What is this thing?
 

I saw this guy playing with a small streetcorner band two weeks ago at a festival. The intrument he was playing interested me, so I took a picture of him. I forgot about it until I saw the picture again last night. Does anyone know what the instrument is, or how it works? It almost looks homemade.

It makes an electric sound, much like a primitive synthesizer. He would wave each hand over the metal plates on each side and the tone would change its intensity and pitch. It was kind of like when you hook an oscilliscope up to some speakers and play with the knobs. The sound also reminded me of someone playing a saw by bending and shaking it to change the pitch.

He would move the hand on the left up and down, while waving the hand on the right back and forth over the plate. He never touched the metal plates.

http://static.flickr.com/31/56441517_30516f5ad5.jpg

and here's a close-up:

http://static.flickr.com/27/56442165_9403780573_o.jpg

How does it work?

a theramin.

A theremine?
Doh!

Damn, you guys are good. Less than 15 minutes to get an answer and a link explaining it.

Thanks.

The Cellar is the fount of all knowledge. Get used to it.

We work better than the rest of the net because we *care*

We care because we have a common investment in each other

A friend of mine is in the Austin, Texas Theramin Symphony.

One of my coolest nights at the movies was at the U of P International House. They showed the documentary on the Theramin and then the Day the Earth Stood Still.

A brief sample of theremin tunage, for those who find the textual and visual descriptions...lacking. If you know the sound, you know the sound, if you don't know, trust me, they're lacking.

By the way, I'm gonna make one. :)

Some day, I'm going to build myself a Moog kit. Not that hard, apparently. I just need to find the jack to do it with.

Saw a neat performance on a theramin in Ithaca a while back. Bela Fleck had found this woman who could really make things happen with it. btw It is a theramin that does the theme to the original Star Trek tv series.

jimmy page uses it doing dazed and confused live. WAY COOL

There are relatively few virtuoso theremin players in the world. Anyone can make space noises with it, but it takes incredible skill, nuance and patience to play one in a truly musical fashion.

Never ever seen or heard of one before, the cellar strikes again!
Everyone here rocks. :grouphug: :beer: :notworthy (as does the music sample, thanks!!)

Does using this thing normally make the musician's hand look rigid, yet rubbery like a prosthetic hand?

Looks pretty dangerous to me. :blush:

hitch up the team and go rent "The Song Remains the Same" (Led Zeppelin concert movie) at the local video store, Slang. 1/2 way through Dazed and Confused, Jimmy Page does a pretty groovy little bit with it.

I quote myself.
It is a sorry SOB that can't learn something from the Cellar on a daily basis.
I'm amazed at how many times I've heard this instrument and wasn't aware or wtf it was.....
Thanks folks.

I thought I was the only person that had ever heard of the damn thing.
I tries to explain it to a buddy of mine, and he thought I was nuts.
Well, he's right. I am insane, but the theramine does exist.
Thank you Ron Popeil for this amazing invention that no home should be without, and for only $19.95 plus shipping and handling, you can have one of your very own.
Call now. Operators are standing by...

Around here, I quickly find out how little I know. If you think you're introducing something new to the Cellar, you usually find out that another user owns 16, and has since 1943. Lots of cool ppl here.

I feel like an ABC After-School Special, here:

"To learn more about the theremin, and its inventor, Leon Theremin, please see "Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey". This documentary tells the intriguing tale of the inventor of the only musical instrument that is played without being touched, his strange and bizarre history, and his ultimate reunion with the greatest performer on his creation, the immortal Clara Rockmore. The importance and influence of this instrument is illuminated by some of the most seminal creators and performers of electronic musical instruments, as well as placing Lev Theremin's life into a fascinating historical perspective."

FYI:

Since I posted this, I noticed that the picture, which is hosted at flickr, is seeing slightly more activity than other pictures I've put up there. I figured out where the traffic was coming from when I was poking around Theremin World and saw somebody had been linking to it to discuss what the equipment is. They wanted to know about who the guy is.

So I did some looking around, and figured out the guy is Arthur Harrison, who happens to have a webpage on how to build theremins, and the band he is playing with is called The Cassettes. You can go to their webpages, if you wish, and hear some music samples.

http://www.thecassettes.com
and
http://www.myspace.com/thecassettes

Here's a kit for just $350. (via)