First, of course, we must have today’s Hili Dialogue:
A: Are you coming or going?
Hili: I’m in the hall and I wonder: does it lead outside or to the kitchen?
In Polish:
Ja: Wchodzisz czy wychodzisz?
Hili: Jestem w przedsionku i jeszcze się zastanawiam, czy on prowadzi na dwór czy do kuchni?
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I’m told that this video below has gone viral on the Internet, and it’s not surprising why: it shows a cat playing theremin. Not only that, but the cat appears to have figured out that making movements in front of the instrument makes it play, something one wouldn’t think a cat could do easily. Well, watch it:
Wikipedia describes this arcane instrument for those of you who insist on knowing how it works (ten to one somebody will find an error here!). It was, by the way, invented by the Russian physicist Lev Sergeevich Termen in 1920, and you may have heard it in sci-fi or horror movies, as well as in Led Zeppelin music.
The instrument’s controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the relative position of the thereminist’s hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude(volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. . .
The theremin is unique among musical instruments in that it is played without physical contact. The musician stands in front of the instrument and moves his or her hands in the proximity of two metal antennas. The distance from one antenna determines frequency (pitch), and the distance from the other controls amplitude (volume). Most frequently, the right hand controls the pitch and the left controls the volume, although some performers reverse this arrangement. Some low-cost theremins use a conventional, knob operated volume control and have only the pitch antenna. While commonly called antennas, they are not used for receiving or broadcasting radio frequency, but act as plates in a capacitor.
The theremin uses the heterodyne principle to generate an audio signal. The instrument’s pitch circuitry includes two radio frequency oscillators. One oscillator operates at a fixed frequency. The frequency of the other oscillator is controlled by the performer’s distance from the pitch control antenna. The performer’s hand acts as the grounded plate (the performer’s body being the connection to ground) of a variable capacitor in an L-C (inductance-capacitance) circuit, which is part of the oscillator and determines its frequency. (Although the capacitance between the performer and the instrument is on the order of picofarads or even hundreds of femtofarads, the circuit design gives a useful frequency shift.) The difference between the frequencies of the two oscillators at each moment allows the creation of a difference tone in the audio frequency range, resulting in audio signals that are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.
To control volume, the performer’s other hand acts as the grounded plate of another variable capacitor. In this case, the capacitor detunes another oscillator; that detuning is processed to change the attenuation in the amplifier circuit. The distance between the performer’s hand and the volume control antenna determines the capacitance, which regulates the theremin’s volume.
Here’s Lev Termin (Westernized as Leon Theremin) playing his own invention:
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From Flavorwire we hear about a strange road sign, one of “Ten bizarre literary landmarks.
This amazing road sign popped up near Moscow’s Patriarch Ponds sometime last year. It is, obviously, prohibiting Professor Woland, Koroviev, and Behemoth, the devilish trio from Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita from the area. The sign underneath warns, “Do not talk with strangers.”
Now to my shame I haven’t read The Master and Margarita, which seems to be much beloved, so all I know is that there’s a cat in it. But I’ll leave my readers the pleasure of enlightening me.
Be sure you look at the other ten “must visit” landmarks (I especially recommend #5 and #10).
h/t: Merilee,
I seriously wonder if the cat can in fact sense the electrical waves. The way itooks like it’s trying to touch above the machine is very odd. This video may have discovered electro-sensing in cats! Quick, someone write a research grant!
Acting at audio frequencies, the power of electromagnetic waves emitted by the accelerating charges in the theremin’s plates would be very low. But the cat doesn’t need to detect the electromagnetic fields to play it ; s/he’d get adequate feedback from the sounds. (Incidentally, this looks like one of the one-antenna models described, or the second antenna is off-screen and probably controlled by the cameraman.)
They are interesting instruments ; the physics lab at school would regularly echo to the howlround of pupils discovering the principles involved with off-the-shelf op-amps.
