SONG #2 FOR THEREMIN

Published on Aug 20, 2013 copperleaves·61 videos

"This is an original composition for theremin, piano and strings. I am playing it on the 1929 RCA theremin that was once the property of the late Hollywood thereminist, Dr. Samuel Hoffman."

4 THEREMIN COMPARISON

Published on Aug 11, 2013 copperleaves·60 videos

"This is an original composition I wrote to demonstrate and compare the sound of four different theremins.

The first one I play is the Moog Ethervox. Many people believe this is the finest and most versatile theremin ever made. It was designed and manufactured in the late 1990's and is fully MIDI capable (although I am playing it here strictly in the traditional way).

The second instrument is the 1929 RCA theremin that once belonged to the late Hollywood thereminist, Dr. Samuel Hoffman. This instrument can be heard on the soundtracks of over forty major motion picture soundtracks of the 1940's and 50's.

The third theremin is the last theremin designed and made by the late, wonderful, Robert Moog. It is called the Etherwave Pro. This instrument is in a burled maple cabinet I made for it myself, and is the only one of the four instruments in this video that I play while seated.

The last theremin, the one with the Art Deco lightning bolt antennas, belonged to Leon Theremin's business partner and personal assistant, Julius Goldberg. This is the only one of the four theremins that I am using an effect with. The sound you hear is the voice of the theremin going through an Electro-Harmonix TALKING MACHINE which gives it the haunting sound of a human baritone. I thought this might be an interesting contrast with the other three instruments.

All four of these theremins are amplified identically, and their sound is coming through the "Claratone" speaker you see behind me. This speaker was specially designed by Reid Welch for use with the theremin, and was named after the great 20th century thereminist, Clara Rockmore.

I would love to have played these instruments by walking from one to the other in a single shot but that is not possible. First of all, theremins are notorious for causing all sorts of interference problems with one another when there are several of them in close proximity and all of them are turned on. So for each of the theremins I play in this video, the other three had to be turned off.

The other big problem is that the spacing of the notes within the electromagnetic field is radically different for each of these four instruments, so it takes a few minutes to adapt your technique to the configuration of the theremin you're playing. All theremins are not the same. Most traditional instruments have a standard design and spacing - the standard piano keyboard is the same everywhere - but theremins are highly individual and each one is different."

SPARTACUS - Sura's Theme - Theremin/Chelys

Published on Mar 14, 2013 copperleaves·58 videos

"This music is "Sura's Theme" from the television series, SPARTACUS. I am playing it on a Moog Etherwave Pro theremin, and a replica of an ancient Greek lyre known as the "chelys". According to Greek legend, this instrument was invented by the god Hermes, who took the shell of a tortoise and the horns of an antelope, stretched a skin over the shell then added some strings. He later gave the instrument to Orpheus.

The chelys in this video has 12 strings and is tuned to a diatonic scale."

Dagda's Magic Harp

Published on Feb 10, 2013 copperleaves·57 videos

"This is one of many stories about the mythological king of ancient Ireland, know as 'Dagda' (pronounced "dada"). Dagda is said to have possessed, among other wonderful things, a magical harp which he could use to produce supernatural phenomena. This story was first written down by Christian monks around the 12th century AD, but at that time it was already ancient and had been handed down verbally for more than a thousand years.

According to legend, there were two tribes living in Ireland at the time of King Dagda: the Fomorians who were small and dark haired people, and the Celtic "Tuatha De Danaan" who were tall, light skinned and blond and whose leader was King Dagda. It seems they were constantly at war and this particular tale has to do with the time the Fomorians stole Dagda's magic harp (something which turned out to be a very bad idea).

The instrument I am using to accompany myself in this song is a two part affair of my own devising which I call the 'tibicen' (the Latin word for "piper"). It is entirely electronic, and consists of a small keyboard which sits in my lap, and a pedalboard (similar to a church organ) on the floor in floor in front of me. Nothing was added to this performance and there are no overdubs or additions of any kind. This is exactly the way it was performed.

The pedalboard provides the drone, while the keyboard plays melody. The instrument has a huge range, can play in any key, and I have tried to show some of what it can do in this video.

In ancient time, when sagas of this sort were performed, they sometimes went on for hours. I had to cut this down to its bare essentials in order to bring it in under eight minutes. The unedited story contains a lot of interesting details but I didn't want to bore everyone by going on too long!"

AE FOND KISS by Robert Burns

Published on Jan 5, 2013 copperleaves·57 videos

"I have known this song for many years, but I had always heard it sung by classically trained sopranos and tenors, so I never dared to sing it. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a rendition of it performed here on YT by Scottish popular singer Eddi Reader, and I loved it! So I decided to take a crack at it myself.

