I must say, I have a couple of videos which I leave up for my students to learn from regarding room noise, and field intrusion. I nearly deleted them, but my students have indicated that these vids were of great help to them. Yes, vids like this tend to show the theremin in a bad light at first, but it's important to make sure viewers know that this is not an indication of the performer's abilites with the theremin, but that the video is for educational purposes regarding the above. I've actually had a drunk member of the audience walk right up to me while I was playing, and reach out while asking questions. In that same vid, there was also massive room noise. A horrible performance environment for the theremin. Another vid features a lot of camera motion in which the producer was "flying" his camera about the room, and actually got within inches of the rod. I wound up having to alter my performance to compensate for that blunder. From then on, I made it a point to establish ground-rules when producers are in the studio, or near me when I'm performing.
Often, many gigs are in the form of "background music", and as such, are subject to the mercy of the patrons who are not there to "attend" a performance, but rather, are there for enjoyment of a party, or function, and will not recognize a live performance as "formal", and therefore, will not honor established norms regarding music appreciation.
Such are the hazards of live performing.
I think Amey made a wise decision to shift to a higher octave that allowed her to hear her playing better, and this video is a good example of adaptation in bad performance situations, and should not be considered representative of her level of skill as a professional musicion. However, perhaps, thereminists should ask one important question when arranging gigs. That is: "Is this going to be background music, or formal performance?" Of course, this depends on how many gurests will be there, ect.
