The woman who conjured music from thin air

The March 9 Google Doodle honors Clara Rockmore on what would have been her 105th birthday. Rockmore, who died in 1998, was a Jewish Lithuanian virtuosa player of the theremin, the world’s first electronic instrument and the precursor to the synthesizer.

The theremin is also the world’s first instrument to be played without human contact.

Visitors to Google’s website today have a chance to virtually play some simple melodies on the theremin at the instruction of an animated figure representing Rockmore.

Rockmore was born Clara Reiesenberg in Vilnius on March 9, 1911. A child prodigy on the violin, she abandoned that instrument when she developed arthritis soon after immigrating to the United States in 1921. Instead Rockmore, who had perfect pitch, took up the theremin and became expert at it. Soon, she gained world renown for her performances on this instrument that outputs electrical audio signals that drive a loudspeaker to produce sounds.

The theremin (also known as an ethereophone) was invented and first demonstrated by Leon Theremin (born Lev Termen) in Leningrad in 1919. Although the theremin, patented in 1928, was not the first musical instrument exploiting electricity, it was the first to take off and grab the attention of composers.

The theremin has two antennas — a vertical one on the right side controlling pitch, and a horizontal one on the left controlling volume. The player’s hands move closer and further away from the antennas to produce sound. Later designs included an “aerial fingering” feature initially suggested to Theramin by Rockmore that lets the player change notes with different hand gestures.

Rockmore first became interested in the theremin after meeting its inventor in New York.

‘I was fascinated by the aesthetic part of it, the visual beauty, the idea of playing in the air’

“I was fascinated by the aesthetic part of it, the visual beauty, the idea of playing in the air. I tried it, and apparently showed some kind of immediate ability to manipulate it,” she is quoted by The Telegraph.

The theremin and its greatest player made an impact on some of the biggest names in rock music. According to the Telegraph, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page kept a theremin on stage, and the Rolling Stones used it on “Between the Buttons” and “Their Satanic Majesties Request.”

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was captivated by the electronic instrument’s sound, as well. The main melody of “Good Vibrations” was played on an electro-theremin, an instrument that mimics the theremin.

Robert Moog, who built the first voltage-controlled synthesizer was influenced by the theremin. The Moog synthesizer was in turn used by legendary bands like the Beatles, the Byrds and the Doors.

Arguably one of the more complex Google Doodles to produce, this one honoring Rockmore is sure to interest more people in the theremin and will strike a chord for those hip to the popular electronically-driven music of the last half-century.