Artist, musician, and engineer Charles Hobbs will lead participants in a private theremin lesson intended to familiarize participants with this obscure instrument and the unique way it uses subtle body movements to produce sound.

What is a Theremin?

The theremin is an electronic musical instrument invented in 1919 by the Russian physicist Leon Theremin. To play the theremin, performers don’t touch the instrument, but rather move their hands in proximity to its antennas. Inclusion in the movie soundtracks for Miklós Rózsa’s Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, and Bernard Herrmann’s The Day the Earth Stood Still has led to the theremin’s association with the science fiction genre. Theremins are also used in concert music (especially avant-garde and 20th- and 21st-century new music) and in popular music genres such as rock.

About the Instructor:

Charlie Hobbs is an artist, musician, teacher and engineer living in Brooklyn, NY.  His haunting and often humorous sculptural work ranges from robotic ghosts to collapsing spring-loaded ladders and inflatable breathing Doritos Bags. He is the creator of the Hobbs Theremin – a contemporary professional-grade electronic musical instrument inspired by the distinct circuitry and unique sound of the original instruments from the 1920’s.