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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

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Theremax/Concert Report

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