My Tribute to the Theremin

A friend and I went to the Tinguely Museum in Basle (Switzerland). There was a temporary exhibition about the composer Edgar Varèse as well. One item in the exhibition was a letter of a (if I remember correctly) 16 year old Frank Zappa to Varèse where Frank introduces himself to Varèse and also admired him. That was very interesting.

While all the drafts of Varèse and the other artifacts were very interesting to my friend, I was watching a movie about a Theremin. I hadn't heard of such an instrument before and it really cought my attention. The movie also showed some old TV ads for a Theremin, and a first lesson about playing it. I thought it was very interesting and I watched that movie twice. Later my friend explained me the principle of the Theremin and he even showed me a real one, they even had one in the museum, but unfortunately nobody was allowed to play it.

Anyway, as soon as I got home, I browsed the internet, and I really would love to at least try to play a Theremin once. Then I forgot about it completely, since this all happened 3 months ago.

Today I stumbled across a video on YouTube, this video combines the theme songs of The Simpsons and Star Trek. And there it was again, a Theremin. This was the first time I saw one "accidently".

And I was so proud I remembered its name. But actually that was easy; I couldn't remember its name in Basle, so my friend provided me with this mnemonic trick, I love Tiramisu, and its name is quite similar. And it still worked after 3 Months. So, being 30 doesn't neccessarily mean you're also becoming forgetful.

Update: Follow this link to YouTube to see a BBC documentary about the Theremin.

Another Update: Here's another vid on YouTube about the Theremin, which is quite funny. And here's a link to a Theremin emulator for iPAQ, which I installed today, of course.