Theremin

The theremin is a special electronic musical instrument that you can play without ever touching it. Instead, you control it by moving your hands close to two metal parts on the instrument. These parts sense where your hands are and change the sound based on how far away your hands are.

It was invented by Leon Theremin and he got a patent for it in 1928. When you play the theremin, it creates electric signals that are made louder and sent to a speaker so everyone can hear the music.

Because you don’t use your fingers to press keys or strings like with other instruments, the theremin can make sounds that feel mysterious and spooky. It’s often used in movies and music to create eerie feelings. One famous piece of music you might hear played on a theremin is J. S. Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".

History

See also: Leon Theremin

The theremin was created in October 1920 by Lev Sergeyevich Termen, known in the West as Leon Theremin. He invented it during research supported by the Soviet government. After showing his invention in Europe, Theremin moved to the United States and patented it in 1928. He gave the rights to make the instrument to RCA.

Even though the RCA Thereminvox, released after the stock market crash of 1929, did not sell well, it amazed people in America and other countries. Clara Rockmore, a famous theremin player, performed in concert halls across the United States, sometimes sharing the stage with bass-baritone Paul Robeson. In the 1930s, Lucie Bigelow Rosen and her husband supported the theremin's growth and popularity.

Theremin left the United States in 1938, and different stories explain why. Some say he was taken to the Soviet Union to work, while others think he left to avoid debt and was later caught in political troubles. He did not return to the United States until 1991.

After World War II, interest in the theremin dropped because newer electronic instruments were easier to play. But some people, especially those who liked building electronic devices, kept using it. Robert Moog, who later created the synthesizer, started making theremins when he was in high school. He wrote articles and sold kits for people to build their own theremins.

Today, theremins and kits are still available. The Open Theremin, created by Swiss microengineer Urz Gaudenz, uses the original design and can even connect to other instruments using a MIDI interface. The theremin is also praised for helping people with disabilities make music easily.

Operating principles

The theremin is special because you can play it without touching it. The person playing, called a thereminist, stands in front of the instrument and moves their hands near two metal parts called antennas. These antennas are not for radio—they help control the music.

One hand changes the pitch (how high or low the note is) by moving closer to or farther from one antenna. The other hand changes the volume (how loud the note is) by moving near the second antenna. Usually, the right hand controls pitch and the left controls volume, but some players switch it up.

Inside the theremin, tiny parts work together to create the sound based on how close your hands are to the antennas. This makes the theremin a fun and unique instrument to play and listen to.

Performance technique

When playing the theremin, the player uses a special antenna to control the volume. Unlike other instruments where you can stop playing by just pausing, a theremin player needs to control the quiet parts just as carefully as the notes. If you move your hand that changes the pitch without first lowering the volume, it makes a swooping sound like a whistle or a smooth slide on a violin. Small movements of the pitch hand can create a wobbling effect called vibrato. To play clear notes, the player must quickly lower the volume while moving the pitch hand.

In 2004, a theremin player named Carolina Eyck created a new way to play called the "8 finger position technique". This method uses fixed hand and finger positions for each note, making it easier to switch between notes quickly.

Even though controlling the volume is trickier than controlling the pitch, some players have found new ways to use it, like Pamelia Kurstin’s “walking bass” style.

The critic Harold C. Schonberg once said the theremin sounds like “a cello lost in a dense fog, crying because it does not know how to get home".

Uses

Concert music

The first big orchestra piece for the theremin was written by Andrei Pashchenko and played in 1924. Many of these early music papers were lost. In 1934, Edgard Varèse made a piece called "Equatorial" for two theremin cellos. Musician Jean-Michel Jarre used the theremin in concerts in Moscow in 1997 and Gdańsk in 2005.

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra uses a theremin instead of a singer in their version of Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". A big theremin piece called "Eight Seasons" by Kalevi Aho was written for Carolina Eyck in 2011.

