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Spellbound

Sunday, January 04, 2009
Theremin Big Bow
theremin unknown

Each year, we get lots of new visitors who have just gotten or discovered the theremin. To all of you, congratulations and welcome!

 Here are a few quick links,  from the "Getting Started" sidebar, to help you with learning about the theremin, finding help, and learning to play:

We look forward to meeting all of you and hope ThereminWorld  helps with your questions.
Welcome to the World of the Theremin! 

Saturday, January 03, 2009
Thank You Jeff!

ThereminWorld member and friend Jeff Sparks has spent a great amount of time collecting and drafting highly detailed schematics for the famous tube theremin design by Mark Keppinger.

During a process that took over a year, Jeff not only corresponded closely with Mark Keppinger and incorporated his advice, but also communicated with other principal figures in the Theremin Building Community including Steven Hasten, Howard Mossman, Vincent Reneauld, and fellow TW member Philip Neidlinger (who has also provided links to his notes on the construction of his tube theremin in the Construction Forum).

Jeff has kindly provided ThereminWorld with the drawings and they are available on our Theremin Schematics page.
Mark's work continues to expand in solid state form too, as Philip and Jeff have been reporting in the forum

Many thanks to Jeff, and of course a grateful nod to Mark, Philip and everyone who helped in the process of making this important information freely available to our community!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
ThereminWorld

Happy New Year to all the ThereminWorld members! And best wishes to our Theremin Friends around the world, with hopes you join us here soon!

2008 was an interesting year, to say the least, and a pretty good one for all things Theremin.

We got a slew of new CDs from  Lydia,  Barbara,  Kip,  Kevin,  Carolyna, and  Eric.
Our Theremin History was enriched with  a rare recording and new research on Lucy Rosen and imporant efforts from the  Nadia Reisenberg & Clara Rockmore Foundation, and  Bob Moog Foundation,   we got updates from RCA Theremin owners.

We heard a full year of the most varied Theremin Music from David Vesel on  Spellbound.
We got new Compositions for Theremin from  Linda Kernohan, Elizabeth Brown and Fellow TW Member  Brian R and others.

World Thereminization spread further across the globe in:  Istanbul,  Japan,  Spain,  Lippstadt,  Mexico,  The UK,  some on-line videos,  several films, all over the US including  Washington,  Tennessee,  New York,  and North Carolina, and many more places!

Some Theremins came that were small and  new  and some went, but still made news, plus there was  help building your own ,  and tons of advice from our members!

Most of all, ThereminWorld hit new highs with our members  joining and  sharing in our forums!
That's some of what we remember...
Please add in your recollections and of course, all the best for 2009 and...
Keep On Thereminizing!
Monday, December 22, 2008


[12-22-08 They have extended a "special offer" to the end of the year, check the comments, and give the gift of Moog now!]

What to give the Thereminist who has everything?

How about supporting part of our legacy at the Bob Moog Foundation?
Bob started out building theremins and without him we all might not still be playing this astounding instrument!

They've been doing lots of work to spread the message of Moog and for World Thereminization too!

The work on the Bob Moog Archives has an important Theremin aspect:


you can view a video message from Roger Powell talking about supporting the cause here.

Happy Holidays ThereminWorld,
Help keep our legacy alive any-which-way you can, and keep on playing!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Premium Theremin

A big thanks to GordonC for posting this in our forums today. I've bubbled it up to the front page to give it a little more visibility. -Jason

---

Another low-cost theremin from the people that brought us the Gakken Theremin Mini was released in Japan yesterday.

This is the Gakken Theremin Premium - pitch and volume antennas, built in speaker, audio out (3.5mm mono mini-jack), white plastic enclosure; W220 × H36 × D120mm (8.6" x 1.4" x 4.7") free standing and mic-stand mountable. Takes 4 AA batteries. Single timbre. Output volume control. Gross tuning with externally accessible trim pots, fine tuning with knobs. Not a kit.

Price, 9975 Yen (US$110, £75)

Autotranslated manufacturer's description here. The "Earth Band" is a ready-made version of the grounding mod for the Theremin Mini in the form of a wrist strap, and "adjust the driver" refers to the tool to adjust the trims. Follow the link "Premium for the first time Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey" and two subsequent pages for demonstration and instructional videos, and transcriptions. I note that the suggested method compensates for non-linearity to some extent by moving the hand along an arc.