Robert Burns is Scotland's poet/ambassador to the world, and this song (only one of many that he wrote) is for me one of the most poignant songs of unrequited love that has ever been written. I'm not going to bore everyone with the history of this song. If you are curious about it, here is the Wikipedia entry that will tell you the whole story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ae_Fond_Kiss

The instrument I am playing in this video I call the "tibicen" (this is the Latin word for "piper"). I devised this instrument myself because I love to sing with the pipes but it is impossible to play them and sing at the same time. The tibicen is entirely electronic and consists of two parts (only one of which can be seen in this video). There is a keyboard "chanter" which sits on the knees of the performer and can play in any key over a range of many octaves. The other part is a pedal board similar to an organ (which is not visible in the video) which plays the drones, and can change keys and harmonies very much like the Irish uilleann pipes.

Part of the problem with pipes (and with the hurdy gurdy which I also play) is that they are extremely loud and their volume cannot be controlled by the player so they tend to drown out a singer. With the tibicen, every aspect of the sound, volume, slides, range, etc., can be controlled, and it is ideal for an electronic musician like myself."

RCA Theremin & Talking Machine VOCALISE

YouTube Published on Jun 3, 2012 by copperleaves

"The VOCALISE of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff has become one of the standards of theremin performance because it was written for voice without words, to be sung on an open "AH". Usually we hear it performed in the soprano register but here it is in the tenor range using the 1929 RCA theremin of Leon Theremin's assistant, Julius Goldberg, in conjunction with an ELECTRO-HARMONIX "Talking Machine" set to....yes, you got it....an open "AH".

In the second half of this video I put the instrument on a rotating table so you can see all sides of it including its unusual volume antenna which is kind of hard to see under normal performing circumstances.

You'll notice that this theremin has fancy locks on its cabinet doors. Sometime in the 1940's the late Mr. Goldberg installed these to keep his kids from opening the doors and electrocuting themselves! There are potentially lethal voltages inside."

Follow-up to this post.

RCA Theremin & Talking Machine

YouTube Published on May 22, 2012 by copperleaves

"The theremin in this video is the instrument that once belonged to Julius Goldberg, the partner and personal assistant of Russian inventor Leon Theremin. This is a 1929 RCA theremin that was customized by Goldberg in the early 1930's and provided with 'lightning bolt' volume and pitch antennas. In this video, I am using an ELECTRO-HARMONIX 'Talking Machine' on a fixed, open 'AH' sound, which lends to the tone a remarkable likeness to a human tenor.

The theremin has often been compared to an 'electric soprano' but used with the Talking Machine, it can also be an ELECTRIC TENOR or an ELECTRIC BARITONE!

The composition is the famous tenor aria, NESSUN DORMA, from the opera TURANDOT by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini."

copperleaves - How I Set Up My Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Oct 1, 2011

"This is a step-by-step description of how I set up my theremin for video recording. When I started making this video I expected it might be 7 or 8 minutes long including the performance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein song, YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, which comes at the end of the talk. It turned out to be almost 15 minutes long, and I still had a bunch of things I wanted to cover!

I recorded the spoken portion of the demonstration in the above video using the videocam built-in microphone, but when I began to play the theremin I recorded to the ROLAND, mixed the song, burned a CD, and replaced the soundtrack on that portion of the video with an mp3 of the performance (using iMovie and iTunes on my Mac). With iMovie, you can import audio (in mp3 format) from your iTunes library, sync it with your video, and then mute the live audio from the original clip. It's quite simple and I can do it in just a couple of minutes.

I apologize for being so long winded and I hope that people who are interested in the theremin will find something of value here. If you have any questions post them to the "comments" section or send me a message.

Thanks for watching. Enjoy."

THEREMIN - Aria From Handel's RODELINDA

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Sep 14, 2011

"This is the aria "Ritorna, oh caro e dolce mio tesoro" from George Frideric Handel's 1725 opera, RODELINDA, played on a Moog Etherwave Pro theremin. After hearing the liberties I took with the music, poor old Handel is probably revolving in his grave! This is actually the second version of it that I did. The first version was more faithful to the original score but I was afraid it might be a little boring so I did it again and added a couple of over-the-top cadenzas.

My Etherwave Pro theremin has had its volume circuit modified with the addition of an EPVM1345 module, an improvement designed by French engineer and theremin wizard, Thierry Frenkel. The speaker is a "CLARATONE" built specifically for use with theremins by Reid Welch, and it is miked with an AKG C 535 EB microphone.

