THEREMINS I HAVE KNOWN Hands-On Encounters with Models and Makes THE BIG BRIAR (MOOG) ETHERWAVE

After seven months of practicing on the Theremax, I purchased the standard Etherwave from Big Briar, the name of Dr. Robert Moog's company prior to his legally securing the rights to his own name back. The company is now Moog Music, Inc. The standard Etherwave is the only model theremin that Moog has kept in production. I originally paid $369.00 ten years ago, and the Etherwave's price is still very reasonable at $379.00. The possibilities for more refined articulation and intonation were immediately evident. The variations in timbre when using the Brightness and Waveform knobs were endless; while it never imitated traditional instruments exactly, I eventually succeeded in getting the theremin to take on tonal qualities of a cello, a trombone, a violin, a tenor sax, an upright bass, and of course, the female vocal quality that's so haunting. The threshold between silence and sound above the volume loop was now so definite it was almost visible. The Etherwave shipped with the VHS version of Lydia Kavina's instructional video, Mastering the Theremin. This resulted in radical re-thinking and adaptation of my playing techniques, all for the better. With this theremin it was clear that there was, at least the potential to play some of the difficult compositions I'd been challenging myself with. There was one problem, though. Even though I saw the potential, the transition I had to make from playing the Theremax to playing the Etherwave with real precision was a startling experience. Working with the Etherwave was like having to start back at the beginning. this theremin was far lees forgiving and far more demanding. Its pitch linearity and volume loop response were very different. The instrument's sensitivity was so acute that everything about my technique had to change. At first, my pitch accuracy suffered and it was difficult to imbue music with the type of expression I was trying to get. Within a period of several weeks I was able to get very clean attacks on notes, clarity in articulation, and began working on more challenging music. I still use the Etherwave Standard often in performance because I've never been able to duplicate many of its uniques timbral qualities on any other theremin. Now that the Etherwave Pro is out of production, my opinion is that the standard Etherwave is the theremin of choice for any serious player. It's price is far lower than that of most traditional musical instruments, yet it's very high quality.