If the Theremin Mini was fashioned after the RCA Victor, and the Thereminmin after the Moog Etherwave, then the Theremin Premium bears a passing resemblance to the tVox Tour. (Thierry, your wish has come true, albeit in a small way!)

On YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15i7K-EUAbY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr1Ml9ifE-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOFZUrX5Yqg
There are currently 7 available in the Men's Ganku eBay store. Buy-It-Now + shipping to US, $138.

Read More: Japan
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Remember the theremin modifications we told you about recently? Some of our readers thought they were priced a little on the high side. Luckily, Moog was listening and just in time for the holidays, they've cut prices on the mods. The pitch preview mod dropped from $179 to $149, and the pitch preview/LED combo dropped from $199 to $179.

Kudos to Moog for listening to feedback from the theremin community! Now... where's that new pro model we've been asking for? ;)

Read More: Moog Music
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Day The Earth Stood Still

Bernard Herrman's score to the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of the clasic theremin recordings. When we learned that a modern remake was in the works, our hearts leapt at the thought of a new twist on the old classic and the possibility of another magical score.

Did it happen? Thereminist Charles Lester saw the film last night and shared his thoughts with us in the forums. Given the significance of the original film, I felt this deserved a bit more attention. -Jason

---

THE DAY THE EARTH SLOWED DOWN
by Charles Richard Lester

It's going on 3 a.m. Friday morning. I just got back from the first general-release showing, in glorious IMAX digital audio and video, of the new "The Day the Earth Stood Still," which started at 12:05 a.m.

I went with my theremin buddy Dave Weiner. I wanted to get there no later than 11 p.m., fearing mad throngs of moviegoers queuing up in vastly long lines to get in, even with pre-paid tickets. Boy, was I ever wrong about that.

When we got there, just a little after 11, there were maybe 15-20 people in line. When the theater doors opened at 11:30, there were 30 or so. By the time all the endless commercials* and crap wrapped up and the film actually started, the theater -- seating, hm, 400 maybe -- was about half full.

I can only attribute this to the possibility that most people just didn't know about this first show. Many people, myself included, likely assumed that the first showing would not be until Friday night. I only found out about this when I went on line to purchase tickets.

-ooOoo-

I am not going to talk about a lot of specifics about the film since I realize most of y'all haven't seen it yet. I don't want to spoil anything. But here are a few first-blush generalizations that are swirling around in my head and consciousness after this first viewing. I am sure I will see it again, and that some of my first impressions will change and evolve. But for now, here are some of those first impressions.

-ooOoo-

Firstly, and most importantly to us Theremin folks, yes, there IS theremin in the sound track! There is not as much of it as in the original, and not as obvious but more mixed in, and not the Hoffmanesque trembling and quavering. Rather, mostly it consists of long, sweeping, soaring glissandos and, in a few places, floor-shaking bass tones. It was, I feel, used effectively but there could have been more of it, of course! Especially since in the final credits, what to wondering eyes should appear but:

Theramin . . . Pamelia Kursten

Yep.

Ther-a-min

20th Century Fox Studios, with its long association with the theremin due to is use in the first version of this film, with 56 years of publicity, discussions, elaborations, documentaries, dissertations, articles and featurettes on the instrument, actually SPELLED IT WRONG in the credit roll!

Overall the score is taut, moody and appropriate. My hat's off to Tyler Bates who wrote the rich score consisting of both full orchestral instrumentation and electronic textures.

-ooOoo--

Then a couple of non-specific comments about the story line.

It does, in a general way, follow the same story as the original but with much modernization of certain technological aspects of the alien encounters, and the landing of the main "space craft" takes place in Manhattan rather than Washington, D.C.

What's missing is the unsettling, pervasive, "everyone looking over their shoulder" Cold War paranoia and the looming specter of the Atom Bomb that defined and drove the original film. I guess that is due to the fact that in 2008 we really don't face such a threat anymore.

Or wait ... don't we?

