{"id":776,"date":"2022-09-30T23:06:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T03:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/?p=776"},"modified":"2022-09-30T23:06:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T03:06:51","slug":"listening-party-carolina-eyck-and-the-theremin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"Listening Party: Carolina Eyck and the Theremin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since our most recent class discussed the emergence of avant- grade music made from unconventional sound, I thought it would be fitting to discuss one of my favorite unconventional instruments: the theremin<\/a>. This audio artifact is produced by musician and career thereminist Carolina Eyck, who uses her signature instrument in combination with live voice recordings looped together with a loop machine<\/a> to elicit an ethereal and mysterious sound. While her use of the loop machine is quite intriguing in its own right, it is Eyck\u2019s theremin mastery that demands particular attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patented in 1928 by inventor Leon Theremin, the theremin is a particularly unique instrument in that it is the only instrument in which the player does not touch it at all during play. It is composed of two metal antennae which respond to the distance of the players hands; one antenna controls the pitch while the other controls the volume. The nature of the instrument\u2019s design provides an incredibly novel sound with an eerie tone, which is why there have been quite a few inclusions of the theremin into movie soundtracks and television theme songs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the novelties of the theremin is that its audio output is directly determined by the hand position of the player, which gives its sound certain subtle, human-like imperfections similar to what you would hear from a violin. It is no wonder that one of the first popular thereminists, Clara Rockmore (a student of Leon Theremin), was previously a violinist. Part of this violin-like sound comes from the style of finger movement that is common among theremin players, often referred to as \u201caerial fingering\u201d (popularized by Rockmore herself). You can see Eyck\u2019s use of \u201caerial fingering\u201d in the attached video above, where her right hand position dictates octaves while her finger placements determine individual notes being played. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only is the theremin a really interesting instrument, it also situates itself within a long lineage of audio production hardware. Robert Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, was actually a manufacturer of theremins long before the commercial success of his own invention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.thereminworld.com\/Article\/14232\/what-s-a-theremin-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theremin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture\/article\/20201111-the-theremin-the-strangest-instrument-ever-invented<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk Since our most recent class discussed the emergence of avant- grade music made from unconventional sound, I thought it would be fitting to discuss one of my favorite unconventional instruments: the theremin. This audio artifact is produced by musician and career thereminist Carolina Eyck, who uses her signature instrument in combination with live voice… Continue reading Listening Party: Carolina Eyck and the Theremin<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classapps.chass.ncsu.edu\/com304\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}