Sean Michaels rides the theremin’s unique waves to Giller nomination

TORONTO – Chances are, if you have a memory of theremin being used in a pop song it’s the trilling whistle surfing through the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.”

But that’s not a theremin — it’s a Tannerin, or electro-theremin.

Well, how about the oft-cited quivering birdsong that memorably sings through the theme from “Star Trek,” often believed to be the theremin? No, actually, that was just the voice of studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman.

Such is the plight of the oft-misunderstood theremin — a mystery of an instrument, a magic trick to play. It’s then perhaps not surprising that Sean Michaels, even after writing a Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated novel inspired in part by the theremin and then acquiring two of the instruments for himself, is still basically terrible at playing it.

“I’m incompetent,” he conceded cheerfully during a recent telephone interview from Montreal. “My ability in the theremin is not very much better than a person on the street.

“I can play ‘Happy Birthday,’ but it’s only recognizable as ‘Happy Birthday’ if it happens to be your birthday.”

A celebration has indeed been in order, of course, given Michaels’ Giller nod for “Us Conductors.” His life has been a “restless zoom” since, with appearances in Calgary, Toronto, Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver following each other in close sequence.

There was a time when Michaels would have brought one of his theremins to those public readings and appearances before attempting to weave some onstage magic. Eventually, the music journalist-turned-author decided the message was better-delivered by professionals.

Invented by Russian physicist Lev Termen (the westernized version of his name giving the instrument its title), the theremin is played without physical contact. Antennas ascertain the position of the player’s hands, which manipulate frequency and amplitude, and the signals are sent to an amp.

Michaels memorably described the resultant sound in his book: “DZEEEEOOOoo.” Most people now fondly associate it with the scores of old science fiction and horror movies, if they think of the theremin at all.

In Michaels’ case, he co-founded the pioneering mp3 blog Said the Gramophone in 2003, a source of thoughtful writing on all types of music.

He says the theremin and Termen’s story were both “bundled up on (his) writers’ bindle” for a while. But he does recall a moment of theremin eureka.

Almost a decade ago, he wandered off on an evening drive and stumbled upon a “beautiful opera aria” on the radio. The voice of the fragile soprano especially moved him. It was a “magical moment.”

“At the end of the segment, the host explained that we’d been listening to a thereminist. It wasn’t a human singer,” he said. “That really blew my mind.”

For “Us Conductors” — whose Giller fate will be decided Monday at the Rick Mercer-steered gala — he used key details of Termen’s life and dreamed up the rest. It’s fiction, and the theremin’s a metaphor for the invisible forces that compel all of us.

But Michaels is also pretty into the theremin on its own merits. He owns two, one a Moog Etherwave and the other a Paia Theremax Theremin assembled by his father.

So there’s a sense of underlying activism to “Us Conductors,” in a sense.

“I was very drawn to writing about the theremin because it’s been so misunderstood,” Michaels said. “People only think of it as a joke or a weird UFO soundtrack. But when it’s played by a virtuoso, as it was done a lot when it was first invented and more rarely now, it’s this incredibly beautiful, subtle instrument.

“I really hope that anyone who reads my book or hears about my book seeks out some of that beautiful theremin music,” he adds later. “Whether live or on YouTube or in recording, because it’s … really unlike anything else.

“It feels more like sorcery than it does like plain old music-making.”

— Follow @CP_Patch on Twitter.

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