Throughout time, musical instruments have always been played with some part of the body. Whether it is creating vibrations from the lips like brass players do, creating vibrations with different types of objects in their hands like percussionists, or even just physical bowing strings, musical instruments have this physical attribution to it. Even the littlest touch like a piano still has some sense touching something to produce sound. As musicians, we associate people to their body parts and it becomes this cliche click that goes around in the music world. Brass players are going to have big, puffy lips, strings players are going to have calluses on their fingers, or even percussionists may always be tapping something. However what if the instrument does not require any type of physical touch? What if one can produce a sound by just moving their hands? This becomes a new, inventive category and the starting point for electronic musical instruments. In the 1920s, an instrument called the theremin was invented and became a major impact in the world of electronic instruments.
History
The theremin was invented in 1920 by a Russian physicist named Lev Termen or better known as Leon Theremin. He first discovered this by researching the density of gases. He then created a device to measure the density. He put in a meter to reflect the density as well as a whistling device that would change pitch according to the variation of densities. Theremin then discovered that his hands had an effect on the pitch because of the manipulation of the electromagnetic field. He played around with it until he could play a melody with it and told his fellow co-workers. He then went on the complete this project and constructed this instrument. The final product finished with having two antennas, one being placed vertically and the other being placed horizontally, connected to two different circuits. Both these antennas have an electrical field around. By using both hands, the right hand is able to manipulate pitch and while the left hand controls the volume.
https://www.carolinaeyck.com/theremin/
Leon Theremin playing his instrument.
Theremin Music
Most people probably have heard what a theremin sounds like but they just have not realized it. There are lots of old movies classics like “The Lost Weekend”, “Spellbound”, some science-fiction movies, or even recently a movie called “First Man” that displays the theremin in all sorts of ways. Albert Glinsky, author of Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage, describes it as “this squealing, wailing sound that sometimes goes along with the violins and creates this eerie sound”. In Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”, the theremin was prevalent throughout the score of the film. In these two examples, the first one of displays the theremin in a very haunting way. The first example starts with this wavy, eerie sound fits this haunting mood of the movie. It fits the complements what is going on in the scene. The second example is the main theme to “Spellbound”. The interesting part about this one is that the theremin starts with the theme. It becomes first melodic sounding instrument one hears when listening to this movie theme. It is then contrasted by these long lines of the strings. This sound just becomes so refreshing to here after knowing what all these typical orchestral instruments sound like.
One of my favorite examples to display this great, unique sound actually comes from the soundtrack of “First Man”. “First Man” a movie that features the life of Neil Armstrong.There is a scene in the movie where he puts on music while in space and that song is called “Lunar Rhapsody”. “Lunar Rhapsody” is from a record called Music Out of the Moon and it features then famous theremin player Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman(who also played in “Spellbound). It was released in April 1947 and it became one of the best selling theremin records. “Lunar Rhapsody” features this “squealing” yet warm sound, soothing sound. The theme is so melodic and it shows off that the theremin is more than this sound effect.
In the end, what makes an instrument an instrument is the sound it can produce. It does not matter whether it is as physical like a drum set player or technical like a harp player. The theremin requires no physical touch and has been on many soundtracks or studio records that have been a profound impact on music culture. In today music world, Moog produces theremins that are well more advanced than the old ones and has become one of their best-selling instruments. It is interesting to see that it all started with project in a lab and it transformed to one of the most unique instruments today.
Sources
http://tuvalu.santafe.edu/projects/musicplusmath/index.php?id=29
“Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage” by Albert Glinsky, Bob Moog
http://www.thereminworld.com/Article/14232/what-s-a-theremin-
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-theremin-a-strange-instrument-with-a-strange-history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNoR-SR5t1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dawxnlRTgE8&t=0s&list=LLRr8TWpP-T8xAEzawPycdng&index=16
Hi Austin, I like your topic for this post! The theremin is definitely a unique instrument and I’m glad I know a little more about it now. I like how you incorporated outside media like musical examples and videos. They were very relevant to the material you were writing about and really helped support your statements about the theremin. I also really liked the organization of your post and how you discussed the history of the theremin as well as its how it is used today. One thing you could do next time is incorporate hyperlinks into your text boxes. That way, I would be able to click on your source for a certain fact or argument if I wanted to read more about it. Also, I really liked your discussion of what makes an instrument and instrument, (your question of whether or not an instrument is something you interact with physically) and I think you could discuss it even more!