It has come to my attention that several members of the news department are unfamiliar with the theremin. This must be corrected.
From Wikipedia:
The theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928.
The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player’s hands and control radio frequency oscillator(s) for frequency with one hand, and volume with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.
Witness the magic:
That’s the theremin standing in for Cee-Lo.
Also the instrument of choice for creepy sci-fi and horror movie soundtracks since 1928.
Yay! The Lark in the Morning musical instrument store in the Pike Place Market had one for a while – it just looked like a funny-looking amp in the back but every time I went by there I’d stop & play “Somewhere over the rainbow” on it & get lots of odd looks. I freaking love theremins.
Kids these days. Sheesh. (Also used by Jimmy Page on some of Led Zeppelin’s stuff.)
Perhaps you should arrange for a staff viewing of Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Just to be clear, that’s not the native voice of a Theramin. They’re taking the output, which sound like the thin high “woooooo-woo-woooooo” creepy sound in lots of horror B-movies from mid-century, and piping it into a shitload of sound processing. Basically using it as trigger and envelope control for a second instrument.
Awesome puts one to use in some of their songs and stage shows.
It was cool when Phish was doing it in the 90’s too. Only better because it didn’t just sound like somone humming the lyrics through a kazoo.
LOL! Great vid!
seconded, that’s a great film
Also, Harpo Marx sound exactly like this in “Duck Soup” as he uses several bicycle horns to “talk” over a telephone. No sound processing needed.
Phish? You’re joking, right?
Theremin is most famous (outside of horror movies) for the whoo-oo sound on “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys. Surely the only theremin that reached #1.
Theremin is always spelled starting with a capital letter.
Do you want us to start calling you The stranger?
Where is the DeVotchKa video?
You can play one yourself at the Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, WA.
Some people in your news department had no idea what a theremin was? That is sad.
I never joke about Phish.
Nearly anyone can play one! –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONJfp95y…
And anybody interested in the Theremin should know about Dr Samuel J Hoffman, who played the thing in “Spellbound” and practically any other film in the 1940’s:
http://www.137.com/hoffman/
i can’t see embedded videos at work. what movie is it? and didn’t the dark shadows theme use a theremin?
They used one of these for the sound effects (along with an organ) at the Paramount for THe Golem. It were dope.
18 comment and no mention of Clara Rockmore?
Shameful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa…
@14 Oh, yeah, I forgot about the one they have up there – it’s a big wooden RCA Theremin from the 1920s with vacuum tubes instead of a circuit board like the little modern ones. That place is chock full of crazy old noisy gear.
Build your own:
http://www.paia.com/theremax.asp
(Or Google “theremin kit”)
Hand-soldering is a dying art since Heathkit bit the dust, but it’s not hard.
So, I learned in an electronic music class that there is a weird subculture around the theremin. Professional players tend to be women, and they wear these odd, high-collared long-sleeved dresses. We got to goof around with the instrument and it was fairly awesome.
@22, you’ve obviously never seen me try to solder anything. I’m even worse than I am with glue. Fortunately skin grows back, even on my fingertips.
@24: Inhale enough vaporized lead, and those treasured fingertips won’t seem to matter so much.
I wish someone had told me that when I was sniffing appreciatively at the frankincense-like smell of the rosin flux.
@11: Isn’t the most famous theremin the voice of the Singing Sword on Bugs Bunny?
My man Dennis James plays a mean theremin at the sci fi silent film screenings at the Paramount. In addition to the other cool obsolete modern instruments he’s featured.
Shortly after 9/11, I saw John Osebold of “Awesome” play “The Star Spangled Banner” on the theremin. I still get choked up thinking about it – it was the most perfect, moving, appropriate-to-the-moment performance.
@25, worse than paint chips? I use to eat those like potato chips.