Instrument of the Week! Theremin!

 

Ever want to play music without touching you instrument? If you have, at the moment the Theremin is pretty much your option. The Theremin was created by a Russian Physicist around 1919. His name was Lev Sergeyevich Termen. He moved to America and here was known as Léon Theremin. He patented his invention in 1928. It was used heavily in old SciFi and horror films to create some of those stereotypical eerie sounds. It was also used in the beach boys single “"Good Vibrations.” It has been used by musicians all over the world for playing instrumental, popular, and film music. There was a documentary about the Theremin and its inventor in 1995 called “Theremin An Electronic Odyssey.” The instrument is still popular and pops up all over the place, sometimes even on sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory.” The instrument is made of a box like structure with two antennas. The straight and usually vertical antenna controls frequency (pitch). AS a hand gets closer to it, the pitch increases. The horizontal and usually hooped antenna controls amplitude (volume). The volume decreases when a hand is moved closer to that antenna. The sound is made by manipulating the distance between your hands and these antennas. The Theremin creates one sound at a time. Moog is in no small part responsible for the popularity of the Theremin. The Theremin was one of the very early electronic instruments. Moog was inspired by the Theremin in constructing their synthesizers and has sold both build your own Theremin kits as well as premade Theremins throughout their existence. Today Moog remains one of the most popular sources for Theremins, though there are many others. Some of these are Theremaniacs, PAiA Electronics, and Jaycar. Today the Theremin is used for all types of music and sound effects. Even though synthesizers can imitate the sounds created by the Theremin, the uniqueness and novelty is still wining plenty of converts.

Resources:

• Theremin Ted Talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/pamelia_kurstin_plays_the_theremin) Some songs on the Therein and talk to explained its use!
• Theremin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin) The Wikipedia page! Yeah yeah, I know…but hay its distilled knowledge. If it still bothers you just look at the resources they site.
• Theremin World (http://www.thereminworld.com/) Kind of a community and resources for the Theremin.
• Hoge Theremin (http://www.hoge-theremin.com/salon/hoge-what-is-a-theremin.html) A good introductory article.