source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 02:24:23 -0800 Subject: Theremax/Concert Report From: World Harmony Project THEREMAX / CONCERT REPORT (C) 1997 by Denny Genovese Director, Southeast Just Intonation Center Since the mid 1970's, I have been building and modifying instruments (both electronic and acoustic) in an effort to acquire the tools I need for flexible and accurate music in Just Intonation. Following Partch, I built Harmonic Cannons, Xylophones, Bass Marimbas, metallophones, etc. I experimented with electronic synthesizer controllers, and devised various Fipple pipes and recorders. One of the most flexible instruments I ever used is the Cosmolyra, built by Ivor Darreg. But I always felt that I needed something even more expressive and pitch-flexible for melodic work (my current tonal resources include about 65 pitches per octave, in a matrix of 9 harmonic series and 9 subharmonic series scales). Now, after all these years I have found an instrument that promises to fulfill my needs. It is light weight, encompasses the entire range of hearing in one sweep, allows the precise intonation of any scales with infinite capacity for modulation and transfer between scales, has loudness expression comparable to that of the human voice, can be interfaced to control an analog synthesizer , costs less than $200 and only requires two hands to play. Only problem is, it takes a lot of practice! In late November of 1996, The Southeast Just Intonation Center received a donation of a Theremin Kit from Paia Electronics, of Edmond Oklahoma. It was offered partly so we could evaluate the Theremin as a practical instrument for microtonal music, and partly as a resource for the center, to be used in composition, performance and teaching. It took about a weekend of work to assemble, test and calibrate the kit. This included the wood finishing for the case. Everything required was there, except for the wood finish. One potentiometer was smashed in handling or shipping, but was immediately replaced by next day mail when I informed John Simonton (Paia's "honcho") by Email. The instruction manual was very clear and complete, making the whole thing a pleasure to do. Calibration was relatively easy. The Theremax (Paia's name for it's Theremin kit) has a number of options that make it easy to customize. My first modification was to put the pitch antennae on the left and the loudness antennae on the right. This is opposite from the configuration as played by Leon Theremin and Clara Rockmore, but made a lot of sense to me, since it allowed me to transfer pitch/distance skills already developed through cosmolyra, guitar and other string instrument experience. The next change (which was outlined as a possibility in the instructions) was to set up the loudness antennae so that the instrument got louder as my hand got closer to it. This is also reverse from the method that Theremin and Rockmore used (Loudest when the hand is furthest away - off when touching the antennae ). In addition, the Theremax has control voltage outputs for pitch, loudness and velocity as well as a trigger and gate. This makes it very easy to control an analog synthesizer with the Theremax. Then came the hard part: learning to play it. It seemed a little clumsy at first. I had trouble holding my arms still enough to get good control of the two parameters, pitch and loudness. Eventually, I learned to rest my left wrist on the case, to make my pitch hand more steady. I continued to do this for several weeks as I got more fluid with it. I found that it was easier to play precisely in the higher register, since it required less hand movement. But by continuing to practice in the low register as well (which required me to take my wrist off of the case), my arm eventually got strong enough to remain stable in mid-air. My practice sessions include warming up with sweeps and effects, trills in various registers, bird songs close to the pitch antennae; practice of various scales and thats; a drill of playing a Subharmonic scale from top to bottom then a harmonic scale from bottom to top, then going back to the subharmonic scale, stopping on the next subharmonic and using it for a fundamental for another harmonic scale, etc.; then I just play every melody I can think of with as much precision and expressiveness as possible. It is very easy to get distracted from loudness while concentrating on pitch and vice-versa. I'm learning to let my right hand do what my breath does on a wind instrument. Kind of tricky, but it's developing. By Thursday, January 26th, I felt ready for a public performance. I scheduled about 15 minutes in between the two sets of an Exotic Music Ensemble concert, held at Gainesville's historic Thomas Center, for a solo Theremin performance. I was interviewed on a local radio station on Tuesday, and a short feature with a color picture of me playing the Theremax appeared in the Wednesday Entertainment section of the Gainesville Sun newspaper. This brought well over a hundred people to the concert, which is a lot for that venue. It generated quite a bit of interest, and I was much encouraged by all the people standing up and cheering afterward. I feel that I have only scratched the surface of this instrument's potential as a flexible and expressive microtonal instrument. Next, I plan to experiment with interfacing the Theremax to an analog synthesizer. Stay tuned. Denny Genovese Director Southeast Just Intonation Center World Harmony Project Inc. PO Box 15464 Gainesville, FL 32604 Email: sejic@afn.org Web Page: http://www.afn.org/~sejic Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 11:33 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18407; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 11:33:26 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA18435 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id CAA10519; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 02:33:17 -0800 Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 02:33:17 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu