Theremin

Is the use of fret marks (the player has a piece of cardboard with lines for certain notes) a common thing among Theremin players or is it generally not done for some reason? (Intuitively it makes sense, yet it's the first time I have noticed them)

That was interesting and proficient Theremin playing, thanks for the link.

This has more to do, I think, with it being an instrument that is extremely hard to play. It's very difficult to move from note to note, and extremely difficult to stay in tune, especially in a setting with large numbers of people around, who, when they move, will change the tuning. Yet it is primarily played by people who see it as a fun toy, or simply don't practice much. For some reason, with the theremin, perhaps because it's an interesting instrument in itself, people find it alright to perform on it while completely unqualified to do so.

No one's going to go toy around with a violin for a few weeks and then insist on performing. Or at least, if they do, no one is going to blame the violin for the results.

Nonetheless, as some examples, people like Clara Rockmore, Lydia Kavina, and Carolina Eyck all perform very well for technical, difficult pieces, and Randy George does a good job with more modern, popular pieces.

I've always enjoyed Dorit Chrysler's Theremin music. I suspect you haven't looked deeply enough into recordings of Theremins to disregard it like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9LJK8i1VE

"Never be popular?" It's all over the damned place. Beach Boys. Led Zeppelin. Rolling Stones. It pretty much defined the sound of creepy horror movies from back in the day.

More here: http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/browbeat/2009/07/27...

It's a popular instrument that sounds awesome when used properly.

Hell, even I used to own one.

I went to the first Moogfest about 10 years ago. Back then, it was a tiny event featuring obscure musicians, and I saw a fantastic theremin virtuoso. Due to the extreme difficulty of playing the instrument well, my guess is that the vast majority of people simply aren't capable of ever achieving the level of proficiency that makes it actually sound beautiful like this woman did. I've never liked the sound of the instrument outside of her playing.

Her name, by the way, is Pamelia Kurstin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU0QRYbe4A

Ummm it's a sawtooth oscillator based analog synth. It sounds like that. It's easy to learn, difficult to master. It was a huge part of 60s and 70s music. you could say that a Stradivarius sounds bad if a toddler is playing it. I it's just an instrument, and it depends on the player to "sound good"

> It's a neat instrument, but his first few weeks learning made it sound like there was a dolphin orgy next door.

A dolphin orgy would mean the dolphins were having fun.

I think it is the same documentary that my music technology professor showed us. While a simple instrument, it's implications were quite outstanding for its time. I wonder why it is no longer widely known.

If you want to get the real deal, kits go for about 359. Some minimal soldering required. You can get kits a bit cheaper on ebay.

http://www.moogmusic.com/products/etherwave-theremins/etherw...