Category: Jam Session
Hey all,
I remember there being at least one theremin owner on here, but I can't remember there user name.
So, I've just taken the plunge and bought a b3 theremin from america. I've looked at some youtube videos of how to play it, but no one really seems to give a textual description of how to control what note your playing.
I realise that you move your arm backwards and forward in relation to the pitch rod, but after that, everything gets a bit confusing.
I was wondering if anyone had any links where the correct fingering is described or if they could summerise it for me?
Cheers,
Ben.
Well I own a theremin but unfortunately I'm in the same boat. I assume you're referring to the videos Thomas Grillo does on YouTube? Of course my situation's a bit difficult since I live in an incredibly cramped studio apartment and you really don't want that kind of space for a theremin. Though the electromagnetic fields it generates can go through objects if you have any furniture with metal springs in it those can and will interfere with the instrument. And since the fields can pass through walls anyone puttering around in a neighboring apartment or even outside can inadvertently interfere with it as well if they happen to be close enough to you. The theremin is an extremely touchy instrument, no pun intended. LOL. You should also wait about fifteen minutes after turning it on before you start trying to play with it. THat gives the fields time to expand. Otherwise you'll have virtually no freedom of movement and can also get some really weird effects. For instance although the volume antenna doesn't seem to be affected as much sometimes the slightest movement can cause the pitch antenna to go haywire. If you give it fifteen to twenty minutes to warm up before you start playing with it you can cut down on that second problem, but again if you have a confined space you might still have interference problems. Unfortunately though as to your question I don't know of any videos or other media that explain it in a tactual format. One would think Thomas Grillo would, he being legally blind and all, but then YouTube doesn't allow much time to do stuff like that. I do recall him saying he would have liked to be more tactile in his descriptions so maybe he'll come out with something more explanatory in the future.
So I'm curious, did you get your theremin yet? How's it coming for you? Hope it's going ok for you.
Hmm: the theremin , possibly the most underrated and least understood instrument.
I used to wish and wish I could work with a thereminist when I was a keyboardist. Always wanted to mix it into some industrial and other what we called experimental synth music.
I did succeed in getting laughed at and told "good luck with that" when advertising for a thereminist to work with in the local music stores' billboards (real paper and boards back then). Not because of the rates, but because it's so incredibly rare.
I hope anyone who takes it up on here gets a lot of gigs, and makes a lot of money.
Just my thoughts
Oh that'd be nice but I never expected to make money. I'd probably be more likely to make money if I took up, ay, the Uilleann Pipes (another passion of mine), than I probably would with the theremin. But it's still a fun and fascinating instrument.
I was writing some stories I was hoping to put in to audio productions at some point, and wanted to have the musical scores written. I asked someone--possibly the strangest individual I know, who knows a ridiculous amount of people who make or promote some of the strangest music I've ever come across--if there was a thereminist somewhere in his motley collection of odd friends and acquaintances. Even he laughed and said, "Not likely," so I said, "Can you find one?" And he replied, "That's stretching even my abilities to come across musical strangeness." This was pretty discouraging; anyone who knows said individual (cough choke Rob....) will know why. I've wanted to learn to play one for a while now, but honestly, I have no space, won't be getting any space, and will probably be losing some of my space. So that's pretty much out of the question, unfortunately. Not to mention that I'm in Alaska--a bad place for instruments, any and all of them except for incredibly small ones, for many reasons. lol and not to mention my amazing ability to break anything remotely electronic, without even touching anything ironically enough. *grins* so good luck to anyone else.