllers out there are trying to do for general computer use). And then there can be a much greater correlation between hand position and note/tuning. But then, would that be a theremin? 

Hello rkram53,

Not trying to hijack your thread but you're a breath of fresh air around here.

You are the exact person I have spent the last ten years waiting for but you do not live in So. Calif. I am jealous of dewster as a theremin researcher and having you in his backyard. What makes you valuable is you have no real expectations of what a theremin should behave like but know what you hope for. 

My own classic theremin design was done without the need to copy anyone else’s much less look at their approach. This led me to interesting conclusions. A design that is drift free, perfect pitch field linearity, changing dynamics in the vocal range, a wide volume shading range and most important the authentic tube sound, not a solid state whistle buried in reverb to give it interest.

It seems that for many Thereminists after all their hard work, it is difficult to change to a theremin pitch field or volume response that feels different, so they prefer to stay with what works for them, makes sense.

For your thought: I demonstrated for dewster in the past how mounting the pitch antenna on its side is what I consider most logical. It eliminates any left and right arm drift and the arm/hand moves below the shoulders in its natural up/down 18” arch, which allows pitch control with much less strain on the body. My volume control setup is separate and can be placed anywhere around the Thereminist with up to an 18” shading window.

Advertisement: If you have a colleague who is a classical musician in So. Calif, tell him about the theremin and me. (-‘

I am unable to play a tune because of my hearing so can only make sweeping sound bytes. My design is for that new generation of Thereminist, us older people are set in our ways, change seems kind of creepy.

Here are two demonstrations of my classical sound from an original design that would be easy to learn on using my sideways pitch rod, like a T

  Sample1.mp3    Sample2.mp3   <= This sound is not something I invented, it is natural to a $5 vacuum tube and Lev Sergeyevich also found it. Theremin direct to sound card with no acoustics.

Christopher

Dewster is off restriction

RS Theremin,

Thanks. All the interesting technical issues aside, it all boils down the bottom line (for me). How do I make great music with it? I hope to God I can get good at it before my hand dexterity is gone. Playing piano will help there I am sure.

The thing all thereminists need to come to grips with is "can my ear correctly guide my hand". The hand does not guide the ear. I'm still trying to figure out if I have the basic ear/hand coordination required to get really good at this thing or just be a therehacker.

Time will tell.

Rich