Ummm, Aunt Pat

about the theremin....

Theremin Page
It is a popular misconception that the Beach Boys used a Theremin on a number of their early recordings including the very popular Good Vibrations. In fact the device they used was not actually a Theremin at all but a Theremin-style device developed by a well-known Los Angeles musician around that time named Paul Tanner. ... These photos which were taken from archival footage from the band around 1969, rebroadcast recently on VH1's “Flash Back” program, shows Mike Love using the Electro-Theremin during a live televised performance of Good Vibrations.

As you can see the device is quite different than a Theremin. Instead of waving ones hands about it's antenna the musician uses the device more like a stringed instrument, moving a finger across the board like a pedal-steel style guitar, simulating the same effect.

Hmmm, that is contrary to what is posited as fact in the movie


Theremin

Theremin- An Electronic Odyssey.
(which everyone should rent, btw)

I'll have to research it more. Is it not called a theremin if the science and electronics are similar, but the shape of the object is different? I'd say it was the same, if I was interviewed.

Theremin and Brian Wilson


Oh, link originally from local Trib columnist Eric Zorn

A concert at the Harold Washington Library by New York-based  One Ring Zero was one of the public events of the Third Coast International Audio Festival, which my wife runs.
The group plays wildly inventive, Klezmer-tinged music using, among other instruments that I'd never heard of, the claviola and melodica. Partway through, without much explanation, musician Michael Hearst switched on and began to play the theremin.

And it's been years since I've seen the movie, The Song Remains the Same, wherein Jimmy Page allegedly plays a theremin-related device, as discussed in the above link, but it is already on my Netflix list.

Tags: , /

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Seth A. published on October 24, 2005 10:54 PM.

Mark Cuban was the previous entry in this blog.

Amen is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Pages

Powered by Movable Type 4.37