The theremin ( / ˈ θ ɛr əm ɪ n / ; also called the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone, or termenvox / thereminvox ) is a musical instrument that is played without touching it. The person who plays it is called a thereminist. It was invented by Leon Theremin, who received a patent for it in 1928.

The theremin has two metal antennas that help control the instrument. These antennas are not used for radio signals but instead act as sensors. Each antenna works with one of the thereminist's hands to form a capacitor. The position of the hands changes the capacitor's properties, which controls the sound's pitch with one hand and its volume with the other. The electrical signals from the theremin are made stronger and sent to a loudspeaker to produce sound.

The theremin's sound is often linked to strange or unsettling situations.

History

The theremin was created as part of research supported by the Soviet government to develop sensors that detect nearby objects. The instrument was invented in October 1920 by the Russian physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen, who was known in the West as Leon Theremin. After traveling across Europe and showing his invention to many people, Theremin moved to the United States. There, he received a patent for his invention in 1928. Later, he gave the rights to produce the theremin commercially to the company RCA.

The RCA Thereminvox, released shortly after the 1929 stock market crash, was not a big success in sales. However, it captured the interest of audiences in the United States and other countries. Clara Rockmore, a famous theremin player, performed widely in the United States, often playing classical music in concert halls alongside the singer Paul Robeson. Joseph Whiteley, who used the stage name Musaire, performed with an RCA Theremin from 1930. His instrument is now on display at the Musical Museum in Brentford, England.

During the 1930s, Lucie Bigelow Rosen became interested in the theremin. She and her husband, Walter Bigelow Rosen, helped support the instrument’s development and spread its popularity.

In 1938, Theremin left the United States. The reasons for his departure are unclear. Some say he was taken from his apartment in New York City by agents of the NKVD (a group that later became the KGB) and sent back to the Soviet Union, where he was forced to work in a prison camp in Magadan, Siberia. He was not seen again until 30 years later. In a book about Theremin’s life, Albert Glinsky suggested that Theremin may have left to avoid financial problems and later became involved in political events in the Soviet Union. Theremin did not return to the United States until 1991.

After World War II ended, there was renewed interest in the theremin in the United States. However, it was soon used less by serious musicians because newer electronic instruments that were easier to play became available. A small group of people, including electronics hobbyists and those who build instruments from kits, continued to be interested in the theremin. Robert Moog, who was a high school student in the 1950s, started building theremins. He later wrote articles about how to build theremins and sold kits for people to assemble themselves. Moog said that this experience helped him create the Moog synthesizer. Around 1955, a colleague of Moog’s, Raymond Scott, used a part of one of Moog’s theremins to help create a new instrument called the Clavivox.

Today, theremins and kits to build them are still available. The Open Theremin, a project that allows anyone to use and modify its design and software, was created by Urz Gaudenz, a Swiss engineer. It uses a traditional method of creating sound and includes an Arduino, a type of microcontroller. With some extra parts, a MIDI interface can be added to the Open Theremin, allowing it to control different instrument sounds.

The theremin’s unique way of being played has been praised for helping people with disabilities make music more easily.

Operating principles

The theremin is a unique musical instrument because it is played without touching it. A thereminist stands in front of the instrument and moves their hands near two metal antennas. These antennas are not used for radio signals but function as parts of capacitors. One antenna controls the pitch (frequency) of the sound, and the other controls the volume (amplitude). Moving the hand closer to the pitch antenna produces higher notes, while moving the hand away from the volume antenna increases the loudness.

Typically, the right hand controls pitch, and the left controls volume, though some performers switch these roles. Some cheaper theremins use a knob for volume control and only have one antenna for pitch.

The theremin uses the heterodyne principle to create sound. Its pitch system includes two radio frequency oscillators set below 500 kHz to avoid radio interference. One oscillator has a fixed frequency, and the other’s frequency is slightly adjustable, depending on the performer’s hand position near the pitch antenna.

The performer’s hand has a large capacitance, acting as a grounded plate in a variable capacitor connected to an L-C circuit (a circuit with inductance and capacitance) that affects the oscillator’s frequency. In simple designs, the antenna is directly linked to the oscillator’s tuned circuit, creating a highly nonlinear pitch field because capacitance changes more rapidly near the antenna. When the antenna is removed, the oscillator’s frequency increases.

To make the pitch field more linear, the antenna may be connected in series with an inductor to form a tuned circuit. This circuit is then linked in parallel with the oscillator’s variable pitch circuit. When the antenna is disconnected, the oscillator’s frequency is slightly higher than the antenna circuit’s resonant frequency. At this point, the antenna and its coil act as an inductor in parallel with the oscillator, raising the oscillation frequency. Near the antenna circuit’s resonant frequency, the inductance is smaller, causing a larger effect on the oscillator. As the hand moves farther from the antenna, the resonant frequency of the antenna circuit increases, matching the oscillator’s frequency more closely, which amplifies the effect of small capacitance changes. With careful tuning, a nearly linear pitch range can be achieved over two or three octaves. Advanced designs can produce a full octave of pitch change with a capacitance shift as small as 0.01 picofarads.

