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seraph
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Joined: Jun 21, 2003 Posts: 12398 Location: Firenze, Italy
Audio files: 33
G2 patch files: 2
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:27 am Post subject:
control freaks and theremins |
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dear thereminists
I was wondering why your instrument sounds always awkward to my ears and I was thinking about it while listening to electro-music 2007 and finally I realized why:
I have been trained as a piano player so I am used to a very different user inteface where you hit a key and hear a sound (always the same one unless you change tuning )
I'm a control freak so I tend to prefer discrete user interfaces where a pitch is assigned to a key, a button, a pedal, whatever
So, keep using theremins and don't bother with control freaks like me
Thanks for your attention _________________ homepage - blog - forum - youtube
Quote: | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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kkissinger
Joined: Mar 28, 2006 Posts: 1353 Location: Kansas City, Mo USA
Audio files: 41
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:29 pm Post subject:
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Yes but Seraph, The theremin is the ultimate multi-temperament microtonal instrument. I think you should take up the Theremin.
Seriously, one of the strange aspects about the Theremin is how it changes one's sense of difficult vs. easy. A passage that one could play with one's had tied behind one's back on a keyboard may require hours of practice to manage on a theremin. Just about EVERYTHING is challenging on a theremin and a thereminist (or a composer for theremin) is forced to make the most of perhaps little more than a few notes.
I'm not ready to give up keyboard playing, however the focus that goes into Theremin-playing has transferred to my keyboard playing and I feel that, in some ways, I have learned to "do more with less" when I am playing a keyboard.
Another irony is that to perform on a Theremin requires one to be quite a "control freak". Again, to render an accurate in-tune performance requires one to put every aspect in one's favor. The monitor placement and balances are critical for a great Theremin performance. _________________ -- Kevin
http://kevinkissinger.com |
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003 Posts: 12398 Location: Firenze, Italy
Audio files: 33
G2 patch files: 2
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:27 pm Post subject:
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Kevin,
thanks for your reply. I agree with everything you say. Unfortunately I missed your performance on Friday at electro-music 2007
Quote: | the focus that goes into Theremin-playing has transferred to my keyboard playing and I feel that, in some ways, I have learned to "do more with less" when I am playing a keyboard. |
I feel something similar when experimenting with alternate tunings. I enter an unknown territory where I have to "watch my steps" carefully because I am not on the usual path and that reverberates, somehow, even when I get back to 12tET. _________________ homepage - blog - forum - youtube
Quote: | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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Gordon Charlton
Joined: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 75 Location: UK
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:
Re: control freaks and theremins |
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seraph wrote: | I'm a control freak so I tend to prefer discrete user interfaces where a pitch is assigned to a key, a button, a pedal, whatever |
Theremins don't have a user interface in the conventional sense. The player is exactly a part of the circuit. The player's hands are capacitor plates that complete the half-capacitors called the "antennas." There are no buttons or pedals or whatever to come between you and the generation of sound - nothing to put you at a remove. You and the theremin are electrically integrated - a cybernetic organism if you want to put a sci-fi spin on it.
It appeals to me as a control freak because instead of thinking about controlling some device or other the focus is on controlling my own hands to synthesize sounds; my volume hand shaping the envelope while the waves of my pitch hand modulate the frequency.
"Some thoughts have a certain sound, that being the equivalent to a form."
Paul Atreides in David Lynch's adaptation of Dune, describing the use of the Weirding Module.
It is possible that a lot of theremin "sounds always awkward to my ears" because it is not uncommon for thereminists to play a little flat. (Not Kevin, of course!) I am told that if your sense of pitch is particularly finely tuned to, say, 12TET it can be quite off-putting. |
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003 Posts: 12398 Location: Firenze, Italy
Audio files: 33
G2 patch files: 2
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject:
Re: control freaks and theremins |
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Gordon Charlton wrote: | You and the theremin are electrically integrated - a cybernetic organism if you want to put a sci-fi spin on it. |
WOW! I had never thought about that It sounds like an excellent definition.
My preference goes to a compositional device like a keyboard and not toward a performance device like the theremin, though.
I prefer to sound awkward for my compositions than for my performance _________________ homepage - blog - forum - youtube
Quote: | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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Gordon Charlton
Joined: Oct 07, 2006 Posts: 75 Location: UK
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:25 am Post subject:
Re: control freaks and theremins |
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seraph wrote: |
My preference goes to a compositional device like a keyboard and not toward a performance device like the theremin, though. |
Then what you need it this:
a Free Music Machine. |
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003 Posts: 12398 Location: Firenze, Italy
Audio files: 33
G2 patch files: 2
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:55 am Post subject:
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thanks for the link, too bad it looks a tiny bit cumbersome. _________________ homepage - blog - forum - youtube
Quote: | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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Synthtech
Joined: Nov 23, 2007 Posts: 32 Location: Australia
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject:
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kkissinger wrote: | Yes but Seraph, The theremin is the ultimate multi-temperament microtonal instrument. I think you should take up the Theremin.
Seriously, one of the strange aspects about the Theremin is how it changes one's sense of difficult vs. easy. A passage that one could play with one's had tied behind one's back on a keyboard may require hours of practice to manage on a theremin. Just about EVERYTHING is challenging on a theremin and a thereminist (or a composer for theremin) is forced to make the most of perhaps little more than a few notes.
I'm not ready to give up keyboard playing, however the focus that goes into Theremin-playing has transferred to my keyboard playing and I feel that, in some ways, I have learned to "do more with less" when I am playing a keyboard.
Another irony is that to perform on a Theremin requires one to be quite a "control freak". Again, to render an accurate in-tune performance requires one to put every aspect in one's favor. The monitor placement and balances are critical for a great Theremin performance. |
I am a piano/keyboard player, and I am looking at getting a Moog Theremin, I am a little concerned that I would have no resources and have to train myself, probably making silly mistakes as I go that others have already figured out. No Theremin technique books at the local music store... _________________ Steve.
www.synthrepairs.com |
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