Theremin
Jeremy York
I recently picked up the Pixies latest effort, "Bossanova",
and noticed that they had one Robert Brunner playing the
Theremin, of all things, on two tracks.
The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments,
invented in the 20's by the Russian scientist Leon Theremin.
It has a single voice that can range over many octaves, and
the pitch is controlled by the distance from a performer's hand
to an antennae on the instrument. So, it does glissando (sweeping
hand motion) and vibrato (wiggling the hand) very easily, but not
much else.
As far as I knew, the instrument had vanished into oblivion
long ago, and I was a bit puzzled to find it on this Pixies
album. The Theremin has a really corny sound. It's used
for corny sounding fills in the song "Velouria", and plays
a much more subdued role in "Is She Weird".
Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
About the cd, I've never really "gotten" the Pixies, and
I found this one a bit dull (with the exception of a couple
of songs, like "Rock Music"). I felt the same way about their
last release -- friends were raving about it, and I like
grungy off-the-wall stuff, but except for the song "I Bleed",
I found the packaging much more interesting than the album.
--
"People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes"
(Abigail van Buren)
Just say NO to war!
jer...@lisbon.stat.washington.edu
Richard Shapiro
>Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
I think the most prominent use of the Theremin in pop music must be in
the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". It was also used pretty commonly for
"spacy" soundtrack music in low-budget sf movies in the 50s.
Tim Klein
In article <16...@milton.u.washington.edu>,
jer...@milton.u.washington.edu (Jeremy York) writes:
|> The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments,
|> invented in the 20's by the Russian scientist Leon Theremin.
|> It has a single voice that can range over many octaves, and
|> the pitch is controlled by the distance from a performer's hand
|> to an antennae on the instrument. So, it does glissando (sweeping
|> hand motion) and vibrato (wiggling the hand) very easily, but not
|> much else.
|>
|> As far as I knew, the instrument had vanished into oblivion
|> long ago, and I was a bit puzzled to find it on this Pixies
|> album. The Theremin has a really corny sound. It's used
|> for corny sounding fills in the song "Velouria", and plays
|> a much more subdued role in "Is She Weird".
|>
|> Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
Is that a Theremin that Jimmy Page is using in "The Song Remains the
Same" movie?
Did Edgar Winter use one to get the "spaceship" sound at the climax
of his "Frankenstein" instrumental?
Does anyone still make these?
===========================================================================
Timothy Klein I wish TV had a knob so you could turn up
ti...@meaddata.com the intelligence. The one marked Brightness
...!uunet!meaddata!timk doesn't work. -- Gallagher
Ralph Brandi
>Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
Wasn't Lothar and the Hand People based around a Theramin?
NPR's "New Sounds" had a show a few months ago about unusual
instruments, and the Theramin was featured prominently.
--
Ralph Brandi ra...@mtunq.att.com att!mtunq!ralph
Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged
R o d Johnson
>In article <16...@milton.u.washington.edu> jer...@lisbon.stat.washington.edu writes:
>>Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
>Wasn't Lothar and the Hand People based around a Theramin?
Yep. In fact, Lothar *was* the theremin. We could put together a
supergroup of instruments with names, I bet. Let's see, there's
Lothar, Echo, Lucille. . .
--
Rod Johnson * rjoh...@vela.acs.oakland.edu * (313) 650 2315
"Life has a throat" --Peter Blegvad
Scott A Helmke
>
>In article <16...@milton.u.washington.edu>,
>jer...@milton.u.washington.edu (Jeremy York) writes:
>|> The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments,
>|> invented in the 20's by the Russian scientist Leon Theremin.
>|> It has a single voice that can range over many octaves, and
>|> the pitch is controlled by the distance from a performer's hand
>|> to an antennae on the instrument. So, it does glissando (sweeping
>|> hand motion) and vibrato (wiggling the hand) very easily, but not
>|> much else.
I have used one, or at least played with it...
I don't know if they *still* make them, I know they were in the
70's, since my high school electronic music lab had one. They can
be built very small, ours was a 4" box with antenna clips on the side.
