Metamorphosism

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October 13, 2006

Must have

thermincll.jpg

Baby, baby, baby. Something has displaced

  1. A carbon-fiber cello case
  2. A carbon-fiber cello bow
  3. A carbon-fiber cello

from the first position on my wish list. This is a Theremincello (more here, which is where I grabbed the image from). Leon Termen, the inventor of the theremin, was a cellist before he was a physicist. He invented this instrument, some think because it would be easier for him to play. He played it for a while I guess. Some were produced. This would be back in the 1930s or thereabouts. They even produced a lower, bass version, but it was abandoned because the subsonic sounds (or whatever you call them) it produced made bass players nauseous.
There are not many of these around anymore. I may look into having someone help me build one. Then I could finally play in a band. Imagine. Looks like a cello (sort of) and it's a theremin. Meaning: you can't play it badly!

Posted at October 13, 2006 08:38 AM
Comments

Are you serious about that?

There are pretty good instructions how to build one, and there might even be people willing to build it at the metalab.

It definitely sounds like a fun project.

Posted by: TH at October 13, 2006 09:14 AM

As you know, I stand ready to go check out any cello makers you might find here in Boston, but since Termen has been dead for a dozen years, I might have to pass on visiting him.

"you can't play it badly!"

Have you ever tried to play a theremin? It's not as easy as it looks.

Posted by: Brian at October 13, 2006 02:15 PM

Judging from these videos I've been watching, it is in fact very, very hard to play a theremin.

Posted by: mig at October 13, 2006 02:20 PM

I went to a Pere Ubu show last week's Friday night. They had a theremin player, and his skills of playing it and two keyboards, at the same time, deeply impressed me. Somwhere in the middle of the last song, the singer, having drunken four cans of beer during the show and after repeatedly having forgotten the lyrics, lurched to the thereminist's corner to play a keyboard solo and toppled the theremin over. A part fell off and both looked very shocked. I think they'll have to buy a new one. Fragile stuff.

Additionally, there also seem to be theremin guitars, all the way down on this page: http://www.musicgadgets.net/2006/05/08/top-20-strangest-guitars/2/

Posted by: a boy from school at October 14, 2006 09:43 PM

You are such a dork.

Posted by: anne at October 17, 2006 07:30 AM
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