My hypothesis, see more below, is that the cat fits his reactions as if there were an animal responding. Even though the cues are partial (e.g. only sound).
I am pretty sure there is a fine wire sticking out from the top of the theremin, and this is what the cat is playing with (the “antenna”, although as the Wikipedia snippet suggests, not actually an antenna)
I think you’re right. The cat’s attention is clearly focused on a specific point above the box. He seems to be alternately grabbing the (nearly invisible) antenna wire and rubbing his nose along it.
As for “not actually an antenna”, insect antennae don’t receive radio waves, but nobody quibbles about calling them antennae.
And on reflection, I’m not sure that acting as one plate of a capacitor precludes it from being an antenna in the electrical sense. Something transmits the oscillating electric field from one plate to the other, and if not radio-frequency photons, then what?
If you blow the video up to full screen you can see the wire, mostly towards the bottom. The cat is just playing with the wire and getting confused at the noise. Hence why it’s running its face up and down and batting at a very particular area above the instrument.
No dig at PZ over his latest aquisition? He’s trying very hard to pretend he’s not a cat person, but we all know the truth.
“… you may have heard it in sci-fi … movies …”
Notably in the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, scored by Bernard Herrmann. The special edition of the soundtrack album contains some “Alternat[iv]e theremin mixes”.
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PS. And it’s “sf” not “sci-fi”, just like this website is not a blog…
They’ve re-made The Day The Earth Stood Still? Why?
Oh, we have a new topic for a Religious War for the weekend? Lovely! Can we do Vi-vs-EMACS next weekend?
To make money?
And surely, vi, not “Vi”? Which beats EMACS. It’s a joy to use…
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LOL Pico all the way because it’s the same as the Pine mailer. Yeah, I know I lose Geek creds but pico was always my editor of choice!
Please, no religious wars on WEIT!
[Disclaimer: Since I’m a skeptic, I go for parsimony. “vi” is too complex for most of my uses. Similarly with “emacs”.
A pox on both their houses!]
(whispers) pico….
Once I learned how to use the kitchen sink I found I could wash all my dishes and rinse my vege tables as well. Though, I like pico too.
Emacs is a not-bad operating system, but it really could use a decent editor….
b&
Even more notably, heard every week right after the most famous split infinitive in the history of the English language:
Cheers,
b&
Indeed & recently Sheldon played one.
Er, no.
“Apart from a few episodes where an electronic organ or synthesiser was used, the theremin-like sound on the original Star Trek theme was actually provided by renowned studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman until her voice was removed in later seasons.” [Wp]
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Huh? No — can’t be!
Here…let me ask Baby Jesus…no, I’m sorry, Ant, but I have been faithfully informed that it really is a theremin, though I’m willing to meet you halfway and suggest that perhaps Ms. Norman was the one playing the instrument.
Cheers,
b&
I too find this lack of theremin in Star Trek hard to accept. I don’t know how I’ll go on.
…boldly?
b&
Indeed but where?
Anywhere…though, for some reason, it doesn’t count if a man’s already been there….
b&
Take Courage!
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Any chance that comes in pill form yet? I’m not a big fan of injections….
b&
Illogical!
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That may be, but I have it on good authority that it’s eminently rational!
b&
Thank you for knowing the difference between “alternate” and “alternative” – a pet peeve of mine. And sorry if this comment starts another pedants’ war.
There ought to be (perhaps there is) a word for when new words come into your life and then reappear soon afterwards. I first heard of the theremin last Saturday when I went to a book launch and there was a young woman playing one. It turns out the book was about a thereminist (is that a word?). Now today, just a week later, here’s the theremin on WEIT.
The book, by the way, is excellent. It’s “The life and loves of Lena Gaunt” by Tracy Farr (Review here: http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/the-life-and-loves-of-lena-gaunt-novel.html). I’m loving the book; it’s a beautifully written and engrossing story. Tracy Farr is a biologist as well as a fine writer, and this is her first novel.
