Vulcan Harp & Theremin - #2

YouTube via copperleaves | January 30, 2011 |

"This composition is called THE FIRE PLAINS and it is the second in a series of 12 studies for the Vulcan harp and theremin. The Vulcan harp was introduced by artist and visionary Wah Ming Chang more than 40 years ago for a STAR TREK episode. Over the years it has evolved considerably, along with the technology involved with its manufacture. It is acoustic, electroacoustic and electronic (it is the electronic component that permits such things as the playing of complex harmonies, glide pitch shifts, arpeggiation, etc.).

This piece is a study for the use of the gated arpeggiator. Before starting to play, I tapped two bars on the "tapper control" in the tempo I wanted the arpeggiator to engage in the second half of the composition (two bars instructs the instrument to play sixteenth notes - one bar would have told it to play eighth notes). Once the pattern is entered, all the harpist has to do is touch the tapper to engage it and apply it to the chords that are struck. From that point on, it is activated or deactivated alternately by touch until it is cancelled.

This instrument is a prototype. It is entirely self-contained and it is not MIDI capable. It has 15 banks of its own sounds, and each bank has 10 programs. The instrument is also provided with its own effects, timbre controls, etc. It is not mechanically activated like a keyboard. It triggers its sounds by means of the frequencies that the strings are tuned to, so it must be very accurately tuned prior to playing. It transmits directly to its amplifier by means of an antenna integrated into the pin column (the extended curved vertical arm that holds the tuning pins) so there are no cables.

This performance was recorded in a single take because it was too tricky to try and piece it together with only one video camera. Once the track was complete, I overdubbed the theremin part using the Samuel Hoffman 1929 RCA theremin. I didn't bother to show myself playing the theremin because there are already quite a few videos here on YT of me playing theremins of different sorts. The Vulcan harp, on the other hand, is rare. There are only two instruments in the world like the one you see in this video."