# The Theremin



## Edward Elgar

What an unusual yet delightful modern instrument! A good Japanese violinist got ill and couldn't carry on her instrument so she took up the theremin instead! It's used in film scores a lot.

Has anyone else played a theremin? If so - what did you think?


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## Edward Elgar




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## Frasier

I actually made one of those a while ago. The famous modern solo is in Messaien's Turangalila Symphony (about the only movement I can stomach), where it appears as an "ondes martentot", an instrument outwardly slightly different but on the same electronic principles. 

I wouldn't recomment buying a recording unless you're happy with Messaien on his bad hair days. Just this movement stands out as quite lyrical!


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## Violin_Frenzy

Edward Elgar said:


> What an unusual yet delightful modern instrument! A good Japanese violinist got ill and couldn't carry on her instrument so she took up the theremin instead! It's used in film scores a lot.
> 
> Has anyone else played a theremin? If so - what did you think?


I want a Theramin SOO bad! "The Flaming Lips" use one during live shows., it's pretty gnarly.


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## david johnson

the ones one've seen were cone shaped.

dj


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## Mark Harwood

VF, do some research before you buy one. There are several types. You can build one from a circuit diagram. A good 'un gives you control of volume as well as pitch. It's said that there is a great deal of skill in playing one well, but there's certainly fun to be had. 
Led Zeppelin used one on stage. My friend Graham, the name of whose band doesn't bear repeating on a family site, uses one in free-form improvisations. I'd like one too, but have friends, family and musical colleagues to consider.


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## Lisztfreak

I prefer the Ondes Martenot. It's somehow of a more pleasant sound. I've seen an excellent clip of an old virtuoso martenotist on Youtube. It's an educational video, you can learn the basic principles of the instrument watching it.


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## joen_cph

There is an unusually fine documentary about the theremin, its inventor and main protagonists
- including the virtuoso Clara Rockmore - by Steven M. Martin ("Theremin. An Electronic Odyssey",
1995). Theremin, a Russian of origin, made a career with his instrument in the US in the 20s, but was kidnapped by the KGB and lived a forgotten existence in the USSR for decades. Shortly before his death, 
he made a return trip to the US, meeting Rockmore and others.

However, I must agree with the opinions that the sound of the instrument itself (it is played by moving your hands with simple gestures _above_ the instrument, without actually touching it) is hardly a very pleasant one, an impression also strengthened by the documentary´s selection of slow and sentimental music-making. Originally, though, Rockmore was able to play fast, like a violin virtuoso, and the theremin was also of interest to the avant-garde as well as science fiction filmmakers ("The Day the Earth Stood Still"), thriller soundtracks and early rock music (The Beach Boys)..

There is a you-tube clip of Theremin from the USSR 1954






and another one that is earlier:






as well as, for instance, a typically bizarre "The Swan" with the elderly Rockmore


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## emiellucifuge

I got to play one, its a little abstract the relayion between your movements and the sounds produced.


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## wingracer

It's been used by quite a few pop and rock acts including the Beach Boys and one of my favorites, Matthew Sweet. 

I also saw a great piece on TV which talked about Theremin's work as a spy for the KGB. He invented one of the most ingenious listening devices ever.


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## Delicious Manager

The Beach Boys' song _Good Vibrations_ famously uses the Theremin (at 25 seconds in).


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## Argus

Delicious Manager said:


> The Beach Boys' song _Good Vibrations_ famously uses the Theremin (at 25 seconds in).


That's actually a Tannerin (or Electro-Theremin). Quite similar sound to the original theremin but with very different controls. The inventor actually performed the part in that Beach Boys song.

Like people have said, the sound of an unaffected theremin is a bit one dimensional, but the idea of having analogous control of pitch and volume just by moving your hands is ingenius. I'd like to get one and run it through some effects to see what I could coax out of it. The continuos glissando would become annoying but if you were to use a volume pedal to kill sound between tones it might sound more solid, a bit like a pedal steel guitar gone crazy.

Also, they look extremely hard to play well.


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## wingracer

Argus said:


> That's actually a Tannerin (or Electro-Theremin). a bit like a pedal steel guitar gone crazy.


