About Me

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Lake Mathews (Perris), CA, United States
Born in Illinois, I grew up in Wilmette, a northern suburb of Chicago. I have one sibling, an older brother. I am married, for the 2nd time now, to Butch & got 4 children in the deal. They have gone on to make me grandmother 25 times over & great-grandmother to over 20!. After many years working in industry, I got my bachelors and masters degrees in speech communication, & was a professor in that field for 13 years. I retired in 2001 & returned to school & got my doctorate in folklore. Now I meld my two interests - folklore & genealogy - & add my teaching background, resulting in my current profession: speaker/author/entertainer of genealogically-related topics. I play many folk instruments, but my preference is guitar, which I have been playing since 1963. I write the "Aunty Jeff" column for the Informer, newsletter of the Jefferson County NY Gen. Soc. I work in partnership with Gena Philibert-Ortega & Sara Cochran as Genealogy Journeys® where we focus on educating folks about Social History. More about that: genaandjean.blogspot.com. More on our podcasts: genjourneys.podbean.com. More about my own projects: Circlemending.org.

Friday, August 12, 2011

A music break - the Theremin

Last week I was watching History Detectives (I love that show) and they featured a Theremin. I had had a little exposure to the concept of a Theremin in the past when my husband explained that it is similar in sound to the saw (which he plays so very well). The sound is truly like a saw, but it is an electronic instrument.

I am not really the person to explain this instrument or its operation - check the information on Wikipedia for that. When I read the listing of movies that have made use of the Theremin in the background music, I wonder how many times I was hearing a Theremin when I thought I was listening to a saw. The sound is unique - check that out on YouTube, as played by its inventor, Leon Thermin. There's also a great version of "Over the Rainbow" on the Theremin, played by Peter Pringle . . . my husband loves to play that song on the saw and it sounds very much like the Theremin version. Wonder what they would sound like together? Well, maybe not.

It is a very visual instrument - the player with good technique appears to do a hand-ballet over the components to create the music. Impressive. Of course, now I think we should get a Theremin to make our instrument collection even more complete (no, it will never be finished!). Anyway, if you haven't seen one or heard one, check out those links and others they will take you to so you can add to your musical education!

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