Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1930-10)

October, 1930, Vol. V. No. I 5 virtuosity. The great faculty of the Theremin is to produce tones directly without intervention of a keyboard or mechanical contrivances. It plays in a pure scale (like the trombone or stringed instruments). Here the ability to “carry” a tune enters in. What the term really implies is a feeling for pitch relationships, an ability to play “in tune,” one of the greatest mu- sical requisites, and one that is often atrophied by the study of keyboard instruments which con- centrate attention on hitting the right keys rath- er than producing the right (and a beautiful) tone. It is this very feature that removes the Theremin from the category of the musical toy or novelty. The player must either have a good sense of pitch discrimination (“ a good ear”), or he must cultivate it. The Theremin, simple as it is to operate, stresses attention on the tone pro- duced, which must be felt, or heard by the inner ear, before it can be correctly evolved from the instrument. In short, the Theremin is the clos- est possible approach to the human voice, which also requires a mental designation of pitch be- fore accurate tones can be produced. The person who can think accurate pitches, whether or not he can read printed music, will be able to play the Theremin well, just as he would be able to sing well if he were gifted with fine vocal organs. (A good voice and the ability to sing well are by no means synonymous, as any recital goer knows only too well.) The unmusi- cal person will not find the Theremin a cure-all for his deficiences, but its study will be of greater help to him than that of any other instrument, since he can concentrate almost wholly on devel- oping a sense of pitch and later tone quality. When the early models of the Theremin were demonstrated, a characteristic feature of the playing was the continuous slurring, the swoop or glissando, that is the supreme sin of inartistic singers or such instruments as the “musical saw.” In the hands of a person who possesses the elements of good taste, even although he may not already possess any great degree of musical skill, this sort of playing can of course be avoid- ed. Indeed it must be avoided if the Theremin is to qualify for genuine aesthetic significance. A faculty for cantilena does not involve inartistic use of legato. I was recently present at a Theremin recital where the former continuous slur was entirely absent. The player held a small contact switch in the hand controlling the volume, by which he was enabled to cut notes off sharply, obtain staccato effects, and phrase deftly. His illustration of the way Theremin played Saint Saens’ Swan at one of the first Thereminvox recitals and the way it could be played with the small cut-off switch to eliminate slurs was a revelation of the steady growth in the instrument’s artistic powers. Un- doubtedly some such device will be a feature of the new models, but in any event it is so simple that it can easily be added to the older types. The correlation of the “music from the ether” with that of music from discs, the partnership of Theremin and phonograph, is the latest devel- opment. Like any other homophonic instrument (producing but one tone at a time), the There- min is benefitted by an accompaniment. Piano or orchestra may be used to good advantage of course, and often are, but in order to completely remove the instrument from the exigencies of the keyboard and digital proficiency, and also to dis- pense with the need of an accompanist, the Vic- tor company is preparing a series of accompani- ment records. The Theremin may be coupled to an electrical phonograph so that its tone and the recorded tones are projected through the same loudspeaker, assuring a closer and more sym- pathetic blending of solo and accompaniment than has ever been possible hitherto. Skilled ac- companists will record piano and orchestral ac- companiments, made with a Theremin player who plays—but does not record—the solo part, so that allowance will be made for the natural flexibility of tempo, making the accompaniment appropriately supple, rather than a stiff metrical mould to which the soloists must conform. The beginner is to be taught to play the instru- ment by the means of records also. The first lessons will consist of recorded Theremin ex- amples of scales and, notes for pitch practice, simple melodies, leading to arpeggios, octave and other interval jumps. Easy pieces will then be played in which the pupil is given a melody by another Theremin to imitate. Finally will come the purely accompaniment discs for which the player provides the solo voice. Duets, trios, etc., are possible, with the player providing one voice and the disc others, which may have been record- ed by either Theremins or other instruments. In the meantime or even after the new series of records is available, the Theremin may be used in connection with song or instrumental “pattern” discs, teaching the player to emulate the phras- ing and tone qualities of a Casals, Kreisler, Pon- selle, or Tibbett. A number of salon and light orchestral discs are recommended, but the more enterprising person will delight in “playing with” symphonic discs. Many Wagnerian ex- cerpts are recorded with the vocal parts omitted; the Theremin might supply these. Or with an orchestral score, the Theremin could be used to double one of the orchestral parts. The possi- bilities are truly illimitable. . The Theremin’s ultimate sphere in music re- mains to be defined. At the least it bids fair to emulate the saxophone. At best it may bring an entirely new note to music. The direction it takes depends upon the seriousness with which it is taken and the care with which it is played. But at all events it marks an advance in the elimination of intermediary mechanism between the thinking and the sounding of music. Its publicists are hardly forcing enthusiasm when they write, “. . . music leaps into being from the ends of your fingers ... it is, as it were, an extension of yourself. It is vitally and liter- ally your music, brought into being by your body itself. It may be music in its ultimate and great- est form. . . .” And, most significant for the phonophile, it offers a medium of active participation with the music of his cherished discs. R.D.D.