Gordon's Progress

Something I just remembered - intended to post it at the time but it got away from me.

I happened to use the phrase [i]Zen Theremin[/i] in front of my son, who immediately struck a Buddhist attitude and said, in his best Japanese-voice-of-wisdom, "Ah, the chordless chord."

[i]The Chordless Chord[/i]

If I should ever put together an album of my experiments, that is what I shall call it.

And on the Zen theme, I have noticed that over time, without particularly trying, my melodic playing is becoming more melodic. Well, to my ears at least. :-)

[i]And on the Zen theme, I have noticed that over time, without particularly trying, my melodic playing is becoming more melodic. Well, to my ears at least. :-)[/i]

Reminds me of the story of the mad scientist strapping someone in the chair and saying “i’ve had this for a whole week now and I think I’m getting better, here, have a listen.”

If a theremin is played in the forest and nobody hears it, is it still off key?

Not for long, DiggyDog, say ten seconds!

Little experiment I did yesterday - listened to a piece of computer generated music - sounded fine. Part way through, bent the pitch up by 25 cents - more than enough to make it sound awful, which it did for about ten seconds until my pitch sense re-calibrated itself and it sounded fine again.

So I'm pretty sure I do not have absolute pitch.

Buddy_Craigg, I've got a chair specially prepared for you. :-)

Where I live the kids like to cruise down the streets near the beach with their car stereos blasting at concert level volumes because they mistakenly believe that:

a. Others care what kind of music they listen and would enjoy a free sample.

and

b. Others will be impressed that they spent large sums of their allowance on a kickin's stereo.

and

c. It's really cool.

Anyway, I have noticed that when they drive by and the Doppler Effect does its work it never sounds right after the pitch goes down.

Maybe I just don't get to listen long enough to adjust to the new "key".

I don't think it's a matter of having perfect pitch in this case because the pitch would be increased slightly as the car is approaching and decreased slightly as they leave.

Would somebody with perfect pitch not like the music either way?

I think it would sound off to them in either direction.

They do that here too, but I imagine the reasons to be

1. They like their music loud.

2. What, they're gonna spend their allowance on a kickin' system then play it at a whisper when they can crank it up and impress their peers?

3. It annoys old people and thereby gives them the opportunity to shout "F- off, Granddad!" more often.

Those are probably more accurate reasons, Gordon.

I always thought it would be funny to have a bunch of octogenerians cruising around in a drop top blasting out some Glenn Miller Orchestra and telling at the youngsters.

Or maybe some of us could do the same with some theremin music. That would sure turn some heads...

I could get a job sitting on top of an ambulance, supplying the siren sound.

I've turned a few heads playing the lost clara cd pretty loud. Now that it's warm out, time to try it again

Andy

My relatives from germany were visiting last year and they thought Lydia wasplaying a musical saw.

I had to set up the theremin and let them give it a whirl.