Theremin

who was professor Leon Theremin?
Lev Sergeyevich Termen or most commonly known as Leon Theremen. he was the inventor of the "Theremin". he was born in russia on august 15 1896 and died on november 3rd 1993.

what inventions and innovations was he responsible for?
leon theremin invented the "theremin" which was an electronic instrument that was played without touching it. it consisted of coils creating magnetic fields causing pitch and volume. he created it just by using his ears. he also invented a cello shaped theremin as will which pretty much did the same thing. also in russia he was forced build a "bug." the russians used it to spy. another invention of his was a censor alarm that was put on cradles to alarm when a thief was trying to kidnap a baby. another somewhat similar to the baby alarm. was a censor at banks when the would get robbed as soon as the tellers would put there hands up it would send an alarm to the authorities.

what significant events changed the course of his life?
i think one event that changed theremins life was when he fell in love with a black ballet dancer. after then he married her. and it was around the time were it was "bad" for a while male to get involved with a black female or vise versa. i think the most life changing event that happened to him was when he left the country or was taken under soviet arrest back to russia. he disappeared for thirty years and no one knew what happened to him. they didnt know if he was dead or alive. some said that he was in prison for  seven years and the the russian government made him invent things that would help russia but hurt other countries. such as the" bug". others believed that he was a russain spy and had been passing american technology secrets to soviet union.

how did his inventions change the course of electronic music?
his inventions changed not electronic music but life entirely. it was an instrument you are able to play without touching it. that is amazing! it inspired many other people to get involved with electronics and try to invent some of there own like the synthesizer. the theremin was used in science fiction and horror movies. the press described it as "mere caterwauling" and "piercingly shrieking". theremin was used in great songs by great bands such as the beach boys. nicholas slonimsky called him the "profit of future music"

if you were him, what would you have done differently?
if i had invented the theremin i wouldve have called it the sanchez haha (my last name) but seriously i probably would have tried to make it sound a little more soothing. im a fan of the instrument but not how it sounds. i find it to be really eerie. which i thought was weird when they were using it instead of a violin. it just didnt fit for me. it sounded like an alien romance ensemble. i would have maybe tried to have made it a little more portable or smaller.

if you could have spent 3 months of his life working with him, what period of his life would you chose?
i would have chosen the time around where he started working on the instrument. i would have want to know exactly what he was doing that made him want to create it. what his process was. exactly how he went about to choosing what he did. all the materials and what not. also i would have tried to see if he would have been able to change the pitch. make it sound soothing.  another part would probably be when Einstein played the theremin. how leon said that einstein had no ear for the instrument. i thought that was pretty funny.