The Japanese “Friends of Theremin” association is probably the biggest theremin club of the world. This interview with a representative of the association give us an insight of the Japanese theremin scene. Sato: How many theremins have been sold in Japan? FOT: It’s difficult to say, but I can say that almost every member of […]
Designed by Bob Moog, the Big Briar Series 91 theremins were produced from 1991 to 1997. Series 91 are still played by Japanese thereminists Masami Takeuchi and Hiroshi Takano, by german thereminist Carolina Eyck and by U.S. thereminist James Coleman. Since they are no longer in production, the information below, taken from the Big Briar […]
The preliminary information sheet of the Pavlov Theremin Model 1994 designed by George Pavlov and Yaroslav Schelkunov. This can be considered the predecessor of the tVox tour. What follows is the “Preliminary information sheet” of the Pavlov Theremin Model 1994, predecessor ot the tVox tour. This model is no longer in production, thus the following […]
The term relative pitch may denote: the distance of a musical note from a set point of reference, e.g. “three octaves above middle C” a musician’s ability to identify the intervals between given tones, regardless of their relation to concert pitch (A = 440Hz) the skill used by singers to correctly sing a melody, following […]
Absolute pitch is either the exact pitch of a note described by its number of vibrations per second, or the ability, commonly referred to as perfect pitch, to identify a note by name without the benefit of a reference note. A person with perfect pitch will be able to, at minimum, know when a piece […]
A short biography of Léon Théremin’s first theremin student in the United States Alexandra Stepanoff. Alexandra Stepanoff was one of Léon Théremin’s first theremin students in the United States. Formerly a concert singer, around the late twenties, she moved from Russia to New York, where, thanks to the local Russian community, she met Léon Théremin. […]
Invented in 1919 by Russian Lev Sergeivitch Termen (also known as Léon Théremin), the thereminvox, or theremin, was the first electronic musical instrument. The Thereminvox or Theremin was the first electronic musical instrument. Invented in 1919 by Russian Lev Sergeivitch Termen (later anglicized to Léon Théremin), the Thereminvox was an offshoot of government-sponsored research into […]
Photographs of the original Theremincello preserved at the National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD. [Images courtesy of National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD.]
An idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument itself vibrating, without the use of strings or membranes. It is one of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, the others being membranophone, chordophone and aerophone (a fifth division, electrophone, was added in […]
A glass harmonica is a type of musical instrument that uses nested glass bowls to produce musical tones. The modern glass harmonica is made from quartz while in the 18th century, 40% lead glass was used, The bowls were worn and tuned with an emery grind wheel. A glass harmonica is a type of musical […]
