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Clara's instrument


Does anyone know what instrument Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) played?

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Theramin

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theremin. you control the pitch using hand height, and volume by hand distance. i heard it's fairly hard to use, but in the 50s (i think) sci-fi movies used this for alien and space sound fx.

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Led Zeppelin used the theremin tube.

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Also used by The Beach Boys among others.

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Moog Theremin and Korg MS20.

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It was invented by a Russian scientist named Leon Theremin, patented in 1928. There's a fascinating documentary from 1997 THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY that tells a good story about the man and his device. It was used extensively in musical performances of classical and avant garde compositions in he 1930s and 1940w before incorporation into the scifi/horror movie and rock package. There was an attempt to make a theremin ballet.

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Sheldon Cooper plays the theramin on TBBT. Also, one of the witches on American Horror Story played one.

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