I stumbled upon this video on the YouTubes and was like “WHAT IS THIS WIZARDRY?!?!?!” so I had to look it up.

The thing she’s playing is called a Theremin. Named after its inventor, Leion Theremin, it’s played without any actual physical contact with the instrument.

The box in the middle contains radio tubes that produce oscillations that are at sound wave frequencies above what humans can hear. When the two waves combine, they produce a lower, audible frequency.

The two antennas are sensitive to where the player’s hands are: one antenna controls the pitch and the other the volume. Moving one’s hands towards/away from either of these antennas alters the inaudible frequencies.

Another cool vid by the same lady:

I WANT ONE

(A Theremin, not the lady, haha. Though she’s super talented!)