Let's show Bob Moog lots of love this August 21, 2015!

Ok Theremin Cat. You put the Bob Moog Homage notion in my mind. Here's my part. After all, if it wasn't for him, there would be no Moog Synthesizer and hence no Switched-on-Bach that showed a young kid that Classical music can be fun and relevant - and at that point I chucked my idea of being a physician and went off to study music. That album was the defining moment in my life.

Had a piece in the drawer uncompleted for a while and dusted it off and turned it into my Elegy for Bob for Theremin (or Ondes Martenot) and Piano (though the more I hear a theremin with just a piano, the more I dislike the sound). I much prefer strings and theremin. Actually, the initial version was intended for alto flute and piano, and maybe that still works too in its final version.

The piece is pretty static. They melody just kinds of drifts around not doing very much against a rather consistent accompaniment. Just one big long melodic statement that's a bit sad but not too much.

Here's a version I did up using the Ondes Martenot Sample set - as I'm still practicing it - - just to give a notion of what it sounds like. Hopefully by 8/21 I can put a version of me playing it on the theremin that won't be horrible.

Dulces Lágrimas - Elegy for Bob

If anyone wants to take a crack at it, I put the score and accompaniment on my IMSLP site:

Dulces Lágrimas - Elegy to Bob (Score and Accompaniment)

If I ever save up enough for a Haken Continuum, I think that would be great for this.

Thanks. Yea it will take a day for them to make sure it's a legal post.

Can't wait to hear your piece. Your Soundcloud account looks like a blank page waiting to be filled in.

Well guys, we’re creeping up on the big date, Aug. 21, when we’re supposed to show Bob Moog a whole lotta love - but I’m a bit confused. The dude’s dead! So how are we supposed to show him our love? Since Bob was Jewish, we can assume he isn’t in heaven with Jesus and Tammy Faye and there is nothing in the Jewish Torah promising any sort of afterlife at all (all references to “Gan Eden”, reincarnation, etc. all come from much later folklore traditions).

…so where do we direct our love on the 21st?

I have no idea. Unfortunately, he's not coming back anytime soon. But I'll use any excuse to write or arrange music. 

Oh well - Scap the Amazing Grace - on to my Kaddish for Theremin, Santur and Qanan (8DIO came out with inexpensive sampled versions). 

But Aug 21 is right around my year anniversary with this crazy instrument. I have a Passacaglia for Theremin and Strings I'm about to unleash on the world.

And you have been kind of silent for a bit. I've been waiting for our next installment. Something big must be in the works.

rkram53 rote: “…..on to my Kaddish for Theremin, Santur and Qanan”.

WOW! That should be interesting. What’s a “qanan”? I’ve never heard of it.

It's like a plucked/strummed zither. Right up your alley. Very cool instrument.

Look how he changes tunings with little brass levers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5gpnO9RNzQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vKFrQvJmZM

I got this sample set to play with. They came out with a Santur as well.

http://8dio.com/instrument/qanun-vst-au-aax-kontakt-instrument/

Well you said you were gonna do it and you did it!

Not bad for someone who's been playing a couple of weeks. Now like the rest of us you have a lifetime in front of you to try and get better.

Actually today we had a party at work and I brought in the Etherwave and played a slow one with a jazz group. 

As Peter rightly pointed out, people have absolutely no clue what good is when they first hear the instrument. They are just amazed. Even the band didn't really know what to make of it. And of course I let everyone come up and try it which was all they really wanted to do anyway. Thank God my performing career is now officially over!

And now that a lot of people know if from Sheldon just wooshing around, anyone can get away with bloody murder if they can just bang out a melody of any sort reasonably in tune.

Amazing even now how few people know this thing exists.

Thanks Bob!

 rkram53 rote re the “qanan”: It's like a plucked/strummed zither. Right up your alley. Very cool instrument.

rkram, you don’t mean “qanan”! You mean “qanun” (or “kanun”). I’ve played the instrument for years. Here’s a picture of my kanun with one of his friends. Kanuns are of two basic designs: Turkish and Egyptian. This is an Egyptian kanun.

http://www.peterpringle.com/pppix/kanun2.jpeg

What a difference an "a" can make.

Did you put out a  piece for theremin and that? I love the sound of the thing.

I'm working on a piece for qanun, theremin, turkish flute (ney), strings and a cool sample library called Geosonics where a guy went all over the world and sampled the sounds of nature and then they added synth overlays to it you can choose to use or not.

And herein lies one of the dangers of writing using sample libraries with harp like instruments - you can easily write things that the sample library can play without issues that would be impossible to play - even simple sounding things.

From what I gather you can change the tuning with one hand - as long as you don't change the scale too quickly. Kind of like a harp pedal but you need more time as you have to use your hand and the other hand might be playing This is an absolute must in a more dissonant piece like I'm thinking about. 

How much time do you need between notes that need to change with a mandal? This is one tricky instrument with all the microtonal tuning going on. How do you tune all the microtonal divisions?