mitchco a go go!

This is a very special week here at the mitchco a go go. Why? Because I’m updating.  And also because it’s EXPERIMENTAL/AVANT-GARDE MUSIC WEEK.

Today we’ll be discussing the only instrument you can play without touching it, the theremin (I feel like there should be a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I’m not going to dignify it). It was invented by Dr. Leon Theremin, a crazy Russian inventor, and brought to international fame and fortune by Clara Rockmore, its first (and perhaps greatest) virtuoso. If you want to learn more about the good doctor, check out the documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. If you want to learn more about Clara Rockmore, here, let me tell you.

Clara was born in Lithuania, and was a childhood violin prodigy. Like any childhood violin prodigy born in the Russian empire, she was sent to the Imperial conservatory of Saint Petersburg when she was five. And like many children born in the Russian empire, she developed a bone problem due to malnutrition, and had to stop playing the violin.

Clara Rockmore and her theremin

Thankfully, she soon after met Leon Theremin, who happened to have an instrument you could play without touching. The combination of her excellent pitch, knowledge of music and instrumentation, and fucked up bones made her an ideal candidate for theremin shredding, and shred she did. Why do you think her last name was ROCK MORE?

Here’s a video of her later in life, accompanied by her sister Nadia:

Her left hand controls volume, her right hand controls pitch. Notice the way she twitches her fingers on her right hand. That’s how she had such precise pitch control, and was able to jump from one pitch to another without glissando. She pretty much invented the “aerial fingering” technique for the theremin (again with the dirty jokes), and anyone who plays it classically owes a large debt to her. Also note the way that she’s able to play ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS with such expressive intensity– she’s truly a master of her instrument.

There have been a few mighty theremin wizards since Ms. Rockmore, including Lydia Kavina and Dalit Warshaw, but one of my personal favorites is Pamelia Kurstin, because she came up with a way to do walking bass lines on the theremin.

Check out what she does here at 2:47. How fucking hot was that? At first, she’s all, “the autumn leeeeeeaaaaaaves, la di daaaaaaa,” except without words, because it’s a theremin, and then suddenly she’s like Dave fucking Holland, ripping up the bass, except without touching anything. Hot. So hot.

So what have learned today? Perhaps most importantly that the theremin, against all odds and physics, is one of the hottest instruments you can play.

Tags: avant-garde, clara rockmore, pamelia kurstin, theremin, video

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under music, the hotness. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.