One day, one of the guys (real loose class, mind you) plugged it into
this HeathKit guitar amp that was lying around, turned up the reverb,
tremelo, and volume, and played it with the door open. I think he
had a screwdriver as the antenna. A few minutes later, somebody came
down from the offices (3 halls and several hundred yards away) to
complain about the noise! Sounded like puppy torturing.
You might check with the companies that make modular synths if you
want to find one now. MAybe Serge Modular still has something.
Scott
--
"People keep waitin' on a change, they ain't get sense enough to come
in out of the rain" --Parliament
Scott Helmke hel...@cps.msu.edu
SYS...@gecrdvm1.crd.ge.com
>
>
>The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments,
>invented in the 20's by the Russian scientist Leon Theremin.
>
>long ago, and I was a bit puzzled to find it on this Pixies
>album. The Theremin has a really corny sound. It's used
>for corny sounding fills in the song "Velouria", and plays
>a much more subdued role in "Is She Weird".
>
Interesting note, Robert Moog began his synthesizer career selling
do-it-yourself Theremin kits in the early 60's. This led to his
thoughts and construction of modular synthesizers.
There is a cd of classical Theremin compositions as performed by the
oldest Theremin player, Clara Rockbourne (hope I spelled/remembered
that correctly... my cd is at home). It gets a bit wearying after
awhile, but it is an interesting sound, like a purely pitched woman
wordlessly singing with continuous vibrato.
As for other netter's questions about the availability of Theremins:
if anyone finds a company selling completed or kit Theremins, please
let me know! I'm an electronic musician, and have long wished to
pick up one of these odd instruments.
Phil Z
Edward Suranyi
>There is a cd of classical Theremin compositions as performed by the
>oldest Theremin player, Clara Rockbourne (hope I spelled/remembered
>that correctly... my cd is at home).
Her name is (or was, she might be dead now for all I know) is
Clara Rockmore. I have a short film clip on video of her playing
the Theremin.
Ed Suranyi | "I couldn't hope to do it anywhere near as well
e...@das.llnl.gov | as Kate Bush because she is a Goddess."
(415) 447-3405 | -- Sinead O'Connor
laura.l.la gassa
>I found this one a bit dull (with the exception of a couple
>of songs, like "Rock Music"). I felt the same way about their
>last release -- friends were raving about it, and I like
>grungy off-the-wall stuff, but except for the song "I Bleed",
>I found the packaging much more interesting than the album.
About the Pixies: I have 4 things by them, "Surfer Rosa" EP, "Come on Pilgrim"
EP, _Doolittle_, and _Bossanova_.
The only two I really like are the EPs. So if you haven't "gotten" the
Pixies, you might want to deep-six the newer stuff and go straight for
the crazed southwestern-tinged grunge of "Surfer Rosa" and "Come on Pilgrim."
_Bossanova_ was disappointing, truly.
Laura
Ken Warkentyne
> About the Pixies: I have 4 things by them, "Surfer Rosa" EP, "Come on Pilgrim"
> EP, _Doolittle_, and _Bossanova_.
Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim have been released together on a single CD.
An excellent buy.
Haven't heard Bossanova but I like Doolittle quite a lot. On a recent
news report from the Gulf they showed a British RSM screaming orders at
his troops in that high pitched, half strangled fashion that results when
the vocal cords just can't take the pressure. Kind of reminded me of the
song "Tame" from Doolittle.
Curiously, The Pixies remind me of a poppier and more violent version of
an obscure English group called The Way Out who had a disc or two released
by Recommended Records. Any hidden influences here?
--
Ken Warkentyne - war...@ltisun.epfl.ch |"Listen to it, or listen to something
Laboratoire de Teleinformatique, | else, tell us something interesting,
EPFL, Suisse. | anything, just no more drivel." RJCaley
Ian G Batten
jimmy page bores the audience rigid with a theremin during some tedious
excess of seventies cock-rock on the film/live-album/tee-shirt ``the
song remains the same''. was there ever a film more aptly titled? the
song, indeed, remains the same for about twenty minutes at a stretch.
ian
Michael Graham
I wholeheartedly disagree! Doolittle and Bossanova are incredible albums. My
fave of all their stuff is definetily Bossanova - every song is great -
except for one which is only "good".
mike
--
Michael Graham | Baldrick, you wouldn't know a subtle plan if it
gra...@ug.cs.dal.ca | painted itself purple and danced naked on top of
mgr...@ac.dal.ca | a piano singing 'Subtle Plans are Here Again'!
