What is the instrument or device that you move your hands above to make notes?

Question

there is an electronic device that you move your hands above to make notes you move them in any direction and it makes a different sound. it is pretty old . i think it looks like a VCR with an antenna coming out of the side. any idea what the instrument is called?

Answer 1

You are thinking of the Theremin. It is probably the first real electronic musical instrument, and was used to produce the eerie sound for a lot of early classic Science Fiction movies, like for example "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

It has two antennae, one of which controls the pitch (note) of the music and the other the volume. It is played by waving your hands -- you don't actually touch the instrument, you just move your hands closer or further from the antenna to make the pitch go up and down or become louder/softer. A very cool instrument. I am attaching the link from wikipedia.

Answer 2

The theremin is one of the earliest electronic musical instruments, and the first musical instrument played without being touched.  It was invented by Russian inventor Léon Theremin in 1919.

The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennae which sense the position of the player's hands and control radio frequency oscillator(s) for frequency with one hand, and volume with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. The theremin is an electrophone, a subset of the quintephone family.

To play, the player moves his or her hands around the antennas, controlling pitch and amplitude.  The theremin is associated with an "eerie" sound, which has led to its use in movie soundtracks such as those in Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Theremins are also used in art music (especially avant-garde and 20th century "new music") and in popular music genres such as rock and pop.