I am fascinated to read all of the recent postings concerning the
Theremin on the pages of the MMD, and I am bemused, in a good way,
to think of all you guys in the US playing along to your Duo-Art
and Ampico accompaniment rolls; it sounds like a delightful way to
spend time.  I guess that Theremins are more plentiful on your side
of the pond; here in the UK they seem harder to locate.

I am reminded of an experience I had about 15 years ago when I was
composing the score for an animated TV series called "Crapston Villas"
(which I notice is now available on DVD in the US).  The producers
wanted me to use a Theremin in places to give a retro "B movie" feel
to the soundtrack and, as is the way with such work, it had to be done
rapidly.

After many, many phone calls, we found the name of one professional
performer (who was French, I think), but he was out of the country on
a concert tour.  Then someone located a stand-up comedian (I forget his
name, but he was Scottish) who had an original Theremin which he used
in his stage act, and who, we were told, could play fairly well.

Unfortunately, he could not read music, so I was forced to record dummy
versions of the music cues for him to listen to in order that he could
learn his part.  It soon became apparent that this would mean creating
a synthesised computer version of the Theremin so that I could
communicate to the player the precise nuances which the music required,
entailing several extra all-night recording sessions.

On the evening of the recording, the performer came straight from
a club where he had been performing his stage act, and it was
immediately apparent that he was "a little the worse for wear".  Word
had gotten out about this unusual recording session and the studio was
invaded by interested parties from recording studios all over London
and, to make the situation even more stressful, the producers of the
show had decided to invite some of their friends along, arriving after
the session had started.

The stand-up comedian was, shall we say, not doing very well, and in
order to extricate myself from a very embarrassing situation, I played
my clients some of my computer-generated Theremin, passing it off as
the real thing and explaining to them that we had recorded it before
they arrived.  They were, of course, delighted with the results and
happy to leave en masse when I told them that the artiste performed
better without an audience.  Phew!

I was determined to have the real Theremin sound on my final mixes,
however, and spent many hours coaxing a performance from the guy, and
then many more hours individually re-tuning almost every note and slide
using a computer program designed for use with out-of-tune singers.
Some of the faux Theremin did eventually make its way onto the final
soundtrack when I needed to create additional music cues in a hurry,
but no-one ever mentioned it.

I feel that it is theoretically possible to create an automatic or
automaton Theremin, using Aeolian-style accordion bellows to control
two "hands".  Has anyone out there ever tried this?

Best wishes to all,
Rowland Lee
Lincolnshire, UK
http://www.rowlandlee.com/