Paia Theremax 9505 Assembly And Using Manual page 23

( ) Attach the self adhesive rubber feet to the case
bottom corners by removing the protective backing
and sticking them in place.
USING THEREMAX
Playing the theremin is an art that can't be taught in a few paragraphs. Still, plunging ahead
where much wiser men fear to tread, here are some observations on the playing style of Clara
Rockmore. Clara's background was as a concert violinist, but a palsy in her hands that
developed at a young age appeared to have put an end to her career as a performing musician
until she started playing the Theremin.
In many pictures of Clara taken over more than a 30 year span she is seen in front of a huge
free-standing loudspeaker. This was not just for the theatrical effect of the apparent glory
behind her head, though in some of the photos this aspect is quite striking. She positioned the
speaker directly behind her so that she could hear the note she was getting ready to play
before it was loud enough for the audience to hear, performing pitch corrections in that last
split second.Clara developed "aerial fingering" techniques that allowed her to play rapid
passages with legato and even staccato articulation.
Reviews and other accounts of performances remark on her motionless, trance-like stance
while playing, only her hands dancing back and forth over the antennae. Again a very theatrical
presence rooted in necessity. A theremin doesn't respond only to the motion of your hands, it
also responds to body motion. If you're moving around while playing it is a lot more difficult to
hit an exact pitch. Of course if you're just gliss'ing around , "whoop-ing" it up, so to speak, it
doesn't matter that much.
Closing the contacts of a SPST switch plugged into the Mute jack turns the audio output off
completely. You may find that a foot switch, either momentary or push-on-off, makes playing
easier. This "switch closure" could also be an open collector transistor output from other
equipment, such as the "S" triggers used in some synthesizers. Muting the audio has no effect
on the Control Voltage outputs, which will function normally even when audio is muted.
Theremax can also be set up in a "Controller Mode" where volume increases as your hand
approaches the antenna. For details see page 5 of the Supplement.
Many contemporary electronic musical instruments have provisions for external control of key
parameters by means of control voltages, foot pedals and switches and so on, and in many
cases Theremax CVs can be directly connected to these inputs. In some cases, instruments
expect a variable resistance at their external
control jacks and in these cases Theremax CVs
can be converted to a resistance using an opto-
coupler as shown in the illustration .The
availability of both gate and open collector
switching outputs on the Gate output J2
makes switch style interfacing easy.
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