Other composers who have used the theremin include Bohuslav Martinů, Percy Grainger, Christian Wolff, and Joseph Schillinger.

In 2019 in Kobe, Japan, a group of 289 theremin players set a world record. The group was called Matryomin, a mix of the words matryoshka and theremin.

Other famous theremin players include Lydia Kavina, Pamelia Kurstin, Katica Illényi, and Thorwald Jørgensen.

Popular music

Theremins and similar sounds began appearing in popular music in the late 1940s and have been used ever since. Lothar and the Hand People were the first rock band to play a theremin live in 1965.

The Beach Boys' 1966 song "Good Vibrations" used an instrument called an Electro-Theremin, which sounds like a theremin. Frank Zappa used the theremin on his albums Freak Out! and We're Only in It for the Money. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used a theremin in performances of "Whole Lotta Love" and "No Quarter".

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones used the theremin on their 1967 albums Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon used a theremin in the song "Edison's Medicine" from the 1991 album Psychotic Supper. The band Portishead used synthesizer effects to mimic a theremin on some of their songs.

Film music

The theremin was used in many famous movies, including Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Composer Miklós Rózsa helped make the theremin popular in Hollywood movies.

The theremin was also used in more recent films like Monster House, Ed Wood, and First Man. In the movie Frank, the character Clara plays a theremin in a band.

Theatre and performing arts

The Broadway musical Be More Chill was the first on Broadway to include a theremin in its band.

Composer Lera Auerbach used the theremin in ballet music for The Little Mermaid in 2005 and Cinderella in 2011.

Television

In 2007, the White Castle restaurant featured a theremin performance in a TV ad. Musician Bill Bailey has played the theremin in TV shows and comedy performances. Charlie Draper played the theremin in the TV series Loki. In The Big Bang Theory, character Sheldon Cooper plays the theremin.

Video games

A theremin-inspired tune is the theme for the Edison family in the game Maniac Mansion. Lydia Kavina's theremin music is in the 2006 game Soul of the Ultimate Nation.

The First Theremin Concert for Extraterrestrials

The First Theremin Concert for Extraterrestrials was the first musical message sent to space from the Evpatoria complex in Crimea in 2001. It featured seven melodies played on theremins by Lydia Kavina, Yana Aksenova, and Anton Kerchenko. The melodies included pieces by Beethoven, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and a Russian folk song. These melodies were sent six times over three days as part of the Teen Age Message.

Similar instruments

• The Ondes Martenot, made in 1928, works like the theremin but also has a keyboard and a slide you can touch while playing.
• The Electronde, invented in 1929 by Martin Taubman, uses an antenna to change pitch, a handheld switch for sounds, and a foot pedal to change loudness.
• The Croix Sonore (Sonorous Cross) is based on the theremin. It was made by Russian composer Nicolas Obouchov in France after seeing the theremin in 1924.
• The terpsitone, also made by Theremin, had a platform with antennas. A dancer could move around it to change the music, but it was very hard to control. Only the last one made in 1978 for Lydia Kavina still exists today.
• The Z.Vex Effects Fuzz Probe, Wah Probe and Tremolo Probe use a theremin to change effects. The Fuzz Probe can also be used as a theremin because it can make any pitch.
• The MC-505 by Roland can use its built-in D-Beam sensor like a theremin.
• The Audiocubes by Percussa are smart blocks that glow in the dark. Each side has four sensors that act like a theremin, measuring how close your hands are to change sounds or effects.
• A three radio theremin (Super Theremin, スーパーテレミン) was invented by Tomoya Yamamoto. It uses three old-style radios to create sounds that change when you move your hand near an antenna.
• The Chimaera is a digital version of the theremin that uses special sensors to detect magnets on your fingers, letting you control music without touching anything.
• Artefact #VII by Ini Archibong is a theremin placed inside a special "pod-like" sculpture made from Japanese Tsugaru Nuri lacquerware.