Clara Rockmore - Theremin

[Richard Crowley]

The Google Doodle today (at least here in the US) is about the 105th birthday of Clara Rockmore.
Clara Rockmore was the first virtuoso performer on Leo Theremin's "aetherphone", now known as the "Theremin".

The doodle includes an entertaining "training" animation, and then an animation of a performance by Ms. Rockmore.

Obligatory Electronic content: It is claimed that Theremin accidentally discovered the phenomenon of producing audible hetrodyne signals which could be used as a musical instrument.  Others claim there was a prior US patent covering the principle.
Theremin was reputed to have designed the famous passive "bug" installed in the US Ambassador's residence in Moscow.
And it was a variant of the Theremin used in the famous song "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

[rrinker]

 And after the animated performance, you get to play it yourself.

[T3sl4co1l]

My page: http://seventransistorlabs.com/Theremin/

[KJDS]

I've had a top ten hit with one of these guys

[TimFox]

And it was a variant of the Theremin used in the famous song "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

I must look it up in my Theremin references, but I believe that the electronic instrument in "Good Vibrations" was actually a Heath audio oscillator with a long arm attached to the tuning knob, rather than a heterodyne generator.
A wonderful book was published recently by Univ. of Illinois Press:
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/98mgt7tm9780252072758.html
It goes into great detail about the life of Leon Theremin (or Lev Termen) both during his American residence, and the awful things that happened to him when he returned to the Soviet Union (bad career move).

[Richard Crowley]

There seem to be conflicting reports whether a Heathkit oscillator with a mechanical arrangement was used, or whether it was an "Electro-Theremin" (aka. "Tannerin") which appeared to use some sort of touch-sensitive resistive element (like a slide-pot).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-Theremin

Here is a video of a performance with the Tannerin (starting at 0:29)

https://youtu.be/mdt0SOqPJcg

This YouTube video is obviously a "lip-sync" to the studio mixdown recording and not a live performance