Good Vibrations

For our 23rd October meeting David Crockford presented the story of the Theremin and similar electronic instruments such as the Ondes Martenot which led to the development of the synthesiser. The Theremin was invented in 1919 by Russian emigree Lev Sergeyovich Termen (who changed his name to Leon Theremin in the West), a trained cellist. Theremin wanted an instrument that didn't need the musician to actually touch it and so invented an electronic sound generator that worked through the proximity of the musician's hands. A number of classical pieces have been written for the Theremin, such as Schillinger's 'First Aerophonic Suite' and Shostakovich's film scores 'Odna' and 'Girlfriend'. However, contrary to popular wisdom the Theremin was not used on the original Dr Who TV theme music (tape loops) nor on the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations' (a similar instrument called the Electro-Theremin).

The Theremin led to the invention of instruments such as the Ondes Martenot, used by Messiaen in the Turangalila Symphony, and ultimately to the invention of the synthesiser by Robert Moog.

In a real multimedia presentation David illustrated his talk with music and video examples of Theremin performances and also brought one along to demonstrate the techniques used in playing the instrument. There was even an opportunity for the audience to try the Theremin which was enthusiastically received.