Clara Rockmore, the greatest virtuouso of the Theremin, was an advocate for the instrument being taken seriously. She was born in Lithuania in 1911, and was admitted to the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg at age five-- still the youngest person ever admitted. She studied violin but had to give it up due to a medical condition, but she then switched to Theremin, at the time a new instrument.
The theremin never really caught on, partly because of the incredible difficulty of playing the instrument with any accuracy. It relies on relative placement of the hands in thin air. The other factor was its association with horror movies, like in this clip:
Of course, those of us who must fight Wickidity find such musical interludes relaxing. Which only serves to remind us that she who fights Witches, must be ever on guard against becoming Wicked herself.
The theremin has enjoyed a bit of a geek-based revival in recent years, as a person can actually construct a basic one at home rather cheaply and easily. There are people, in fact, who will make virtually anything into a theremin, like these guys:
Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey
No comments:
Post a Comment