desperation - any uk readers know this old theme tune.

[nudone]

this isn't the forum for it but i'll ask anyway...

does anyone remember the children's program 'picture box' that was shown in the 70's?

i've finally managed to get the theme tune for it but it's not the best quality in the world.

my desperate question is: does anyone know what the them tune is called or do they know what instrument(s) it was played on. i always thought it was a pipe organ of some kind (church organ or smaller fairground ride thing) but now i'm beginning to think it sounds like steel drums.

the website tvcream doesn't know much about it.

also, am i losing my mind or did there used to be a nature program called 'survival'. it had a theme tune played on flutes - i can't find any mention of it anywhere online. i'm after that theme tune also - anyone remember the show?

[mrvampi]

Don't remember 'picture box' program.

Survival rings a bell, found this page might be of help.
http://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/wildlifeindex.html

[nudone]

thanks for that, mrvampi. it was a good try.

but the 'survival' program i'm after was shown during the 70's - probably the 60's and maybe the 80's. after that it might be the same actual wildlife footage but it wasn't the early used tv theme or title sequence.

the flutes i speak of had a more 'trippy' sound and so where the visuals - like lines moving across the screen fading in and out.

the search continues...

[logosremoved]

I recall Picture Box (the opening sequence of which can be found on YouTube). The instrument used to create the theme is probably a Glass Armonica, or an instrument called The Cristal Sound Structures. I have been looking for an emulation of the Glass Armonica in order to recreate the vintage Doctor Who theme. So far I have found an excellent VST plugin, which is free to download but it is somewhat lacking in range. Link is below:

Glass Armonica VST

[40hz]

Sounds like a Calliope or some sort of Portative Organ.  (audio clip here)


But I also wouldn't be surprised if they used an Ondes Martenot.  One of the most intriguing and expressive synth-type instruments ever created.

Good Wikipedia article here

Very nice discussion on how it works and demo here.

And another (in French) here.

Tons more O-M videos on YouTube if you do a search.  

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Can't help you out with what the song being played is. It could be just about anything.

If it was done by a professional organist, it might not even be a specific song since these musicians are trained to be able to improvise. Unlike piano music, there are many formal organ pieces that have improvisational sections where the composer will leave some empty space and expect the performer to show off a little of his or her own virtuosity.

So what you're hearing might just be a segment of free form soloing (or noodling   ) that was selected as the theme because the show's producers took a shine to it.

[mnemonic]

Wow, that brings back memories  

It could be a mellotron.  Even if not, the link is definitely worth wathcing  

[nudone]

oh, i'd forgotten about making this post.

nice to see you making educated guesses - but this mystery is solved.

i'm not at home at the moment so don't have all the information and links related to what i found. i now know the track i was after and managed to find it somewhere online taken from an old vinyl recording (can't remember the details at the moment).

the instrument is probably something you've never seen before - it was a revelation to me - it's a Glass Harmonica. so, not a pipe organ nor a synth of any description.

plenty of youtube links. here are a couple:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPfoFZYso8&playnext_from=TL&videos=Blb2-ailvnU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRvNX7x6qcI&playnext_from=TL&videos=7c6IoiDDJdc


p.s. i'm still searching for the "Survial" theme tune for the natural history programme i remember. seems no one on the planet has heard of it - maybe i was living in an alternative universe up until about the age of 12.

edit:
i've just seen the comment above by logosremoved. so yes, that is correct.

[40hz]

Nope. I've seen a few glass harmonicas. American history books claim it was invented by our very own Ben Franklin. AFAIK, that claim hasn't been seriously challenged. There was a little vogue for it a few years ago. Saw one live in NYC. 

Very ethereal sounding instrument. So much so that there was a concern at one point in it's history that prolonged listening to it's sound could cause insanity.

Listening to it does gives me a headache after a while.