You're watching an old horror movie, and as the creature approaches the teenagers sitting in the car, you suddenly hear from the screen a shrill, wavy sound, like a sharp, vibrating bow ... a mysterious sound that's hard to identify. Like this.
That's the sound of a
theremin, and it's unlike any instrument you've ever heard or seen before. The theremin has no moving parts, and you don't touch it to play it ... you make sounds by moving your hands through a field of electromagnetism!
The theremin was the first electronic instrument ever made, and it was invented by a Russian-born cellist and engineer named Lev Termen in 1920. (His name was later anglicized to Leon Theremin). At the right you can see Termen playing his instrument, which was a large radio-like cabinet with two antennas protruding from it, one horizontally and another vertically.
Music is produced by waving your hands near the two antennas; the instrument contains no moving parts. The theremin produces
electric fields surrounding each of the two antennas; these fields are affected by the proximity of some other object, like a hand. Moving your hand varies the sound, as explained below.
When a hand is brought into the sensitive electric field surrounding the
vertical antenna, sounds are produced. These are amplified through a loudspeaker. As the hand approaches the antenna, the pitch of the sounds becomes higher; as the hand is with-drawn, the pitch becomes lower.
As a hand approaches the
horizontal antenna, the loudness decreases; as the hand is moved away from the antenna, the power is increased, to an intensity exceeding that of the most powerful stringed instrument.
No special knowledge is needed to play it ... anyone who can hum or whistle a tune can play the theremin. But it requires practice to play well.
The theremin does not sound like any other single instrument. Vibrato, glissando and other musical effects are accomplished easily, and it can produce not merely quarter tones, but infinitesimal divisions of tone. Its range is about three octaves.
When playing low tones, it can be made to sound like a bassoon or string bass. In the mid-range of frequencies, it is very similar in sound to a cello; at higher ranges it imitates the violin and flute. At its highest frequencies, the theremin sounds very much like a soprano human voice.
By rapidly changing the tones being played, the resulting combinations of sounds can only be described as 'other-worldly' ... there is nothing else like it.
The inventor Termen produced other unusual instruments as well, including the terpsitone, the rhythmicon, an electronic cello, an electronic harmonium, and even an eye-controlled theremin. He also taught other people to play the theremin; one of his first pupils, Clara Rockmore, became 'the prime theremin
virtuoso of the twentieth century'.
Inside the instrument, besides the electric field generator, there is a tone generator and an amplifier. The first theremins contained vacuum tubes to amplify the sounds, but most modern ones are use transistors.
Robert Moog, a pioneer designer and manufacturer of commercial music synthesizers, began his career by building and selling versions of the theremin in the 1960s. In the last decade, the instrument has become very popular.
But the theremin was a neglected instrument during the first half of the last century. Its unusual sound was made use of mostly by movie producers, who used it in such movies as 'Lost Weekend', 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', 'The Thing', and 'Alice in Wonderland'. By the mid 1960's, however, the music industry had discovered the instrument, and since then has been featured in the music of various artists, including 'Good Vibrations' by the Beach Boys, 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin, and more recently, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pere Ubu, Phish, and The Lothars.
Visit the website of
Caroline Eyck, who performs classical music on the theremin.
In the past decade, new advances in the field of electronic music have seen the development of synthesizers, drum machines and samplers ... but Termen's theremin was the original electronic instrument, and its sound remains unique.
According to Jason Barile, of the Center for Intelligent Systems (CIS), at Vanderbilt School of Engineering,
"When you play a theremin, you essentially become part of the circuit. The simplicity of the design is the most interesting technical aspect of the instrument... there are no mechanical or moving parts involved; it’s just pure electricity."
Are you intrigued? Before you rush out and buy yourself a theremin, why not try one, right here on your computer? We found a unique little program that allows you to actually play a theremin and hear what it sounds like!
When you run the program, you'll see a couple of introductory screens, and then you can start it up using the arrow (0).
The theremin is turned on using the switch labelled 'weirdness' (1).
All the other buttons (3, 4, 6) just add ordinary music and rhythm, as background.
The screen shows Termen playing a theremin; you can animate his arms using a button (2), and see a graphic display of the frequencies being generated (5).
Play the theremin, changing the tone and volume, by moving your mouse pointer up and down or left and right, across the
full width of your monitor. Turn your volume way up, and you will be amazed at the sounds you can make!
Get the
theremin program (705k, zipped)