What, you mean there is a pedal steel that HASN'T gone crazy? :lol:

I've always wanted to get a pedal steel. Awesome instrument.


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## Igneous01

it actually sounds quite amazing here


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## Vaneyes

A recent BBC article on Leon Theremin (1896 - 1993)...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17340257


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## sah

Other videos where the theremin is used:
http://elcastigodelassirenas.blogspot.com.es/2011/10/theremin.html

It seems that Clara Rockmore was not only a virtuoso player, but contributed also to improve the instrument:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Rockmore


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## cwarchc

There are quite a few clips on Youtube relating to this.
Some of them are very early and have the inventors daughter playing one
It looks as though it is very difficult to master, as you can tell by the various quality of the sounds on some of the clips.
However it is a facinating instrument


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## LordBlackudder

Sounds like something you take 3 times a day.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Varese used a fingerboard Theremin, also known as the Theremin Cello.

"Ecuatorial" by Varese, was scored for bass voice (or chorus of basses), brass, keyboard, percussion, and two electronic instruments built for Varèse by the inventor Leon Theremin (a later revision substituted two ondes Martenots for the Theremins).


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## MichaelSolo

There is a number of articles about Theremin in Wikipedia, all describing the inventor, his life and Theremin in fair details.

It mentions that at the height of its popularity in the 1930-s, there was a performance of multiple Theremins (*?) in Carnegie Hall. Also, it appears Theremin was not kidnapped, but left the US voluntarily, though somehow in secret, and was working, until retirement, in a number of "black" KGB research organizations. There he invented, for one, an ingenious eavesdropping device that was planted in the US Ambassy in Moscow and functioned for a number of years until, with great difficulty, it was finally found.


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## KenOC

MichaelSolo said:


> There he invented, for one, an ingenious eavesdropping device that was planted in the US Ambassy in Moscow and functioned for a number of years until, with great difficulty, it was finally found.



I think this was the bug that was hidden in the Great Seal of the United States, a big one hanging on a wall. I remember watching Henry Cabot Lodge on B&W TV speaking in the UN, thrashing the Soviets bitterly for this piece of (as he pronounced it) esSPYonage.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

KenOC said:


> I think this was the bug that was hidden in the Great Seal of the United States, a big one hanging on a wall. I remember watching Henry Cabot Lodge on B&W TV speaking in the UN, thrashing the Soviets bitterly for this piece of (as he pronounced it) esSPYonage.


Correct - the story is told in Spycatcher Peter Wright a former MI5 officer's Autobiography- its a great read, got it when in first came out. We Aussies were lucky, it got published first in Australia, when others tried to ban the book.


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## ptr

Little known factoid: Shostakovich was one of the first composers to uses the Theremin in at least (IRC) one of his film scores from the 30's (Odna)!

/ptr


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## millionrainbows

As Argus said, Good Vibrations featured the instrument he mentioned; pitch was controlled by moving your finger along a "ribbon controller," a flat strip.

I've got a Moog Theremin, designed by Bob Moog (mine's black, like Sheldon's). I found it in a pawn shop for $230, and did a lay-away. It's a great instrument, and very flexible. The oscillator's pitch-range can be changed with a knob, and the degree of volume-sensitivity can be determined, so you can customize the settings to your desires. It mounts on a mike stand.

Put a little reverb or echo on it, and it can provide hours of fun.

The guitar/theremin mentioned by Mark Harwood was originally developed by Randy California (of Spirit), and he turned-on Jimmy Page to the idea when Spirit toured Britain. Page's use of it can be heard during the "space section" of "Whole Lotta Love," where the "zipping" sound of the Theremin is run through an echo unit.


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## rrudolph

If you're interested in the theremin, please have a look at the theremin-based chamber ensemble I play in here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DivineHandEnsemble

I play vibes and marimba in the group. The videos with glockenspiel in them are from before I joined; I'm NOT the guy playing glock (he's our guitar player now).

Our thereminist believes that the theremin should be treated as just another musical instrument rather than a source of sound effects or a novelty. I totally agree with him; when played tastefully (and in tune) it's a wonderfully expressive instrument. When played poorly (which unfortunately happens too often), it's another matter entirely....


