Re: Klezmer and Jewish Music Workshop and Concert in New Haven

[Alex U. Singer <asinger...>]

> 
> Then there was a break and the highlight of the day, a 2 hour concert
> with Frank on trumpet and keys, Lorin on accordion and vocals and Rob
> Schwimmer on piano and an instrrument called (I think) a theremin, which
> can only be described as a "virtual electric saw" (perhaps someone else
> can elaborate).

Rougly speaking (very roughly speaking) the theremin was the first electronic
instrument -- very pre-Bob Moog -- I think it was invented in
the 20's in Russia.   Essentially it's a small box on a stand with a coil
coming from the box.  To play it, the position of your hands to the box both
dictates the pitch and the volume.  If you get a chance, there's an
extraordinary documentary on video (I don't remember the title) about the
instrument, the inventor of it and a female friend of his who used to play
classical music recitals in the 20's and 30's on it.

Other than that, just to say that I'm sort of glad that the workshop went
well, but I'm sitting out here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and I see all
these Klesmer events out in Boston, New York, Connecticut, but NOTHING EVER
COMES HERE!!!  OK, so I over-reacted (:)), but if any of the people on the
list want to play or lead a workshop somewhere different, I'm sure
some of us Klesmer wanna-be's out in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area
would be interested.  Just a suggestion.

Alex Singer (Chapel Hill klesmer wanna-be string player)

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+