- Black Adder.
John Mc Donagh(Goth)
I must agree completely on this one!!!!!
Bossanova was a real let down!!
It had 3 good songs (In my humble opinion) :
Cecilia Ann
Rock Music
Allison
Bossanova however as they claimed was their tribute not to surfmusic but
to Space,as they said themselves it had a futuristic feel to it.
It did not live up to expectation after all there previous albums
,though I must admit I obviously found Doolittle to be a little to be a
very good album ,Though not as good as their previous 2!Debaser in my
opinion is one of the best songs ever written(after LOVE WILL TEAR US
APART by Joy Division of course!)
I believe that Surfer Rosa was in fact an LP and not an EP ,well it was
sold as such!!
You should not worry too much however as in April or June the next
Pixies album is expected to be released(in Britain anyhow)and the band
claim that this will betheir heaviest album yet(Their Metal album I
heard it described as!!!)So all is not lost...
Yours in surf music.
John Mc Donagh,
LG
John Howells
<In article <1991Feb18.1...@cbnewsj.att.com> ra...@cbnewsj.att.com (Ralph Brandi) writes:
<>In article <16...@milton.u.washington.edu> jer...@lisbon.stat.washington.edu writes:
<>>Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
<>Wasn't Lothar and the Hand People based around a Theramin?
<Yep. In fact, Lothar *was* the theremin. We could put together a
<supergroup of instruments with names, I bet. Let's see, there's
<Lothar, Echo, Lucille. . .
Really? I thought it was a Moog Synth - a full Moog not the later
MiniMoog.
Here's another famous Theramin song: "Electricity" by Capt. Beefheart.
--
John Howells
how...@earth.arc.nasa.gov
how...@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov
Dave Walker
>
>>Wasn't Lothar and the Hand People based around a Theramin?
>
>Yep. In fact, Lothar *was* the theremin. We could put together a
>supergroup of instruments with names, I bet. Let's see, there's
>Lothar, Echo, Lucille. . .
>
>--
> Rod Johnson * rjoh...@vela.acs.oakland.edu * (313) 650 2315
>
> "Life has a throat" --Peter Blegvad
| Dave Walker, Detroit Art Services (DAS) |
| marm...@ub.cc.umich.edu "I don't read, I just guess" |
| marm...@mondo.engin.umich.edu -Happy Mondays, "Wrote For Luck" |
seth alan tisue
And Echo and the Bunnymen's drum machine (whose tenure with the band was
short), "Echo"...
--
---- Seth Tisue USMail: c/o Plaster Cramp Press
---- (ti...@midway.uchicago.edu) P.O. Box 5975
"Please to be restful. It is only a few Chicago IL 60680
crazies who have from the crazy place outbroken." --------------
Rya...@cc.curtin.edu.au
Great stuff, wish I could get hold of the long version :-)
>
> ian
Bob
M...@mitvma.mit.edu
> Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
A record came out late last year by Clara Rockmore, consisting of theremin
renditions of classical themes, with piano accompaniment. (Can't remember
title or label offhand; maybe Schwann will deign to list in the artist index.)
It's rather too sweet, though I'm undecided whether that's because of the
treacly sound of the instrument, or because the repertoire is mostly late
Romantic period schmaltz. (One Stravinsky theme... )
R o d Johnson
>>Don't forget Big Black's drum machine, "Roland".
>
>And Echo and the Bunnymen's drum machine (whose tenure with the band was
>short), "Echo"...
As I said in the original message, which the above is responding to.
BennettMichaelLouis McElwee
>>Don't forget Big Black's drum machine, "Roland".
>And Echo and the Bunnymen's drum machine (whose tenure with the band was
>short), "Echo"...
And the Sisters of Mercy's drum machine, Doktor Avalanche.
==============================================================================
| Bem | "Sing hey, now, hey now, now" -- SOM |
==============================================================================
Larry Spence
>In article <91049.170...@GECRDVM1.BITNET> SYS...@gecrdvm1.crd.ge.com writes:
>>There is a cd of classical Theremin compositions as performed by the
>>oldest Theremin player, Clara Rockbourne (hope I spelled/remembered
>>that correctly... my cd is at home).
