Don't drink and play theremin...

Thierry,

Make that three.

(And I hope the myriad of law enforcement agencies that monitor Theremin World don't see this post.)

FredM wrote:

Excuse me sir - would you please play this Theremin before you get into your car...

***********************

If the police used the theremin as a breathalyser there would be no cars on the road.

I was once in a situation during a theremin workshop in northern Germany which had nevertheless allowed me to drive:

Lydia K.: "I need a D"
Thierry F. with his Etherwave Standard: "Here is a D: (wooooooo)"
Lydia K. doesn't believe it and walks to the piano, plays a D and is surprised: "How did you make that?"
Thierry F.: modest shrug...

If Thierry can do this consistently then he has perfect pitch.

The theremin is the only musical instrument for which perfect pitch (l'oreille absolue) can be an advantage.

Interesting. Why do you see having perfect pitch as a non-advantage (disadvantage or neutral) for other instruments?

Because other instruments are self-referencing. A properly tuned piano, guitar or fiddle, does not require the player to identify A-440. Once it is tuned, the instrument will do that for you.

No matter how well you "tune" your theremin, you cannot blindly find A-440 unless you have perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch is not really an advantage for a musician except in the case of "a cappella" performances from vocalists or thereminists. In the absence of perfect pitch (or a reference tone of some kind), an unaccompanied vocal or theremin performance is bound to wander either sharp or flat and the longer the piece is, the greater the discrepancy will be between the key you started in and the one you end up in.