Theremin enthusiasts get together to practice. (Friends of the Theremin) ETHEREAL NOTES: Theremin Music Captivates Japanese Ears November 6, 2001 What is a theremin? Most readers may have never heard the word, but to answer the question, a theremin is a musical instrument that originated in Russia. Unveiled in 1921, it is known as the father of electronic musical instruments. Its inventor, Leon Theremin (1896-1993), was a physicist and cellist. The typical theremin looks like a box with two antennas, a straight vertical antenna and a loop-shaped horizontal one. Both the method by which it is played and the music it produces (an eerie wavering vibrato) are completely different from anything the average person is used to, but for some reason, Japan currently finds itself in the midst of a theremin craze. A Mysterious Instrument The theremin is a mysterious musical instrument that allows the player to produce music without touching the instrument itself. Players produce tunes by varying the distance between their hands and the vertical antenna (pitch antenna), and adjust the sound volume by varying the distance between their hands and the horizontal antenna (volume antenna). Though the range varies depending on the model, theremins generally have a range of between four and seven octaves. For a long time, the theremin was virtually unknown outside a rarefied circle of musicians and hobbyists, in part because little information about the theremin reached the West until after the cold war. During the 1990s, however, young Japanese musicians latched onto the instrument. Awareness of the theremin in Japan got an instant boost when it began appearing onstage with popular singers, such as Hitomi Yaida and Ringo Shiina. The buzz surrounding the instrument prompted a Japanese retailer to place a rush order for several hundred Etherwave theremins from Big Briar, Inc., a U.S.-based builder of electronic instruments. The Japanese musical instrument retailer Ishibashi Music Co. sells its own compact-sized theremin, the Ishibashi theremin, at the price of ¥14,800 ($123 at ¥120 to the dollar). Ishibashi has sold about a thousand of the instruments each year since it first made them available, but this year it expects to sell twice that many.   Your Name What did you think of this article? It was interesting. It was boring. Send this article to a friend Since autumn 1999, a culture school run by Seibu Department Stores in Tokyo has been offering lessons by Yuki Yano, one of the very few professional theremin musicians in Japan. Masami Takeuchi, who is probably Japan's first professional theremin player, teaches at culture schools run by Mainichi Shimbun in Nagoya and Osaka. Takeuchi explains the appeal of the theremin as follows: "Most electronic instruments have become excessively mechanized, so that just about anyone can easily play them, and you can't express your individuality through them. The theremin is different in this regard." TV, Magazine, and Film Appearances Too The theremin is making appearances in a growing number of TV programs and general-interest magazines. It appears in a special feature section in the October-November 2001 issue of Keyboard magazine, and included with the issue is a CD recording of theremin music. The unusual life of Leon Theremin, who lived to be 97, has piqued as much interest as his unique invention. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, a 1993 documentary film about the instrument and its inventor, has been playing at a Cinema in Tokyo since August. For a time, Leon Theremin lived in the United States as a spy; he put his heart into theremin performances while also funneling information about the latest U.S. technologies to the Soviets. Audiences are consistently filling the seats of the movie theater to see the story of the theremin and its inventor. Copyright (c) 2001 Japan Information Network. Edited by Japan Echo Inc. based on domestic Japanese news sources. Articles presented here are offered for reference purposes and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government.