Day 27 - So, full disclosure: I am not a musician. Now, I sing pretty well, but as far as playing an actual, physical instrument, it's been rather a sad and pathetic losing battle. The casualties include the clarinet I played when I was nine that was abandoned because I really hated having to clean spit out of it. Mom always wanted me to play guitar so I could accompany myself singing, but there was no way I could get my fingers to form the appropriate chords. Took piano in college: I can play one song using both hands and it is exceedingly simple. Then there's the computer drum kit I begged for just ten short years ago; once it arrived, it became exceedingly clear that while I DO have rhythm, I am comparatively inept at having my feet play something different from my hands (a sad discovery, dashing all dreams of being the female version of Stewart Copeland, my drumkit hero).
I can sorta make my way around a Native American flute, but I'm definitely no N. Carlos Nakai. Still, I enjoy tootling around with it as it never fails to calm me through rough times. But this I do in private.
Yet, I am not daunted. There is ONE instrument that I have yet to try, but am very interested in attempting and convinced I can tackle it: the humble theremin.
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| You can learn more about the theramin at this link: http://www.theremin.info/ |
If you saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still", you've heard this ethereal instrument used to its best advantage. That odd, otherworldly sound in the soundtrack is the humble theremin, a mainstay of science fiction films and old-timey radio and TV productions.
According to the incredibly informative website, www.theremin.info, the theremin was invented almost by accident: "The theremin was invented in 1919, by Professor Leon Theremin, also known as Lev Termen. Theremin was a talented Russian Physicist and capable cellist who noticed a strange phenomenon in an electrical circuit he was experimenting with. He noticed that he could change the capacitance of the circuit simply by moving his hand or body towards and away from it. He gradually refined this circuit, added a speaker, added a volume control that worked on the same principles, and the theremin was born."
I'm an Aquarian. When I read my horoscope, they always remind me how I'm supposed to be this technological wunderkind. Nothing could be further from my reality. However, the theremin keeps pulling me in. Maybe it is my connection to the world of technology, as humble as its brand of technology is.
A friend of mine, a very talented pianist who we employ as an accompanist for our old-time radio troupe, purchased a theremin. The thrill of the show and tell the day he brought it to a rehearsal for one of our Halloween shows! He allowed us inquisitive actors each a chance to play it, slowly waving our hands though the current, allowing the electronic squawks and rrrooooowwwrrreeeees to erupt, along with waves of glee from us theremin newbies. It sparked something in me that has remained unrequited to this day.
It's got a lot going for it as far as an instrument I feel I can master:
The sound is surreal, and seems like something beyond the veil, which appeals to my esoteric proclivities. The playing is simple and doesn't require doing something different with one hand than the other - or incorporating your feet with a bass pedal. There's no spit rag. And you don't suffer fingertip calluses with a theremin.
And, you get to be the coolest kid on the block.
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Day 28: Here's your oddball, disturbing, "who killed the various pets of these children and then made them pose for a frickin' postcard?" bit of paper Halloween ephemera for the day, featuring a depressive ghost, Tiny Tim as a child and a dour Eddie Munster:
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| Scary, sombre Victorian children enjoying the heck out of Halloween |
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