The rest of the year, we work hard to convince people that the Theremin is a beautiful, lyrical instrument, able to play Classical music and with a quality not unlike a crystal-clear human soprano, and not in any way necessarily connected with aliens or b-grade sci-fi movies or, most of all, Halloween.
Yet, oddly, those traits that scared people away from the Theremin (boo!) are these days allowing them to approach it – Classical-level mastery to come later. So, perhaps it makes sense that Moog Music this year made glow-in-the-dark instruments and a video contest for Halloween. And, anyway — this is fun.
If you don’t find the zombie kids tooth-achingly cute, you’re possibly Halloween’s equivalent of Ebeneezer Scrooge / The Grinch. Moog Music’s finalists are, from top, adorable, silly-creepy, and … one mad trip. As for the score of the world’s oldest major electronic instrument, now about a century old? It’s still playable, still relevant, and more popular than ever.
And just remember: this is the instrument that inspired Bob Moog that inspired an entire revolution of synthesizers. So maybe this isn’t so silly, after all – all treat, no trick.