The Theremin

Otherworldly ... and very cool. (The Bus 5.45)

Welcome aboard The Bus!

The Stop

The theremin is an electronic musical instrument invented in 1920 by the Russian physicist Léon Theremin. The instrument consists of a box containing two radio tubes, each producing oscillations at two sound-wave frequencies above the range of human hearing. When combined, they produce a lower, audible frequency ‘equal to the difference in their rates of vibration’ and when the player moves a hand or baton towards or away from an antenna at the right rear of the box, the pitch changes and alters one of the audible frequencies. The result is that the player is able to filter out the ‘harmonics, or component tones, of the sound’ and produce ‘several tone colours over a range of six octaves.’¹

Moog Etherwave Theremin/Public Domain

Born in 1896 in St Petersburg, Lev Sergeyevich Termen – known later as Léon Theremin – was a ‘precocious’ child engineer, ‘dismantling and reassembling watches and other mechanical items by the age of seven and constructing an astronomical observatory by 15.’ In 1920, while investigating how the ‘new-fangled technology of radio waves’ might be used to measure gas properties, he invented a machine that emitted a ‘strange warbling tone’ he found he could shape by ‘moving his hands around the equipment.’ A trained cellist, Theremin realised he had created an ‘entirely new instrument.’

No other instrument ‘requires such control of the body by a performer’ to successfully play. With no keyboard or fret board to reference any notes, a theremin player has to have ‘fine spatial perception’ along with a ‘brilliant ear’ to hit specific notes. Physical and emotional expression are essential, and a player must be able to combine ‘relaxed body movements with intense mental focus.’ Playing the instrument is so individual that performers are often compared to actors on stage playing complex characters.

According to Charlie Draper, a leading British theremin player, a notable characteristic of theremin players is that each brings to the instrument ‘their own distinctive personality … and these differences can be quite fundamental, almost like a sonic signature.’ Theremin players are in fact so distinctive that it is ‘possible to identify individual players based purely on features like phrasing and vibrato.’ This individuality carries over into how scores are written for the theremin – some artists develop graphics similar to traditional musical notation, while others have created scores that ‘look more like science diagrams or abstract art.’

With its otherworldly sounds and unusual tone colours, the theremin is often associated with eerie situations. It has been used in film soundtracks such as Spellbound, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Ten Commandments, numerous science fiction films, and in television theme songs such as the British ITV drama Midsomer Murders. In addition, it is also a frequent component of avant-garde 30^th and 21^st century classical music and has been used in numerous rock and popular music recordings – including the ones in today’s Sounds playlist.

For a short video explainer about the theremin, see: The Theremin - A Short Introduction.

The Detour

Today’s Detour is to Spontaneous Synchronization, a very short (1:09) video from the UCLA Physics lab demonstrating ‘emergent patterns.’ In this case, five metronomes are placed on a flexible platform, and each is set to its own beat. After a short time, the beats all begin matching.

Spontaneous Synchronization

The Recommendation

Today’s Recommendation is a book I am currently reading - Ed Yong’s An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (2022). It’s an outstanding attempt to meet a remarkably challenging task: to take the reader beyond the confines of our own senses and help us understand how the world is perceived by other animals. What I've learned about dogs and their use of smell to ‘see’ the world in ways we cannot possibly is worth the price of admission alone. Highly recommended (and I’ve not even finished it yet)!

From the back: The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of this world.

An Immense World coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, welcoming us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals. In doing so, it shows us that to understand our world we don’t need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes.

The Sounds

Today’s playlist is composed of five tracks, all of which feature - to a greater or lesser degree - the theremin: ‘Velouria’ (Pixies, 1990), ‘Whole Lotta Love’ (Led Zeppelin, 1969), ‘Incense’ (Erykah Badu, 2010), ‘Cup of Coffee’ (Garbage, 2001) and ‘I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times’ (The Beach Boys, 1966). Enjoy!

The Thought

Today’s Thought is from the inventor of the theremin - Léon Theremin:

‘There was one man who was interested in the colour of music, the connection between light and music, and that was Einstein.’

If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:

And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!

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Until the next Stop …

1. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a theremin played live until a couple of weeks ago at my wife’s school’s staff and family start-of-the-year cookout. The event is always a great party, and this year was no exception - with a local band - Filthy Llama - playing original covers of a wide range of songs from every genre. One of these was an excellent cover of The Osmonds’s 1972 song ‘Crazy Horses’ (I know, I know - but it was great) on which the theremin was played. Though the original track didn’t use a theremin (the sounds came from a YC-30 Yamaha organ with a portamento slide), I thought Filthy Llama’s use inspired, and so … it became a Stop. I hope it’s interesting enough for you to delve a bit deeper. Sources for today’s Stop include Theremin (Britannica), Theremin (Wikipedia) and Strangest Instrument Ever Invented (BBC).