How did I get to be this many years old with a keen interest in music and yet never knew about the theremin until yesterday?!
Incidentally, I learned about it because I watched The Day the Earth Stood Still on TCM last night and there was discussion of this instrument as commonly used in sci fi soundtracks in the early days.
Does everyone else already know about the theremin?
Re: Theremin
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 3:54 pm
by Burning Petard
I remember seeing it on the old pre-Beetles Ed Sullivan show. The box had two vertical rods and the musician waved his hands (yes, it was a male) in and out between the rods. Wiki notes it is older than that--dates from 1928. I was under the impression that electronic music had moved well beyond that with similar principles, but refinements that made the instrument more predictable and wider range of sounds. Now it is standardized with one vertical rod and a horizontal loop. Yes, it was the go-to device for movie sound tracks when something out-of-this-world was wanted. One of the problems was how to write the Mel Bay instruction book. Ballet dance went through a similar stage, developing a special written symbology to describe the dance choreography so it could be preserved and re-created with simple (and much more permanent) pen-and-paper technology. The musician on this instrument dances their hands and fingers.
snailgate
Re: Theremin
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:03 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
Beach Boys, Good Vibrations.
As it happens - I went to look this up to confirm what I thought - that it was Brian Wilson who played it - and it seems that the instrument he played was an Electro-theramin which has a similar sound generation process but a different operating procedure. Good Vibrations is often cited as using a theremin, but purists would disagree.
Re: Theremin
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 4:58 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Sheldon's wrong though. Star Trek did not use a theremin
Gwen-the Editec infatuated Gwen, spoke about having one and playing it. They are cool.
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:32 am
by Sue U
If you like the sound of a theremin you might also want to check out the ondes martenot, another early electronic instrument. More controlled and controllable than the theremin and you can write actual music for it rather than just sound effects. Olivier Messiaen (a truly visionary composer) wrote a number of pieces featuring it in the early part of the last century.
Gwen-the Editec infatuated Gwen, spoke about having one and playing it. They are cool.
I bet Chicken Steve has played with Gwen's theremin...
You are such an odd man. Oh and I remember it was Guin not Gwen.
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:26 am
by Bicycle Bill
I remember Guin and editec from the old Café d'Arte days, but who was Chicken Steve? -"BB"-
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:13 am
by Gob
My mate John Otway is a virtuoso on the Theremin.
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:08 pm
by BoSoxGal
Both of those YouTube short links lead nowhere on a search, so those of us with iPhone cannot see them.
PS, I wonder if this is something the phpBB help desk could solve for us? Is there an email contact we use for such issues? Is it something our administrator might look into since I am not the only user confronting the issue which has not resolved by any updates after many many months?
I remember Guin and editec from the old Café d'Arte days, but who was Chicken Steve?
Chicken Steve was at a place where a few of us from Cafe D'Artre migrated to called, "CyberSoapBox". He, Gwen and editec were friends. The place eventually crumbled and that's when Gob started Plan B to allow us to keep arguing.
I bet Chicken Steve has played with Gwen's theremin...
You are such an odd man. Oh and I remember it was Guin not Gwen.
Guin..Gwen.... whatever. I thought it was Gwenhyvar or something close to that. I brought that up because they play in a band together. Remember?
More to it than that. Am I right or am I right or am I right? @wink wink nudge nudge say no more@
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:14 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
It was Gwenhwyvar (Gwen). I sent three books by Lady Elizabeth Gorell to the children's book project she ran with editec. They were on 3.5" (un)Floppy disks and it was a lot of photocopying (did I have a scanner in 1996+?)
The others were Bitty and the Bears, and Stubbington Manor
editec unfriended me on FB more recently - took exception to a completely innocuous remark in a conversation we were having. Didn't understand why he was so vehement and nasty about it.
Re: Theremin
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 10:36 pm
by TPFKA@W
It was Gwenhwyvar (Gwen). I sent three books by Lady Elizabeth Gorell to the children's book project she ran with editec. They were on 3.5" (un)Floppy disks and it was a lot of photocopying (did I have a scanner in 1996+?)
Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I am all mixed up.
