AETHERPHON, global theremin family

On 22 May 2006, at 12:35, Lunette Records wrote:

> and my weird occult-ish logo probably
> wouldn't have gone down well with Mrs Trellis from Shoreham-by-Sea.

But she would have thoroughly approved of your frock!

The funniest part for me was your likening Eamonn Holmes and Paul  
O'Grady to TG on your website. Now I have this image stuck in my head  
of them morphing into Genesis and Cosey respectively and recreating  
some of their Coum Transmissions escapades on live TV.

Goodness knows what Mrs Trellis would think of that.

> but other people may think I'm selling the instrument
> short and demeaning it by doing these things.  Let's start a  
> dialogue about
> it!

And here's Mrs Merton now, with her "let's have a heated debate." :-)

Well, yeah, I'd prefer to see you on Later With Jools Holland, but  
what the hey! If Armen Ra can do This Or That, why shouldn't Miss  
Hypnotique do Paul O'Grady?

As for selling the instrument short... (do I get the impression from  
your website that you have occasionally been criticised for not being  
something you weren't actually trying to be?) ... well, let's talk  
about didgeridoos. I have no doubt that with a lot of skill and  
practice the right didgeridooist could find a place in a classical  
orchestra, and I bet there are jazz didgeridoo players and goth  
didgeridooists and so on but if you want the real deal you gotta go  
to Australia and hear what the old guys do. Why? Because that is  
music designed around the strengths of the instrument, not the  
instrument bent to fit a genre. Anything else sells the instrument  
short to some extent by focussing on the ability of the player to use  
it for things that do not come naturally to it, rather than on the  
inherent capabilities of the instrument.

So what is the natural music for the theremin? I don't think we have  
figured that out yet - at least not in a formal sense. Casting around  
the 'net I have found plenty of music theory for tonal and micro- 
tonal instruments, but absolutely none for continuous pitch instruments.

So I guess I think everyone sells the instrument short!

Gordon