What about the threats of "turrur" and "nukyahler" warfare? There was no aspect of terrorism in this film at all, not even when an awesome, fearsome, gigantic orb lands in the middle of Central Park! There could have been so many obvious ties to terrorism that were missed -- whether deliberately omitted or unintentionally overlooked, I felt this was a big failing in the story line.

What =is= there, but much with much greater clarity and urgency, is the essence of Klaatu's famous line, "we will reduce your planet to a burning cinder" [without the actual line being uttered of course].

Rather than terror or nuclear holocaust be the cause of Klaatu's arrival on Earth, it is "Us Earthlings Messing up the Environment." Yep. Yawn. As compelling and urgent as the issues of pollution and global warming are, they're just not as "sexy" in terms of a film plot.

There IS Gort. Ohhhhh MY MY MY, is there =ever= Gort! He not only has the laser beam but also swarms of metallic "locusts" at his disposal. I won't say any more. Just prepare to feel you jaw drop to your knees when he makes his appearance. What IS missing, and I feel is a MAJOR oversight, is the equally famous line, "Klaatu Barada Nikto." I felt very disappointed that that nod was not made to the original film. (Or if it -was- uttered, I missed it.)

-ooOoo-

There was such great potential to really redo this film in a grand way. While the technology, special effects, sound, etc., are all top-drawer, way beyond State of the Art, there is a certain lacking. I think it's most evident in the story. It's just not as taut and edgy as the original. There are too many soft sub-plots and subtexts that wander away from and detract from the urgency of the film's message rather than build upon it. And some of the acting was annoyingly wooden and "scenery chewing" especially from a certain key member of the cast. (But not Keanu Reeves -- he's splendid in the part.)

As I watched the film, I tried to place myself into the same time and space as an audience member seeing the original in 1952. Pretty much all the reviews and commentaries about it reveal that the film scared the pants off of people. This just wasn't the case with this remake. There =are= scary moments and elements in it, but too much of the film just kinda plods along, propped up with gee-whiz special effects and hindered by some pretty bad acting and, in several key aspects, an under-developed script.

All in all, I do not feel disappointed as much as I feel somewhat let down. I have been waiting to see this ever since the first trailers started appearing nearly a year ago. As with so many sequels, it simply can't hold its own against the original.

-------

*A final comment is in order about all the product placement -- very blatant, conspicuous and audacious -- including "Golden Arches" and Microsoft. When a holographic "Windows" logo appeared on the screen of the military command post's workstation console, a very loud groan rose up in the audience. Wonder how much that commercial cost Mr. Gates. Too bad it was poor money spent, if the audience's reaction is any indication.

And you know, that makes me want to get up on a soap box. It's not enough that we are paying $15 (and sometimes more) for a theater ticket, $20 for greasy junk to eat and drink, even getting hit up for parking in most shopping centers now. Then we then have to sit through 20 minutes of TELEVISION COMMERCIALS before the show starts, then another 20 minutes of trailers, and then, on top of it, to be subliminally bombarded with product placement advertising.

I don't know about other people, but I myself surely do not go to see anywhere nearly as many movies as I used to, and all the advertising is a big reason for that. Along with the overall decline in content, of course.

~
CRL

Read More: Films
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Peter Pringle plays White Christmas on Sam Hoffman's 1929 RCA Theremin

Peter Pringle has posted a real holiday treat for theremin fans on YouTube - a video of himself playing Irving Berlin's White Christmas on Sam Hoffman's 1929 RCA Theremin.

Theremin historians will recognize that Sam Hoffman was the full time podiatrist/part time thereminist who played theremin on several classic sci-fi movies back in the day.

I'd love to see more theremin holiday music postd on YouTube. If you have such a video to share, please leave a comment to this post with a link to your contribution. Happy Holidays!

Watch: Theremin - White Christmas (YouTube)

Read More: Peter Pringle, Video

Recent news stories:

New Theremin CD from Carolina Eyck
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Randy George in Spain!
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New York Theremin Society - Nov. 29th
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...and a Lothar New Year.
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Lev Termen - Passed Into History Nov. 3rd
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2 new additions to our music shop
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Spellbound Will Scare the Aether Outtya!
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