Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Theremin

Episode Date: February 14, 2021

You are probably familiar with the four basic types of musical instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. However, is it possible to have an instrument that doesn’t fit into one of these families? In the early 20th century, Russian inventor Leon Theremin came up with an instrument that doesn’t fit into any family and doesn’t sound or play like any other. Learn more about the theremin, the world’s first electronic instrument, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're probably familiar with the four basic types of musical instruments, strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. However, is it possible to have an instrument that doesn't fit into any one of those families? In the early 20th century, Russian inventor Leon Therriman came up with an instrument that doesn't fit into any musical family and doesn't sound or play like any other instrument. Learn about the Theraman, the world's first electronic instrument on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is brought to you by Skillshare. I briefly tried playing an instrument when I was in grade school. I had a trumpet, and I was horrible, like really, really bad. I wonder how good I could have become, however, if I had Skillshare. Skillshare has hundreds of online courses to teach you music, everything from music theory to specific lessons and instruments like piano, saxophone, drums, and even the trumpet. With Skillshare premium membership, you can have unlimited access to everything for as low as 825 per month.

Go to everything-dash-everywhere.com slash Skillshare to get a free two-week truble. of Skillshare premium membership, or just click on the link in the show notes. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there is no other instrument that is even remotely like the theremin. The theremin is an electrical instrument, but it isn't like an electric guitar or a keyboard synthesizer, which were both invented later. The instrument consists of two antennas. One is vertical and one is horizontal. One hand moves in and out from the vertical antenna to control pitch, the other hand moves up and down from the horizontal antenna to control volume. That sounds really simple, but many people consider the

pheromond to be the hardest musical instrument in the world to master. The primary difficulty is that you don't touch anything. Your hands float in mid-air and you don't have keys, valves, or strings that limit where you can put your fingers to guide what you're playing. The sound of a pheromon can only be described as unique. Here is a short clip of German Theraman soloist Carolina Eck, performing the scales. The development of the Theraman came about from Soviet research into proximity sensors. They were trying to develop ways to sense objects using electromagnetic waves without physical contact.

One of the researchers was named Lev Sergeiovich Terman, or, as he is known in the West, Leon Therriman. Theraman had developed what was a very rudimentary motion detector. When something was placed in the proximity of an antenna, it would change an electrical signal. His boss told him to find other uses for the tool, so he added circuitry to make an audio tone. After doing that, he realized that the pitch of the sound would change based on how close he was to the antenna. Having learned the cello at a young age, he played around with it to see if he could make different notes to play something. In October 1920, he called in his colleagues and some students

to demonstrate his invention, which was originally dubbed the etherphone and later the Therman Vox. It was the world's first electronic instrument. The first song ever played in the Theraman in that first demonstration was The Swan by Camille Sanss. The Swan has been compared for Theraman players as to what Stairwit Heaven is for guitar players. It's one of the first things that everyone learns. He eventually added a second intent to control volume, and in November 1920 he gave his first public performance. The new instrument was a hit with the Soviet hierarchy. Theramen even gave a demonstration to Lenin, who loved it. He was sent out on a lengthy tour to promote the new instrument

and to secure patents in major capitalist countries. The Soviets saw this as a way to make money off of the capitalists. At the end of 1927, he found his way to New York. There he was granted a patent for the instrument, performed with the New York Philharmonic, granted manufacturing rights to RCA, and renamed the device the Theraman. Theraman decided to stay in the United States,

where he started a laboratory, and began working on perfecting the theremin and creating other electronic musical instruments. It was in New York that he met another Soviet exile, Clara Rockmore. She was a violin prodigy who had developed tendonitis in her elbow, which caused her to give up the violin. However, when she met theremin, she took to the instrument immediately and became the first major theremin virtuoso. Here is a short clip of her playing the Swan. The 1930s were the golden age for the theremin. There were concerts at venues like Carnegie Hall that were all electronic instruments.

Composers were writing music expressly for the Theraman. Clara Rockmore went on a nationwide tour performing the Theraman in concert halls. Theraman himself worked with the short-lived American Negro Ballet Company, where he met and married the prima ballerina Levina Williams. As she was black, it caused an uproar in social circles in New York, but the couple remained together. That was until 1938, when Theraman simply disappeared. He had made a call to his wife to indicate that some Russian men had broken into their part,

and then wasn't heard from again for 30 years. He wound up back in Russia, probably abducted by NKVD agents, put on a ship, and ended up working in Soviet prison camps. He did return to America just before his death in 1993. After World War II, the popularity of the theremin dropped dramatically. Its primary use was as sound effects for 1950s science fiction movies. If you've heard a theremin, you've probably heard it in this context, and you might not have even known that it was an actual musical instrument. Here's a very short clip of a 1950s sci-fi use of the pheromin. In the 1950s, a young electrician named Robert Mug began building pheromans in high school

and eventually sold kits for people to make at home. If his name sounds familiar, it's because Robert Mug was the inventor of the Mug Syntheser, the world's first electronic sensitizer keyboard. The Mug Corporation is still the world's premier producer of theremin's today. In the 1960s, there was a bit of a rediscovery of the pheromond. The Beach Boys used a similar instrument called an electro-theramine on their song Good Vibrations. Led Zeppelin used a theremin on the song's Whole Lot of Love and No Quarter. Jimmy Page would often play a theremin on stage during concerts.

In 1993, a documentary titled Theramine, An Electronic Odyssey, resulted in a brief resurgence in the popularity of the instrument. Today, there's a very small but passionate Theramen community. You can easily find music on YouTube from Theramen instructors and soloists. There are some works which, while not written for theraman, lend themselves exceptionally well, in particular works that were originally written for female voice. Songs such as The Theme to Once Upon a Time in the West, the Divas Dance from the Movie The Fifth Element, or The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd had lent themselves to excellent interpretations on the

theremin. There are a few professional theremin players in the world who will occasionally work with symphony orchestras to showcase the instrument. If you're interested in the theremin, you can buy a thirderment. simple build-your-own kit for as little as $30. A higher-quality, more elaborate Mug-Clarovox the hermine will run you about $1,500. So if you do choose to pick up the theremin,

you'll be playing one of the most unique and one of the most difficult instruments in the world. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Mackala. The associate producer is Thor Thompson. Remember to leave a five-star review to get your review read on the show. They can be left at Apple Podcasts, Podcast, or wherever you listen to the show. Also, you can help support the show over at patreon.com.

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