The Theremin & the Ondes Martenot.
January 19, 2004, 03:58 pmI guess since I've mentioned Mellotrons and Vocoders, I ought to say something about the Theremin. Invented in 1919 by Russian physicist Lev Termin (aka Leon Theremin – who was taken back to Russia away from his studio, wife, and family and forced to work for the KGB making bugs and other devices!). The theremin is the only instrument (to my knowledge) that you play without touching it! It has two antennae: one straight vertical antennae controlling the pitch, and one horizontal loop antennae controlling the volume.
It was originally intended to be an instrument performing much like a cello or solo vocalist. In fact, there were theremin virtuosos, the most notable being Clara Rockmore, who was an accomplished young violinist but unfortunately developed chronic physicial problems forcing her to quit playing. The theremin was a perfect violin substitute that would allow her to continue performing.
In the 50's and 60's, many sci-fi movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space featured theremins in their soundtracks and special effects.
Most theremin use these days consists of people that get them to make really annoying noises, like the use of the theremin in Led Zepplin's Whole Lotta Love.
A lesser known, sister instrument to the Theremin is the Ondes Martenot, invented by Maurice Martenot ("Ondes" is French for waves, so the instrument's name literally translates to Martenot Waves, which is pretty appropriate). It uses the same heterodyne principles as the theremin, but instead of being controlled with your hands in the air, you put your finger through a ring that's tied to two ribbons. With your finger in the ring, you can slide horizontally along a plane that has piano keys painted on it so you can tell what pitch you are on (theremins have nothing to gage pitch against). With your left hand, you can control volume, glissando, vibrato, etc.
An Ondes Martenot is used by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood in The National Anthem. Jonny has said that the Ondes Martenot is his favorite instrument, which probably means something considering that he plays guitar, lots of keyboards, glockenspiel (It's not a fucking xylophone, damnit! Xylophone's have wood/Kelon/plastic bars, while glockenspiels (is the plural of glockenspiel "glockenspiel" or "glockenspiels"?) have metal bars!), viola, and harmonica. But with his history of viola, I can see how playing an Ondes Martenot would be comfortable for him, as many performers of Ondes Martenot just take classical music that was meant to feature the cello and rework the parts for the Martenot.
It's also used in the original Star Trek theme, but if I were an Ondes Martenot, I'm not sure if I would admit that.