The harpsichord sound is a Roland Fantom XR module. I have played many harpsichords and they are filled with all sorts of mechanical noises which, in my opinion, add to their flavor and unique tone qualities. The Fantom XR actually reproduces these extraneous sounds which is one of the reasons why I like it."

Hoffman RCA Theremin / BERCEUSE

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Aug 26, 2011

"This is the "Berceuse" from JOCELYN, an opera written by French composer Benjamin Godard (1849 - 1895). I transcribed it for harp (Venus "Aquilan" concert harp) and theremin and played it on the 1929 RCA theremin that once belonged to the late Samuel Hoffman."

MOONLIGHT by Olga Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Aug 17, 2011

"This composition was written by Olga Theremin, the granddaughter of the inventor of the musical instrument known as the "theremin". Olga wrote this originally as a song based on a poem by the 19th century Russian poet Athanasius Fet. For me, Olga's music had a wonderful romantic Russian feel to it so I decided to transcribe it (*with permission*) for the theremin. In this video you see only my pitch hand and the pitch antenna of the Moog Ethervox theremin.

Here is Olga's original version of the piece on which my arrangement is based. The child in the photo is Olga with her grandfather, Leon Theremin. I'd like to thank the Theremin family for their cooperation."

"Moonlight ..."( 1996) poetry by Athanasius Fet , music by Olga Theremin

Uploaded by Lirego on Aug 14, 2011

"Лунный свет..."(1996)

стихи Афанасия Фета, музыка Ольги Термен

Исполняет Ольга Термен.

Запись сделана на магнитофонную пленку.
Москва,1996.

Household recording Olga Theremin.

"Moonlight ..."( 1996)

poetry by Athanasius Fet , music by Olga Theremin

Singing and piano - Olga Theremin.

Recorded on tape.
Moscow, 1996."

Johnny Carson Plays THEREMIN

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Aug 12, 2011

"This is an appearance that thereminist Dr. Samuel Hoffman made on the JOHNNY CARSON SHOW in 1956. The 1929 RCA theremin you see in this clip is currently in my collection."

Be sure to see the Synths in TV and Film post.

WIDMUNG / Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Jul 22, 2011

"This composition, WIDMUNG ("dedication") was written by the German composer Robert Schumann in 1840. It was part of a song cycle called MYRTHEN, and the text was taken from a poem by Friedrich Ruckert. It is one of the most popular of all of Schumann's compositions, and was transcribed for keyboard by the great Hungarian piano virtuoso, Franz Liszt."

Schubert SERENADE For Theremin & Continuum

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Jul 9, 2011

"Some of my online theremin friends didn't want me to record this theremin transcription of Franz Schubert's SERENADE. They said it was too schlocky and romantic and that I shouldn't waste my time on it! Nevertheless, it remains one of the most popular and recognizable melodies from one of my favorite composers. This arrangement is for theremin and Haken continuum (accompanied by the Korg TRITON EXTREME). The continuum is playing the delicate recorder/flageolet sound that follows the theremin. Although I think my brain could have played all three instruments at once, I just don't have enough arms and hands, so I prepared the track and played the theremin live.

In the summertime, I often use my barn for music. The barn was built in the 1860's during the American civil war and no nails were used in its construction. It is made entirely of hardwoods and held together with expertly fitted joints and wooden spikes. When you play music in it, the whole building vibrates like the soundbox of a giant bass or cello. Unfortunately it isn't very well insulated and it isn't heated so it is useless for music in the winter. But it's great in the summer!

According to music historians the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) wrote this composition in the summer of 1826 in a beer hall, jotting the notes down on the back of a menu. He had apparently stopped in to the place to have a couple of pints and cool off.

The theremin in the video is a Moog Ethervox. The Haken continuum is a continuous controller which, unlike the theremin, does not have a sound of its own. It can sound like just about anything you want and, like the theremin, can elegantly slide from one end of its range to the other in a seamless "gliss". It is also polyphonic and has 16 voices (the theremin is monophonic with only one voice).

I was going to call this piece, "Schubert & the theremin & the continuum go to Bollywood" because I am used to wearing Indian clothes when the weather is particularly hot (as it was today when I recorded this). Natural air conditioning!"

Nature Boy / Voice & Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Apr 29, 2011

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Boy"

Further Adventures With The Continuum

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Apr 6, 2011

"A description and demonstration of the built-in sound, "Clinical Oscillator 2" on the Haken continuum fingerboard - Concerto in D Major for baroque trumpet, continuo and strings by Georg Philip Telemann."

