Years ago, Bob Moog donated to the theremin community a hand-drawn schematic he had created by closely examining Clara Rockmore's theremin.  Since then, it's been the dream of many theremin enthusiasts that someone would be able to faithfully recreate her one-of-a-kind instrument.  Well today we're one step closer!

Adrian Bontenbal has been busy for the past several years in The Netherlands working on his own version of Clara Rockmore's theremin.  He has shared with us a write-up including photos, schematics, and parts values for the components he had to substitute with modern parts.

Unfortunately, we don't yet have audio samples of how it sounds, but if enough people show interest, perhaps we can sway him to provide a few.  Here's to hoping it sounds as nice as it looks!

Read Mr. Bontenbal's write-up for more details on this ambitious project.

Next sunday Feb 05, 2012 Schillinger's First Airphonic Suite will be performed for the first time in the Netherlands, more than 80 years after its composition in 1929.

TW member Thorwald Jørgensen who has specialized in "hunting" for original theremin compositions will be accompanied by the Phillips Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jules van Hessen.

More information about the schedule and the location on his website!

Thereminist Charlie Draper (www.charliedraper.co.uk) and his team-mate Esther are in a race against time and money!  The dynamic duo has teamed up to compete in RAG Jailbreak.  The annual event involves 2 parts: 1) raising money, and 2) getting as far away from Cambridge as you can using no cash.

Charlie and Estherhope to raise as much money as possible for charities prior to January 27th, and secondly - in the 36 hours following 9am on the 27th January - to make it as far from Cambridge, UK as possible using only their wits.

All donations received up until the 27th will be going directly to the 5 local and 5 international charities RAG is supporting this year - Alzheimer's Research UK, the British Red Cross, Medicins Sans Frontieres, UNICEF, WaterAid, Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, the Food Cycle Foundation, Haven House Children's Hospice, Jimmy's Night Shelter, and Winter Comfort for the Homeless.

On the day itself, they'll be be busking in an effort to raise enough money to escape the country - raising as much awareness as we can for the charities above!

Donations of more than 10GBP willl receive a LIMITED-EDITION PROMOTIONAL CD entitled 'BEYOND THE ETHER' - featuring a compilation of never-before-heard theremin recordings!

You can help out in 3 ways:

Firstly, donate directly to the charities involved in their project using the PayPal link at http://tinyurl.com/charlieandesther. Donations of 10GBP or more will get the CD launched on January 27th.

Secondly, offer supplies, equipment or other assistance on the 27th, in exchange for whatever they care to name (promotion of their company springs to mind).

Thirdly, spread the word about the project to other individuals who might like to help out.

"It belongs in a museum!”  - Indiana Jones

Several news sites are reporting the discovery of $25M worth of musical instruments found in a storage vault in Michigan.  According to the articles, the collection includes artifacts “spanning centuries and continents” and was originally donated to the University of Michigan 112 years ago by Frederick Stearns.

Of most interest to us is the alleged inclusion of the theremin used in The Green Hornet television show soundtrack.  It’s unclear if the claim is backed by any historical documentation or if this is just editorial license making reference to the theremin in general.  The collection has grown since its original donation, which explains how a ~92 year old instrument ended up in a 112 year old collection. But until we have more proof, we’re remaining cautiously optimistic that this is indeed an RCA.

Rest assured, the theremin community will get to the bottom of this.  As soon as we have more information about the instrument in question, we’ll update this article.

Read More:  'A Tut's tomb of treasures': The extraordinary $25 million collection of musical instruments languishing in a Michigan storage vault (DailyMail.co.uk)

Recently, we featured a story about a short science fiction work entitled Players of the Nuclear Theremin, by David Barron.  If you'll recall, PotNT is about a small band of apprentice pilots who travel through space and time in ships controlled via theremins.  Their mission is simple - discover new planets suitable for life, deliver colonies, and check in every few centuries to see how things are going.  It's definitely not your typical use of the theremin, which is why it really caught my attention.

In fact, I enjoyed PotNT so much, I asked Mr. Barron to tell us more about himself and how the story came about.  Read on to see what he said - and why he chose the term thereminers instead of thereminists!

Read more...