Physics of the Theremin

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 66, Issue 11, 1998, Pages 945-955

  Skeldon, Kenneth D ^a   Reid, Lindsay M ^a   McInally, Viviene ^a   Dougan, Brendan ^a   Fulton, Craig ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032360181     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.19004     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. G. Anfilov, Physics and Music (MIR, Moscow, 1966). This rarely cited book was translated from Russian by B. Kuznetsov and describes Theremin's early research in Moscow, although it does not describe the amazing course that Theremin's life took after 1938, when he vanished without trace from his New York apartments.
2. Since Theremin's death, there has been an ever-increasing band of popular musicians that seem to have just "rediscovered" his instrument's value as a source of "cult sound." However, the Theremin has been used occasionally in popular music for many decades; one famous example is the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" where the Theremin and cello provide backing melody.
3. T. Rhea, "Recordings; Clara Rockmore: The Art of the Theremin," Comp. Music J. 13, 61-63 (1989).
4. R. Moog, "Theremin Virtuoso Clara Rockmore - Recollections of Genius," Keyboard Magazine (February 1994).
5. In the early twentieth century there were around seven-hundred professional Thereminists registered with the musicians' trade union. It should also be noted that Leon Theremin's great niece, Lydia Kavina, is an accomplished present-day Thereminist.
6. R. Moog, "A Transistorized Theremin," Electronics World (January 1961).
7. R. Moog, "A Transistorized Theremin," Elementary Electronics (May/ June 1972). Of course, this and the previous reference are only two examples from a multitude of Theremin designs spanning many decades; a comprehensive list may be found using Ref. 17.
8. Theremin's disappearance from his New York apartments went unexplained for over 50 years. His wife and most of his closest friends presumed him dead. However in 1991, research for Steven Martin's video documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Orion Classics Release, 1993) led to a remarkable chance encounter with the physicist, then aged 95, in Moscow. In the film, Theremin explains how he was abducted by the forerunner of the KGB, an act motivated by the need in Russia at the time for expertise to expediate technological military developments. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey was premiered on UK's Channel 4 Television. Just one day after the thought-provoking film was shown, Leon Theremin's death was announced in Moscow.
9. F. E. Terman, Radio Engineers Handbook (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1943).
10. G. P. Harnwell, Principles of Electricity and Electromagnetism (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1938).
11. K. D. Skeldon, "A Museum Scale Ring-Laser-Gyroscope to Demonstrate the Sagnac Effect," University of Glasgow Vacation Project (Internal Report 1991).
12. A. E. Siegman, Lasers (University Science Books, Mill Valley, CA, 1986).
13. P. Horowitz and W. Hill, The Art of Electronics (Cambridge U.P., Cambridge 1990), 2nd ed.
14. The waveforms of each oscillator and the resulting beat waveform produced by the chosen mixer all have an impact on the sound. In the analog Theremin circuit, we used SBL-1 mixers (Mini Circuits Laboratory, RF Designers Handbook, 1994). In this implementation, the two oscillators in each BFO provide the radio frequency (rf) and local oscillator (LO) inputs to the mixer, and the intermediate frequency (IF) output from the mixer (which is nonstandard in being down near dc here) provides the tone. We arranged the signal levels at the SBL-1 to be just below clipping (around 1.2 V) whereupon the output waveform was reasonably sinusoidal above a few hundred hertz, beginning to distort more toward dc. However, we found the output sound timbre to be very authentic compared to recordings of early Theremins.
15. Harris Semiconductors have their main home page at http:// www.semi.harris.com and information for the 1CL8038 can be obtained using the data-sheet links found therein.
16. Precision Monolithics Inc, Data Book-Analog Integrated Circuits, 1990.
17. The Theremin home page can be found at http://www.nashville.net/ ~theremin and contains many sources of reference on Theremin's life and work, including much on his "missing years."