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## millionrainbows

I need to put in some practice on the Theremin...I haven't touched it in months! :lol:

My callouses are getting soft! :lol:


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## sharik

joen_cph said:


> Theremin, a Russian of origin, made a career with his instrument in the US in the 20s, but was kidnapped by the KGB


nonsense. Theremin was a stalwart communist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_Theremin#Return_to_the_Soviet_Union i personally met him in his late days in the 1980s.


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## millionrainbows

sharik said:


> nonsense. Theremin was a stalwart communist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_Theremin#Return_to_the_Soviet_Union i personally met him in his late days in the 1980s.


"Kidnapped" is being used as a figure of speech here. He was "convinced" to go back to Russia and do work for the military, instead of parading around with celebrities and making musical instruments, just the same way Putin is "convincing" the Ukraine to rejoin Russia.


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## lincrusta

rrudolph said:


> If you're interested in the theremin, please have a look at the theremin-based chamber ensemble I play in here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DivineHandEnsemble
> 
> I play vibes and marimba in the group. The videos with glockenspiel in them are from before I joined; I'm NOT the guy playing glock (he's our guitar player now).
> 
> Our thereminist believes that the theremin should be treated as just another musical instrument rather than a source of sound effects or a novelty. I totally agree with him; when played tastefully (and in tune) it's a wonderfully expressive instrument. When played poorly (which unfortunately happens too often), it's another matter entirely....


Very cool! Currently studying the theremin; always neat to hear about thereminists in chamber ensemble.

I can see where he's coming from, but the use of the theremin for sound effects must be commended and has brought some major pieces in itself (as well as balance to Rockmore's inaccessibility to masses). Plus, using it as novelty was what got us the "Spellbound Concerto", which is brilliant and beautiful to me. Then again that's my opinion...  Guess I fall between Rockmore's and Hoffman's theremin worlds.

Here's a great read on Hoffman, which also brings up _Spellbound_.


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## rrudolph

The thereminist I work with (the guy in the videos I linked to) did a performance of Spellbound Concerto with the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic (with whom I have also performed, as a percussionist) on New Year's Eve. Great piece! Rosza was a great composer, whether for movies or concert stage.


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## lincrusta

Speak of the devil; just got a copy of the concerto in the mail today (whole score).  Super cool that he performed it!


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## GioCar

Just listened to this new recording:










Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Theremin and Chamber Orchestra "The Eight Seasons" (2011), paired with his horn concerto (2011) - far less interesting.

Amazing! The composer exploited all different possibilities of the instrument...sometime it sounds like a violin, some other time like a human voice...

This is taken from the CD booklet, Aho's words:
_I composed the concerto in the autumn of 2011. The work is dedicated to Carolina Eyck and bears the title Eight Seasons - and its eight movements, played with out a break, are just like a musical year; since ancient times the Sami people (the original inhabitants of Lapland) have divided the course of the year into eight sections._
_My choice to use an electronic instrument to depict the course of the year in the far North reflects the shamanistic aspect of the instrument. To hear the theremin as a solo instrument can be a magical experience for the listener. The soloist is like a __magician, a weaver of spells, producing music just by moving his hands without touching the instrument at all._


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## LarryShone

I'd love one of these, amazing device. There was one being set up in Durham Cathedral last time I was there but I was unable to attend the concert.


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## Guest

The very wonderful Portishead use one on the song Mysterons.


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## MoonlightSonata




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## omega

Fazil Say uses a Theremin (among many other crazy things) in his 3rd symphony _Universe_.
You can hear & see it at 9:20 for example.


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## QuietGuy

Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound Concerto uses the theremin.





 (theremin section only.)


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## MT Conducts

I've tried...and tried...and tried again, but absolutely cannot get used to the Theremin sound. It tends to grate on my ears and nerves. I was brought up on classical music - heading towards becoming a concert pianist at one point in my life, then switched to the vocal arts - including opera. To me, there's something unnatural about the sound it produces. Does anyone else feel that way? Or...am I t total outsider?!?!?!


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