>
>Her name is (or was, she might be dead now for all I know) is
>Clara Rockmore.
The CD is on Delos, which might explain the fact that the disc is usually
found in the "Classical" section of stores. It comes with a fairly detailed
booklet that gives some historical info about the Theremin and Ms. Rockmore.
I have to admit to laughing out loud when I saw what she looked like, with
a name like "Rockmore." No, she is _not_ the bimbo in the "Cherry Pie"
video... %)
--
Larry Spence
la...@csccat.cs.com
...{uunet,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,decwrl}!csccat!larry
Philip DiDio
>In article <1991Feb18....@cbnewsl.att.com> lau...@cbnewsl.att.com (laura.l.la gassa) wrote:
>Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim have been released together on a single CD.
>An excellent buy.
I agree.
>Haven't Heard Bossanova but I like Doolittle quite a lot. On a recent
>news report from the Gulf they showed a British RSM screaming orders at
>his troops in that high pitched, half strangled fashion that results when
>the vocal cords just can't take the pressure. Kind of reminded me of the
>song "Tame" from Doolittle.
>
That's "Fame", not "Tame".
Stephen Landamore
>
>> Kind of reminded me of the
>>song "Tame" from Doolittle.
>>
>That's "Fame", not "Tame".
Nope, s'definately 'Tame'
Steve
John Fereira
>and noticed that they had one Robert Brunner playing the
>Theremin, of all things, on two tracks.
>
>
places. A phantom net.band is being organized made up of people that play
an instrument, but really badly. I'm the jews harp player.
The Theremin was also credited on an early Beach Boys album.
--
John Fereira | jo...@lynx.com |
Lynx Real-Time systems | or | This article contains subliminal
Trendy Los Gatos, Ca. | uunet!lynx!john | messages if played backwards.
Dustin Emhart
>The Theremin was also credited on an early Beach Boys album.
The album with "Good Vibrations," right? I remember seeing a video (performance
clip, of course) of the song once, and I wondered what that instrument was.
--
Dustin Emhart
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!vaps0de
Internet: vap...@prism.gatech.edu
Dr. Luther's Assistant
Let's not forget the Bonzo Dog Band's "Noises for the Leg", featuring
Roger Ruskin Spear on theremin leg. (I have no idea what this actually
was, but knowing Spear's fondness for old mannequins, I'd guess it's
a theremin with the antenna built into a dummy's leg. Ah, it must
have been truly wonderful to see the Bonzos in concert...)
"NO! NOT THE LEG!"
-- Stewart
--
"Growth for the sake of growth
is the ideology of the cancer cell."
-- Edward Abbey
/* uunet!sco!stewarte -or- stew...@sco.COM -or- Stewart Evans */
Dr. Luther's Assistant
Even net.pundits were baffled when r...@caen.engin.umich.edu (R o d Johnson) wrote:
>In article <1991Feb20.0...@midway.uchicago.edu> ti...@quads.uchicago.edu (seth alan tisue) writes:
>>>Don't forget Big Black's drum machine, "Roland".
>>
>>And Echo and the Bunnymen's drum machine (whose tenure with the band was
>>short), "Echo"...
>
>As I said in the original message, which the above is responding to.
Yeah, but did you know that Lothar was a theremin?
-- Stewart(howquicklytheyforget)E
R o d Johnson
Lothar of Lothar and the Hand People was a theremin.]
Because (a) I saw them on some TV show; (b) when my brother was in
about fifth grade he got a book from one of those school book clubs
about all the new kinda-now, kinda-wow pop groups of the day (like,
the Association, the Monkees, the Rolling Stones. . . and Lothar and
the Hand People). There was a whole bio of L&HP including an
explanation of what a theremin was; (c) in the old days you could
periodically find theremin plans in nerd-magazines like Popular
Electronics (?) and they invariably cited L&HP as an example of a band
that used the theremin; (d) I think any reference work that lists L&HP
will tell you so; (e) my sister is a kazoo, and she went out with
Lothar for a while. My mom was crushed--she kept saying "*why*
couldn't she find a nice violin, even a viola?!"
Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
>>
>>I recently picked up the Pixies latest effort, "Bossanova",
>>and noticed that they had one Robert Brunner playing the
>>Theremin, of all things, on two tracks.
>>
>>Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
Hi John & Jeremy! Add Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin. On their new album
there's even a song called "Mr Theremin"
I have a CD by a woman named Clara Rockmore, who is considered the
finest Theremin player. She was featured once on Night Music.
Vickie
Michael Graham
rites:
>NO NO NO!!! Look on the ALBUM, for God's sake. The
>Pixies song in question is DEFINATELY called
>'Tame.' Maybe there should've been smileys after
>that 'correction'?
>And for all the people who are disappointed with
>Bossanova, (which is understandable, because it's
>pretty bad) get POD by the Breeders. It's Kim
>Deal's band (along with some Throwing Muses) and it
>has a lot of the things that made the old Pixies
>great. I just pretend that POD is the Pixies fourth
>album and then I can forget that Bossanova ever
>existed. Jeez, what a disappointment.
>.
What's wrong with it? I think that the band progressed through their albums
and Bossanova is the culmination - it is INCREDIBLE.
Great songs: Rock Music, Is She Wierd, Dig For Fire, ... actually all,
except for the one after ^^^^^^^^^^^ IMO!
Bossanova was my 1st Pixies album. And is definetely BY FAR my favorite.
Why don't people like it?...Velouria? come on - that song is great - Allison?
The old stuff is ok, but this is their best.
mike
John Sampson
From Crackity Jones to Silver, DOOLITTLE does the most for me. As a fairly
new Pixies fan I am curious though: exactly what makes the "old Pixies"
great?
Acronym Oversight Committee Chair
> Bossanova was my 1st Pixies album. And is definetely BY FAR my favorite.
> Why don't people like it?...Velouria? come on - that song is great - Allison?
> The old stuff is ok, but this is their best.
>
> mike
don't get me wrong -- i think everyone should love the pixies -- but if
you really prefer the rather tame work on _bossanova_ to the band's earlier
stuff, something's wrong.
_surfer rosa_ (especially the cd release with the added benefit of the _come
on pilgrim_ ep) is a masterpiece. /that/ is the pixies; although "allison"
and "velouria" are great songs, classics like "bone machine" and "break my
body" are what made the pixies what they are.
dave.
Charly Rhoades
> In article <16...@milton.u.washington.edu> jer...@lisbon.stat.washington.edu writes:
> >
> >I recently picked up the Pixies latest effort, "Bossanova",
> >and noticed that they had one Robert Brunner playing the
> >Theremin, of all things, on two tracks.
> >
> >Other recent or not-so-recent Theremin sightings in netland?
> >
> Actually, the theremin is being discussed right now in soc.singles of all
> places. A phantom net.band is being organized made up of people that play
> an instrument, but really badly. I'm the jews harp player.
>
> The Theremin was also credited on an early Beach Boys album.
>
> --
> John Fereira | jo...@lynx.com |
One of my first Compact Disc purchases was a recording of the great
Clara Rockmore who was tutored by Dr. Theremin himself, and was toured
thorughout the world by Dr. Theremin (accompanied by her sister on the
piano) as an example of the instrument's use. This tour (many decades
ago...perhaps in the 30s) was evidently *very* popular, and the Theremin
was for a while being considered by ``serious'' composers as a new
tool for orchestral and ensemble work.
Rockmore achieved this mastery over the Theremin with a superhuman
control of her body (since, as you know, the Theremin is ``played''
by altering the physical proximity of your body to the instrument). The
photos accompanying the CD show her in an eerie rigid position.
This is all from memory...I can bring in the CD and provide more (and
I'm sure more accurate) information if any interest is shown.
BTW, the music is quite good, and it *doesn't* always sound like the
soundtrack to an episode of _Outer_Limits_.....
ALSO> Anyone who has seen the Led Zeppelin ``concert'' movie (not
me of course!!) _The_Song_Remains_the_Same_ can tell you that the
Theremin (played by Page) is featured in the hallucinatory bridge
near the end of "Whole Lotta Love."
--
Charly Rhoades on another Adventure in Nimiety
{amdahl|pyramid}!altos!crhoades The road of excess leads
crho...@eddie.Altos.COM to the path of wisdom - Blake