Musical Instrument Appreciation: The Theremin!
I gotta get me one of these.
Some songs that feature theremins:
Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
White Stripes “Little People”
Garbage “Cup of Coffee”
Cake “Guitar”
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Posted on August 1, 2008, in Music. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
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WTH? It looks like the right hand is actually controlling something, but I can’t figure out what.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin
We-e-eird. (but totally cool, too)
I’ve seen two bands live that used a theremin, and it’s always a trip.
Yeah, that’s wild. It’s like air guitar, only it actually does something.
Oh yes. Oh yes! There is a great documentary on the Theramin called Theramin: An Electronic Odyssey. You can buy it on Amazon. We have a copy (or had – it was on VHS and I haven’t seen it around for awhile, but I doubt we would have given it up). It is a MUST SEE if you like all things theramin. There are also theramin making kits that I’ve always been curious about, but evidently they are really really hard to make. At one point I entertained the idea of my 8th grade science class trying to make one, but I got talked out of it by people much wiser than me.
Theramin – whoo hoo!
My husband thought they’d be easy to make. (He’s a mechanical engineer.)
I may call him on it.
That documentary sounds right up my alley.
British comedian Bill Bailey is noted for using this in his act.You can catch him on youtube- I’m sure his ‘news theme’ and ‘foreign ambulance sirens’ skits use it (content warning on the latter, if you parlez francais).probably loads of other skits too.
Bernard Herrmann popularized it in movie scores, particularly The Day The Earth Stood Still.
I think Rózsa was the first to use it in movies.
I have one. Go to http://www.novamusik.com and look up the Moog brand. It’s only about $300 or so. The history behind the development of the theremin is pretty interesting; I think it’s amazing someone would even have the idea of developing an instrument like this when they did, which I believe was around the latter part of the 1800s or very early 1900s.
I play a lot of electronic music and alot of other ‘standard’ instruments (guitar, bass, piano, drums, etc.), but the theremin is the most difficult instrument I’ve tried to learn. Right now I’m still completely enthralled with the effects more than making music with it.
Oh yeah, the Beach Boys used a Therevox, which is cool but is cheating if compared to the theory behind the theremin. The Therevox had points where you moved a dial (points=notes). You could be more exact and not leave room for error.
Early Polyphonic Spree used a theremin also.
Forgot: the right hand controls the pitch (notes) and the left hand controls the volume.
I really want a theramin (after I get a new keyboard, some saxes, a flute, and a piano, of course). I love its sound—it kind of reminds me of somebody playing a saw.
I just rewatched Ed Wood last week and in the special features there was a little demonstration of the theremin. It was amazing.
It’s been a while since I listened to them, but I think the first two Portishead albums are full of theremin. I love how they use it.
Portishead actually used a synth on early albums but credited a theremin. They posted a patch for the Minimoog that they used to emulate the theremin sound.
The documentary film is fantastic – I highly recommend it!
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