Indeed there is a word, or at least a phrase, for it. It’s called the “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon”, or “frequency illusion”, or “recency illusion”.
(Why “Baader-Meinhof”? Someone called it that after being surprised to hear the Baader-Meinhof Gang mentioned twice within a day.)
You must read ‘The Master & Margarita’. It is one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century and one of the greatest acts of political revenge ever taken. The c…t in it is thoroughly unpleasant, but Bulgakov also wrote a novel about a very pleasant DOG that becomes thoroughly unpleasant in consequence of having a member of the proletariat somehow grafted into it…
I have ambivalent feelings about your recommendation. This a very good book and I really enjoyed it. It also have some good point.
However this is also a strongly anti-atheist book (thought it is not particularly the focus). Atheists are described as liars and punished by death for this on the pages of the book.
I guess I’ll play it safe then and read the Kindle edition.
LOL!
I second your recommendation to read Bulgakov’s masterpiece, but I can’t endorse your esitmation of Begemot/Behemoth (the cat). I wouldn’t say he is unpleasant. Personally, I thought Satan and his retinue kind of stole the show, and Behemoth is it’s most colorful member.
Maybe _I_ am the one objectifying. But it looks to me like the cat integrates his actions as if there were an (invisible) animal that protests its clawing and even an attempt to bite.
Interesting, if so. Maybe even cats can be made to have ideas of magical actions and Ceiling Cats.
I read The Master and Margarita years ago – and ALL I can remember is it has a large, talking cat in it. How can I have forgotten the plot to whole damn book that I am sure I quite liked at the time? Blimey…
The look on the second cat’s face is priceless. I also think that the kitty’s reaction to the theremin is pretty much our reaction – it’s fascinating and annoying at the same time; kitty can’t help but play it but his/her ears are flat with irritation.
Off subject but you might like this…
There’s an instrument built on theremin principles called an Ondes Martenot, and here you can learn more about it on YT.
Used for the intro to the theme from Gerry Anderson’s Joe 90.
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Also used in Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony.
Well, if you want to get all highbrow! 😉
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Well, not in every musician’s estimation. Stravinsky said of Turangalîla: “to write such stuff all one needs is a copious supply of ink.”
So what you are telling me is that, if we had an infinite number of cats, and an infinite number of Theramins, eventually they would compose all the musical adaptations of Shakespeare?
(I suspect we will see a rash of animals playing the Theramin videos.)
Well, we already have an Infinite Cat Project, though I don’t know about the theremins….
b&
This comes close.
Infinite or not, I’m sure it’s close to critical mass….
b&
The Wikipedia description seems accurate enough to me (except perhaps for the “not really an antenna” part).
I actually built a theremin in high school (back when Star Trek was new) but never learned to play it worth a damn.
Debussy’s Clair de Lune performed on the theremin: YouTube watch?v=Ptq_N-gjEpI
I read it 20 plus years ago but cannot remember it at all! I am like that with novels… I remember that I enjoyed The White Guard but as for details…
Perhaps the best example of an entirely theremin soundtrack would be the score for “Forbidden Planet.” With Anne Francis and Robby the Robot (as well as Walter Pidgeon and a young Leslie Nielsen), this is a real sci-fi classic.
It’s been a while since I read “The Master and Margarita” too, but Behemoth was at least as memorable as the Cheshire Cat. And I seem to recall (?) sporadic interludes with a very non-divine reactionary, in an ancient middle eastern context, that seemed to me a satirical commentary on how religions could form based on misrepresentations and half-truths. But that may be my own bias, and maybe I’m remembering that incorrectly.
FP is an sf classic, but: “A theremin was not used for the soundtrack of Forbidden Planet, for which Louis and Bebe Barron built “disposable” oscillator circuits and a ring modulator to create the “electronic tonalities” for the film.” [Wikipedia]
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Correct you are (thus dispelling a long-standing myth that I fell prey to). Apparently, Wikipedia is good for something… Sure sounded like a theremin to me.