In praise of the Theremin!

Karl Hungus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onvnoiyfOm0

Yeah, thread rip-off, but I was reading the hammond organ thread, and I was going to post something from the exceptional band Green Carnation who used hammond organs in their music before. But then I came across the above video, which makes tremendous use of the theremin, and I thought, why not start a thread about that very instrument?

Of course, no Theremin thread would be complete without Bill Bailey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WktxIqbGAj0

mike65

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNl8qq-f1F0

An extract of the legendary Forbidden Planet soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIuc1_Qg4A8

Mike

humberklog

Joseph Schillinger's L'ouno Amplificato.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8otkqpmIAM

Shostakovich's Odna is well worth a listen too.


I went looking to get my hands on one of these a while back but got given the run-around.

Latchy

Brian Wilson also made good use of the Theremin on Pet Sounds / Good Vibrations .

Good Vibrations

cornbb

Nice thread! The theremin holds an important place in electronic music history, it was one of the very first electronic instruments (although not the first!). Bob Moog (maker of the famous synths) started out by making theremins too, and they're still cropping up in some great music.

Check out the Ondes Martenot, a similarly cool instrument that works on the exact same principle as the Theremin. It's a keyboard-like instrument, played with a ring attached to a sliding ribbon. Used to great effect here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chE1_g3GAWw

And here's a clip of Clara Rockmore, the first (and maybe only) virtuoso Theremin player:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U

cornbb

Hehe, I just found this

JerryHandbag

Where on earth would I get my grubby lil hands on one of these gadgets?! I have a new-found love for unconventional instruments

mike65

If you use software you can download a few soft-therimins plug-ins

Mike

cornbb

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Where on earth would I get my grubby lil hands on one of these gadgets?! I have a new-found love for unconventional instruments

Theremins and theremin kits aplenty on ebay: http://search.ebay.ie/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=theremin