Friday, March 7, 2008

O Theremin, My Theremin

INSERT VIDEO HERE.

Okay, I tried to embed this YouTube video a couple times and have lost my post both times, so I'm going to do this the old fashioned way. Please go here to view it.

Sorry for not posting last night. I finally managed to start a project that I'd been meaning to take care of for several weeks (it has an actual deadline coming up), and by the time I finished it was after 2am, so I chucked it in. For reasons that will become clear in the next few weeks (hopefully), I spent part of my evening yesterday grilling the Husband about transistors, capacitors and 16- and 32- bit chips (you may recall that H. is an engineer). H was very excited that I was asking all of these questions. He was just like a little kid who'd just been asked to show off the features of the new model airplane he'd received for Christmas - it was really cute. In fact, H. was so excited that he made me sit down and watch a bunch of theremin videos on YouTube last night. Just for the record, there are surprisingly a lot of videos of people playing the theremin on YouTube.

Do you know what a theremin is? For the uninitiated, it's notable for being an instrument you play without touching anything. Yep, it's true. Oh, and while you may think you don't know what it is, chances are, you've probably heard one. In the theme song for the original "Star Trek" series, that unearthly humming is made by a theremin. Remember that? Anyway, the link above will take you to a video of one of the more bearable theremin pieces I watched last night. It is rather interesting to watch someone play the instrument. I just don't find the sound that it makes particularly soothing!

Have a great day everyone. I'll be back tonight.

3 comments:

Óscar said...

I am sorry to say that the sound at the opening titles at Star Trek (T.O.S.) is not a theremin but a female singer imitating its sound.

Otherwise, there are true theremins at "The day the earth stood still", "The Machinist", Hitchcock's "Spellbound", and so on

A theremin player named Oscar ;)

Anonymous said...

Hey Melissa, this is my desperate attempt to contact you since I STILL can't send e-mail! I need help! I was filling a PMC project wtih resin the other day and it turned out terrible, do you know if there is a way to remove resin from PMC? Send me an e-mail if you know! Thanks.

Sincerely,
Desperate not to chuck my PMC
AKA Jenn Kelly

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Oscar,

How in the world did you find me?? Thanks for your good info on the theremin. (I am a little disappointed to learn that it's actually a human voice in the "Star Trek" theme song, though.) I've issued a correction in my blog entry for Saturday. I will have to watch "Spellbound" again (love that film) to see if I can hear the theremin...

Hey Jenn,

Sorry to hear of your troubles... I'll send you an email shortly.