theremin

[lina rose]

the first time i heard the theremin was about 2 months ago and i thought it was pretty awesome.
here's wikipedia's definition:
was invented by Russian inventor Léon Theremin  in 1919. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennae 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. The theremin is an electrophone, a subset of the quintephone family.

To play, the player moves his or her hands around the antennas, controlling frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume).


here's the link for a video on youtube that shows a guy playing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" on the theremin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0B1sipLBI

[retrouvailles]

Check out Clara Rockmore or Lydia Kavina for some great theremin playing in a classical context. Also check out the ondes martenot for a similar instrument, and, by extension, the works of Olivier Messiaen.

[lina rose]

oh yes,  i've heard Clara Rockmore and Lydia Kavina, they're both pretty good.  In fact, from what i've read about Clara Rockmore, she used to work with Léon Theremin.
I've just seen a video on youtube about the ondes martenot, it's really interesting.

why do you recommend Olivier Messiaen?

[general disarray]

Khachaturian Piano Concerto, second movement.  Big Theremin moment, right? 

Always sounded a little silly to me -- rather dated and reminiscent of B-Movie soundtracks for schlocky horror films.

[gerryjay]

out of the classics, there is a video that is worth viewing:
Pato Fu - Eu

it's a brazilian band, very cool, playing a music that coincidently was written by a guy from my city. the name, pato fu, comes from pato (duck) and fu (from kung fu, i guess)...well, it means nothing actually  ... whatever... and eu means I.

enjoy!

[retrouvailles]

why do you recommend Olivier Messiaen?

He wrote a lot of works that exclusively feature the ondes martenot, a close relative of the theremin. I don't recall any high profile composers that wrote a lot for the theremin, so I recommended him.

Khachaturian Piano Concerto, second movement.  Big Theremin moment, right? 

Always sounded a little silly to me -- rather dated and reminiscent of B-Movie soundtracks for schlocky horror films.

That's not a theremin. That's a flexatone. The flexatone is a percussion instrument used in a lot of later 20th century music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexatone

And remember this: The Khachaturian Concerto came before a lot of those cheap B movies, so this might be what inspired them. I think of it as an innovative punctuation of the folk elements in the piece.

[concerto_love]

I bet I've read bout this instrument in a comic...

[lina rose]

He wrote a lot of works that exclusively feature the ondes martenot, a close relative of the theremin. I don't recall any high profile composers that wrote a lot for the theremin, so I recommended him.

like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg9Ic4Pu-KA

i guess you can have that sound on the keyboards, but it would be much more interesting to actually play the ondes martenot or the theremin.

[retrouvailles]

Here is the flexatone in a humorous take on the Titanic theme:

I love this instrument. I'm gonna go listen to a few pieces that use it now.

[general disarray]

Here is the flexatone in a humorous take on the Titanic theme:

I love this instrument. I'm gonna go listen to a few pieces that use it now.

HA HA.  That's the silliest thing I've seen in days.  I want a flexatone!

[retrouvailles]

Me too! I think I'm gonna buy one off the internet. You can get anything off the internet nowadays. Maybe I'll buy some more exotic percussion instruments and drive the neighbors away.

[unit_toad]

The first time I ever heard a theremin was 66 years ago when I was not quite four years old. It was in 1956 and we were watching Garry Moore's TV show "I've got a Secret" and the contestant's secret was that he was a "Piano Player Player." He gave a demonstration...He walked up to a man on stage who was playing a piano---sorry but I do not recall what the man was playing on the piano---and the man was hooked up to a theremin's frequency antenna input, in place of the usual loop antenna. The volume antenna was the normal loop antenna. The contestant proceeded to wave his hands around the piano player's head and the volume loop, thus "playin" the piano player. Again, I don't remember the tune, but it was a nice duet.