The mixer combines the audio-range difference between the two oscillators’ frequencies, creating the tone. This tone is shaped, amplified, and sent to a loudspeaker.

For volume control, the performer’s other hand acts as the grounded plate of another variable capacitor. The distance between the hand and the volume antenna changes the capacitance, altering the resonant frequency of an LC circuit connected to a fixed LC oscillator circuit operating at a slightly higher frequency. When the hand approaches the antenna, the circuit’s natural frequency decreases, detuning the oscillator and reducing its resonant plate current.

In early theremins, the oscillator’s radio frequency plate current was used to power a diode-connected triode, which acted as a variable conductance element to control the output’s amplitude. The theremin’s original design included audio frequency LC filters and a variable-saturation transformer to shape the sound’s harmonic content.

Modern designs often simplify the circuit by using a single pitch oscillator, similar to the original volume circuit. However, this method is less stable and cannot produce low frequencies as effectively as the heterodyne oscillator. Better designs, such as those by Moog or Theremax, use two pairs of heterodyne oscillators for both pitch and volume control.

Performance technique

The way the theremin is played depends heavily on the volume control antenna. Unlike instruments that are touched, where stopping or damping a resonator silences the sound, a thereminist must carefully control both the notes and the rests, as Clara Rockmore noted.

If the pitch hand moves between notes without first reducing the volume, a "swooping" sound occurs, similar to a swanee whistle or a portamento on a violin. Small, quick movements of the pitch hand can create a vibrato effect. To play distinct notes, the volume hand must perform a quick, tapping motion to mute the sound while the pitch hand moves.

In 2004, thereminist Carolina Eyck developed a new method called the "8 finger position technique." For each octave, there is a fixed arm position, and for each note within the octave, specific finger positions are used. This allows for fast transitions between notes. With this technique, players can adjust the theremin to fit their hand and rely on finger positions instead of adjusting notes after they are played.

Although volume control techniques are less advanced than pitch control, some thereminists have worked to improve them. Examples include Pamelia Kurstin's "walking bass" technique and Rupert Chappelle's methods.

Harold C. Schonberg, a critic, described the theremin's sound as "[a] cello lost in a dense fog, crying because it does not know how to get home."

Uses

The first piece written for a theremin was Andrei Pashchenko's Symphonic Mystery, which premiered in 1924. Most of the sheet music for this work was lost after its second performance. In 1934, Edgard Varèse completed the composition Equatorial for two theremin cellos and percussion. His work influenced Frank Zappa, who also wrote music for the theremin.

Percy Grainger, a unique composer, used groups of four or six theremins instead of string quartets for his early experimental compositions (1935–1937). He did this because the theremin could produce smooth, sliding pitches. Jean-Michel Jarre used the theremin during his concerts Oxygène in Moscow (1997) and Space of Freedom in Gdańsk (2005). He also shared a brief history of Leon Theremin’s life during these events.

The five-piece band Spaghetti Western Orchestra used a theremin to replace Edda Dell'Orso’s vocals in their version of Ennio Morricone’s Once Upon a Time in the West.

In 2011, Kalevi Aho wrote a large-scale theremin concerto called Eight Seasons for Carolina Eyck. The premiere recording won an Echo Klassik award in 2015 for "Concert Recording of the Year." Another theremin concerto, Dancefloor With Pulsing by Régis Campo, was also written for Eyck and premiered in 2018 with the Brussels Philharmonic.

Other composers who have written for the theremin include Bohuslav Martinů, Percy Grainger, Christian Wolff, Joseph Schillinger, Moritz Eggert, Iraida Yusupova, Jorge Antunes, Vladimir Komarov, Anis Fuleihan, Fazıl Say, and Dalit Warshaw.

In 2019, the Matryomin ensemble, a group of 289 theremin players, set a Guinness World Record for the largest theremin ensemble. The group included Natasha Theremin, Masha Theremin, and Peter Theremin, who are the daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson of the instrument’s inventor. The name "Matryomin" combines the words matryoshka (a type of Russian doll) and theremin.

Other well-known theremin players today include Lydia Kavina, Pamelia Kurstin, Katica Illényi, and Thorwald Jørgensen.

Theremins and similar sounds began appearing in popular music in the late 1940s, with collaborations by Samuel Hoffman and Harry Revel. This trend has continued to the present day.

