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Starting in the summer of 1996, Page has occassionally played a theremin on stage. (Not used much since then, but see 8/6/97.) One of the first electronic instruments, and the only instrument played without being touched, the theremin (taer'-uh-min) was invented in 1918 by Leon Theremin (Lev Terman?), a Russian physicist born 1895 in St. Petersburg who stumbled upon the "device" while working with radio signals for the Russian goverment. It was first sold by in 1929 by RCA; Big Briar (Robert Moog's company) is the leading manufacturer today. (Thanks to Dave Miller and others.)

There was a special issue of Grand Royal magazine about electronicus (moogs, theremins, Dick Hymen, etc.) (Grand Royal is the accompanying rag for the Beastie Boys' label of the same name.) Also, an article in Electronic Musician included do-it-yourself instructions for building a Theramin -- not sure which issue. Online, see Dave Miller's, Bob Sexton's, or Jason Barile's page.

Also (as Marty Hergert posted 1/27/97), "there's a new book-and-cd collection on experimental musical instruments (of which the Theremin is included) called Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones, published by Ellipsis Arts. Some of it is really far out (like a woman playing "New York, New York" with car horns or people banging on ceramic pots), and some of it is so pleasing and unique sounding it's amazing that these instruments haven't gotten wider exposure (like Phil Dadson's tubes percussion stations featured in The Blue Man group's performance art). You must hear a track by Sugar Belly playing a saxophone made out of bamboo. "

The theremin (see picture and diagram) is a synthesizer that uses a field monitored by two antennae (one horizontal and one vertical, forming a right angle) as the input device (instead of, e.g., a keyboard.) The field created within this right-angle reads "capacitance" to produce noise sounding something like a cello.. Moving your hand (or a wand) within that angle disturbs and changes the electromagnetic field between the antennae, one of which reads changes in amplitude (and produces change in volume) and one of which reads change in frequency (and produces change in pitch). Brian Whitman posted (1-23-97) to the MMW net: "It works using the same theories that allow a good musician to tune instruments accurately. When you have an instrument that is out of tune to a reference note, you can hear a pulse in the sound that you can use to tune the instrument. The theramin works by using an electronic oscillator to create a high pitch tone (inaudible) as a reference tone, and another oscillator who's tuning is controlled by a simple antenna which detects changes in electical capacity. The produced tone is the 'pulse' frequency between the two oscillator frequencies." (You can build one.)

Think of the eerie sounds in 1950's horror and science fiction movies.

Theremins have been featured on the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" (at the end), in Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (in the middle), in the theme to the original Star Trek TV show, and in the themes of The Lost Weekend, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Ed Wood.

Lothar and the Hand People (60s acid rock band) used one frequently, and Jon Spencer (of Jon Spencer & the Blues Explosion) plays one on occasion.

The Beatles did not use a theremin, but Matthew Sweet did, on his album 100% Fun.

A recent use: A cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".

Bruce Haack once played on on Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood, and let Fred try, too.

James Coleman performed a theramin concert 1-28-97 at M.I.T.'s Killian Auditorium.

There's a 1994 movie, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, about inventor Leon Victor Theremin, and theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore (directed by Steve Martin - no, not the comedian; produced by Orion Classics), which is. now on video.

There's also the Theremin Enthusiasts Club International, and a newsgroup, alt.music.makers.theremin.

And, there's a freeware toy called MouseSing that let's you "play" your mouse like a theremin. (This is an updated version - no new features, but some bugs fixed if the other version isn't working for you.)

The real reason I don't have to tune or break strings is because of the pact with the Devil that I made.
That's just one of the clauses in the pact with the devil.
Actually, contract negotiations for artists have improved since Robert Johnson.
You gotta have a good lawyer when you're dealing with the devil.
My contract is way better than Robert Johnson's.
~ Trey Anastasio