Haken Continuum Meets Erik Satie

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Mar 17, 2011
follow-up to this post
"One of the great things about the Haken Continuum fingerboard is that you can play it with one hand and still take advantage of all its expressive capabilities while your other hand plays another instrument - in this case I am playing a Korg Triton Extreme keyboard with my left hand. This composition - GNOSSIENNE #3 - was written by the French impressionist composer, Erik Satie, and is one of a series of pieces written for piano in 1890. It is a popular piece among players of the "ondes martenot" but unlike the Continuum, the ondes must be played with two hands so the ondiste is unable to accompany himself.

I used one of the Continuum's built-in sounds for this performance because I felt it had a very pure and enchanting timbre that seemed to go well with the music.

The word "Gnossienne" is a reference to the capital of ancient Crete (also Knossos) which was excavated by European archaeologists in the 1870's. Satie was inspired by the extraordinary frescoes and artwork that was unearthed at that time."

The Haken Continuum

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Mar 8, 2011

"This is what I call a "SHOW & TELL" video. It's the kind of video people make when they get a new musical instrument they haven't the slightest idea how to play and they're dying to show it off to the world even though it's only been out of the box for five minutes!

This instrument is called the HAKEN CONTINUUM FINGERBOARD and it's wonderful. In this video I am playing only one sound (a very "breathy" timbre that is somewhere between a clarinet and a Persian flute), and I am using only one voice (although it is a polyphonic instrument).

What distinguishes this instrument from other interfaces is that it is played in three dimensions: from left to right, forward & backward, and up & down. The hand of the player slides and dances on a smooth neoprene cushion constantly changing and "sculpting" the sound as it goes. Parameters can be altered to suit the musician, but in this video pitch is controlled by moving to the left and to the right like a standard keyboard, volume is controlled by pressure up and down on the neoprene surface, and timbre is controlled by movement of the hand forward and backward. A single hand can perform any or all of these movements at any given moment. This frees the other hand to play another keyboard (which is what I do in this video), or control some other device.

The continuum is limited only by your own musical imagination. What you see me do in this video is just one sound and one voice. It is infinitely more versatile than anything that could be shown in just a couple of minutes. Although the continuum is essentially a MIDI/CV controller interface, it has a large menu of its own sounds built into it. These sounds were prototyped by continuum virtuoso Edmund Eagan in Kyma, Symbolic Sound and the prototypes were then hand coded by Lippold Haken (the inventor of the instrument) for the fingerboard's digital signal processor.

Yeah, I know, it all sounds terribly complicated, but it's not. The instrument is very "friendly", easy to understand and a lot of fun!

Stay tuned for "The Haken Continuum MIDI Fingerboard Meets the Moog MIDI Etherwave Theremin" - two of the most exotic and unusual electronic music interfaces ever conceived."

Widow

YouTube via copperleaves | February 15, 2011

ALEXANDER NEVSKY / PROKOFIEV / THEREMIN

YouTube via copperleaves | February 04, 2011 |

"Alexander Nevsky is one of the great heros of Russian history. He is reputed ...
copperleaves | February 04, 2011 | 1 likes, 0 dislikes

Alexander Nevsky is one of the great heros of Russian history. He is reputed to have driven an army of Livonian Knights (German "warrior monks") from Russia in the year 1241. The decisive battle was on the ice of the frozen lake Peipus (in Russian "Chudsko-Pskovskoe ozero") in the spring of 1242.

The Russian film director, Sergei Eisenstein, made a movie of this epic battle in 1938 and hired composer Sergei Prokofiev to write the music for it. ALEXANDER NEVSKY is considered by many experts to be one of the great movies of all time, and the piece of music in this video (transcribed for theremin) is from that film.

Following the Battle On The Ice, there are hundreds of dead soldiers lying in the snow and a young maiden walks out onto the frozen lake looking for her lover, and sings, "I shall go across the snow-clad field, I shall fly above the field of death, I shall search for valiant warriors there....."

The composer Prokofiev had spent some time in Hollywood in the 1930's, and had made a study of the new science of soundtracking for film. Director Eisenstein said of Prokofiev, "He is a man of our time and a man of the screen. He understands how the screen can reveal not only the outer appearance of things but their inner nature as well. He is able to dress objects in sound and instrumentation, bringing them to life with shifts in tone and timbre, adding an emotional dimension to images through his orchestration".

Prokofiev later took his score for ALEXANDER NEVSKY and made a cantata out of it for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra. The interesting thing about the composition is that the music, as powerful as it is, does not overshadow the film. It complements it perfectly while remaining one of the composer's most enduring works.

The theremin in this video is the 1929 RCA that was once the property of the late Hollywood thereminist, Dr. Samuel Hoffman."