Lothar and the Hand People were the first rock band known to use a theremin in a live performance in November 1965. The band named their Moog theremin "Lothar."

The Beach Boys’ 1966 song Good Vibrations is often cited as the most famous example of the theremin in pop music, even though it does not use a theremin. The song used a similar instrument called an Electro-Theremin, invented by Paul Tanner. This led to a revival in theremin interest and increased awareness of analog synthesizers. In response, Moog Music began making ribbon-controlled instruments that could mimic the theremin’s sound.

Frank Zappa included the theremin on his albums Freak Out! (1966) and We're Only in It for the Money (1967).

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used a theremin-like device (with only a pitch antenna) during live performances of Whole Lotta Love and No Quarter. He also used the instrument in live solos and in the soundtrack for the 1982 film Death Wish II.

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones used the theremin on the group’s 1967 albums Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request.

Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon used a theremin in the band’s 1991 song Edison’s Medicine from the album Psychotic Supper. He is also seen playing the instrument in the song’s music video.

The Lothars, a Boston-based band formed in 1997, used up to four theremins at once in their music—a first for pop music.

Portishead used a monophonic synthesizer to create theremin-like sounds on their album Dummy. On other songs, they used a custom-made theremin.

Page McConnell, a keyboardist for the band Phish, occasionally plays the theremin. His last notable performance was in August 2017 at Madison Square Garden.

When Simon and Garfunkel performed The Boxer at Madison Square Garden in 2003, they used a theremin for the solo. The original recording used a steel guitar and piccolo trumpet.

Dmitri Shostakovich was among the first to include theremin parts in orchestral music, such as in the film Odna (1931). The theremin became popular in movies, including Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and The Thing from Another World. The theremin is also featured in the film The Delicate Delinquent and the 1956 short film A Short Vision. More recent uses include Monster House, Ed Wood, The Machinist, and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021), which all feature Lydia Kavina.

The theremin was not used in Forbidden Planet, where Bebe and Louis Barron created unique electronic sounds using oscillator circuits and a ring modulator.

Charles Richard Lester, a thereminist from Los Angeles, performed on the soundtrack for Monster House and played a 1932 score for Komsomol – Patron of Electrification with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007.

In the 2014 film Frank, the character Clara (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) plays the theremin in a band called Soronprfbs.

Charlie Rosen, the orchestrator for the Broadway musical Be More Chill, noted that the show was the first on Broadway to include a theremin in its band.

In 2005, composer Lera Auerbach wrote for the theremin in her ballet music for The Little Mermaid and again in Cinderella in 2011.

In 2007, the fast-food chain White Castle used a theremin performance by Jon Bernhardt of The Lothars in a television advertisement. This is the only known example of a theremin being the focus of an advertisement.

Celia Sheen plays the theremin in the TV series Midsomer Murders. In 2008, comedian Bill Bailey performed the theremin during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He also wrote about the instrument and used it in his

Similar instruments

• The Ondes Martenot, created in 1928, uses a method called heterodyning oscillators. It has a keyboard, a slide controller, and is played by touching it during performance.
• The Electronde, invented in 1929 by Martin Taubman, includes an antenna to control pitch, a handheld switch to start and stop notes, and a foot pedal to adjust volume.
• The Croix Sonore (Sonorous Cross) is inspired by the theremin. It was developed by Russian composer Nicolas Obouchov in France after he saw Lev Theremin demonstrate the theremin in 1924.
• The terpsitone, also created by Theremin, used a platform with antennas that a dancer could move around to control music. Most sources say the instrument was very difficult to use. Of the three built, only the last one, made in 1978 for Lydia Kavina, remains today.
• The Z.Vex Effects Fuzz Probe, Wah Probe, and Tremolo Probe use a theremin to control sound effects. The Fuzz Probe can function as a theremin by using feedback oscillation to produce tones of any pitch.
• The MC-505 by Roland includes a D-Beam sensor that works like a theremin by responding to hand movements.
• The Audiocubes by Percussa are glowing blocks with four sensors on each side (optical theremin). These sensors measure the distance between hands and objects to control sound or effects.
• A three-radio theremin (Super Theremin, スーパーテレミン) was invented by Tomoya Yamamoto (山本智矢). It uses three separate radio systems: the first listens and records signals at 1600 kHz, the second is tuned to 1145 kHz to receive signals from the first, and the third is also tuned to 1145 kHz to create sound changes through hand movements near its antenna.
• The Chimaera is a digital instrument based on the theremin and a touchless ribbon controller. It uses distance sensing with permanent magnets and an array of Hall-effect sensors to respond to moving magnets on fingers, creating a two-dimensional interaction space.
• Artefact #VII by Ini Archibong is a theremin placed inside a "pod-like sculpture" made of Japanese Tsugaru Nuri lacquerware.