Essay on Theremin Research By Sam Eisner

Submitted By Gobi1
Words: 1107
Pages: 5

Theremin Research

The Theremin is unique because it is the first and original instrument to use electricity created by Leon Theremin to create sound- (Theremin world, what’s a Theremin, by Jason in the year 2005). Just years after the invention of the vacuum tube, Leon Theremin had invented the Theremin naming it after his last name. Lev Sergeyevich Termen was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1896.he was comparable to many inventors in his time as his lifetime stretched from 1896-1993. He was a younger and enthusiastic player of music (he played the cello) and studier of physics. After enrolling at the University of Petrograd, he based his studies in the nascent field of electrical engineering. There, he was repairing a radio when he thought up the idea of a electronic musical instrument: not just an acoustic instrument e or amplified electronically, but an instrument that would produce purely electronic music. In 1918, Theremin built the prototype of his "aetherphone." (Lemsonon-mit, Leon Theremin, The Theremin)

To produce an electrical signal into an audible sound, speakers contain an electromagnet: a metal coil which creates a magnetic field when an electric current flows through it. This coil is very much like a normal a (permanent) magnet, with one specifically handy property: reversing the direction of the current in the coil flips the poles of the magnet. The electromagnet is than attached to a cone made of a flexible material such as paper or plastic which amplifies these vibrations, creating a large amount of sound waves into the surrounding air within the room and towards your ears!
(physics.org, how do physics work)
-Sound: is the occurrence of vibrations of vibrations and waves within the air that create a noise in which our ear drums can detect. (google definitions)
-pitch: the degree at which the noise or sound is being produced at, for example, how high or how low the noise is. (google definitions)
-Volume: Where space is present and is what things can be measured by such as how much volume can fit in this beaker (google definitions)
-Frequency: is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency, which emphasizes the contrast to spatial frequency and angular frequency (Wikipedia)
-amplitude: the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium. (google definitions)
All of these things listed above are what’s need for sound to be produced, this is because sound needs has a pitch, frequency, needs volume, and has amplitude, all of which are either needed for sound to be made or measures something that has to do with sound.
In musical instruments sound can be amplified by doing simple things like putting more energy into a guitar stroke and pluck, or changing the angle at which your play the instrument. However despite these two ways at which you can amplify the sound of an instrument, I also came across electrical amplifiers through research. Electrical amplifiers include a preamplifier, a power amplifier, tone controls, and one or more speakers in a cabinet, a housing usually made of hardwood, plywood, particleboard, or, less commonly, moulded plastic. Instrument amplifiers for some instruments are also available without an internal speaker; these amplifiers, called "heads", have to be plugged into an external speaker cabinet.
A Fender "combo" amplifier being picked up with a microphone in a recording studio.

Instrument amplifiers are available for specific instruments, including the electric guitar, electric bass, electric keyboards, and acoustic instruments such as the mandolin and banjo (Wikipedia, instrument amplifier July 2007)
The speed of sound is not always the same. Remember that sound is a vibration of kinetic energy passed from molecule to molecule. The closer the molecules are to each other and the tighter their bonds, the less time it takes