Theremin cats
May 22, 2008 3:19 PM Subscribe
You didn't think you could get away with leaving out the one that started it all, did you?
posted by chrominance at 3:28 PM on May 22, 2008 [5 favorites]
posted by chrominance at 3:28 PM on May 22, 2008 [5 favorites]
I totally love how their ears are all a-swivel.
"What!? What is that noise?"
"Look, it changes when you bite it."
"Bite it more! Maybe it'll stop!"
posted by loquacious at 3:28 PM on May 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
"What!? What is that noise?"
"Look, it changes when you bite it."
"Bite it more! Maybe it'll stop!"
posted by loquacious at 3:28 PM on May 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
Your first two links are identical...
Cool, but identical.
posted by tkolar at 3:42 PM on May 22, 2008
Cool, but identical.
posted by tkolar at 3:42 PM on May 22, 2008
My dog and the second link do not get along.
posted by miss lynnster at 3:48 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by miss lynnster at 3:48 PM on May 22, 2008
I meant the fourth link.
The second link is the same as the first. As previously mentioned. Cool, but previously mentioned.
posted by miss lynnster at 3:49 PM on May 22, 2008
The second link is the same as the first. As previously mentioned. Cool, but previously mentioned.
posted by miss lynnster at 3:49 PM on May 22, 2008
Our cats like full-sized theremins (from a kit), I just don't have any video to show you. The male confuses the volume and pitch control, though. I may have to train them to play it at the same time and then outfit them with mini-billboards.
posted by sleepy pete at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by sleepy pete at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2008
Whoops, and thanks for the links, piratebowling.
posted by sleepy pete at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by sleepy pete at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2008
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. Cool, but all alike.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:01 PM on May 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:01 PM on May 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
Oh, man, I thought I put different ones up. My brain is totally messed up by the sound waves of the theremin.
posted by piratebowling at 4:11 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by piratebowling at 4:11 PM on May 22, 2008
Also, chrominance's link was supposed to be the first one. Dammit. At least it made a showing.
posted by piratebowling at 4:17 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by piratebowling at 4:17 PM on May 22, 2008
Shouldn't you be agitating for the musicalinstrument tag here, flapjax?
posted by dersins at 4:40 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by dersins at 4:40 PM on May 22, 2008
Well, dersins, at my age, I try not to get too agitated. The ol' ticker jes' cain't take it!
Although, the inauguration of a catsplayingmusicalinstruments tag is perhaps worthy of consideration...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:02 PM on May 22, 2008
Although, the inauguration of a catsplayingmusicalinstruments tag is perhaps worthy of consideration...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:02 PM on May 22, 2008
Done and done.
posted by piratebowling at 5:10 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by piratebowling at 5:10 PM on May 22, 2008
My theremin! It sounds like crap!
(A kind of questionable musical instrument when played by someone who means to...)
But I'm not entirely convinced the cats are relating the sound to what they do. I'm sure they can hear the noise, but they just seem to be acting the way they'd act if you stuck any plastic box with a springy wire waving back and forth out of the top of it in front of them. Or an old shoelace. Or a bit of ribbon.
posted by Naberius at 5:19 PM on May 22, 2008
(A kind of questionable musical instrument when played by someone who means to...)
But I'm not entirely convinced the cats are relating the sound to what they do. I'm sure they can hear the noise, but they just seem to be acting the way they'd act if you stuck any plastic box with a springy wire waving back and forth out of the top of it in front of them. Or an old shoelace. Or a bit of ribbon.
posted by Naberius at 5:19 PM on May 22, 2008
My cat, who never pays any attention to what's on the screen, was absolutely fascinated by the sound of those videos. I would have decided to buy her a theremin except it seems that when cats play them, it sounds like dying violins.
posted by Maias at 5:27 PM on May 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Maias at 5:27 PM on May 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
That's what theremins sound like when people play them, too.
posted by dersins at 5:31 PM on May 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by dersins at 5:31 PM on May 22, 2008 [2 favorites]
That's what theremins sound like when people play them, too.
Sir, I give you The Swan, by Clara Rockmore.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 PM on May 22, 2008 [4 favorites]
Sir, I give you The Swan, by Clara Rockmore.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 PM on May 22, 2008 [4 favorites]
my boyfriend made a theremin from one of those build your own kits a couple years ago, and the first cool thing that happened was our cats swished their tails around it. cats and theremins really do go together.
posted by ifjuly at 6:39 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by ifjuly at 6:39 PM on May 22, 2008
I'll believe they [heart] theremin when one of the kitties figures out how to do this.
posted by squasha at 8:10 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by squasha at 8:10 PM on May 22, 2008
Sir, I give you The Swan, by Clara Rockmore.
When it came to the theremin, Clara Rockmore was more than just "people." She was a goddess. And certainly the only person I've ever heard who could make actual music with the damn thing.
(And no, Mr. Jon Spencer, waving the headstock of your guitar around the antennas doesn't count as "actual music.")
posted by dersins at 9:35 PM on May 22, 2008
When it came to the theremin, Clara Rockmore was more than just "people." She was a goddess. And certainly the only person I've ever heard who could make actual music with the damn thing.
(And no, Mr. Jon Spencer, waving the headstock of your guitar around the antennas doesn't count as "actual music.")
posted by dersins at 9:35 PM on May 22, 2008
This cat seems the closest to figuring out the link between the sounds and his gestures. But he may just be playing with the antenna. I wish we could see clearly a cat having an epiphany at the theremin, à la Moonwatcher in 2001 ( @ 5:14).
posted by jchgf at 9:50 PM on May 22, 2008
posted by jchgf at 9:50 PM on May 22, 2008
You beat me to it jchgf - that was easily my favourite cat/theremin video*...
*#4 - sentences I never thought I'd use.
posted by opsin at 3:24 AM on May 23, 2008
*#4 - sentences I never thought I'd use.
posted by opsin at 3:24 AM on May 23, 2008
I hear ya, dersins!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:50 AM on May 23, 2008
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:50 AM on May 23, 2008
While less electronic than playing a theremin, my mother has a marimba in her living room that the cat would occasionally make her way onto. It was always entertaining to be in a different room and hear very soft notes coming from it as the cat realized that if she wacked it just right, it would sing to her.
posted by quin at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2008
posted by quin at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2008
Whether the cats are aware or not of how they're interacting with the theremin is arguable. I see more confusion than anything else. Still can't believe I never thought of this. Now I need to get one for my brother's cat to make him extra annoying. Awesome post!
posted by Hugonaut at 8:42 AM on May 30, 2008
posted by Hugonaut at 8:42 AM on May 30, 2008
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