Want to try the theremin?

Tune In is a participatory workshop designed to discover the theremin, experience playing without touch, and explore sound together.

No need to read music or have any previous musical experience: here, you learn by doing. Participants discover how the theremin works, learn how to set it up and calibrate it, and explore the gestures used to control pitch and volume.

Combining hands-on introduction, sound games and collective experimentation, Tune In adapts to the audience, the venue and the context. Depending on the participants and the objectives, the workshop can focus more on learning the instrument, exploring sound or creating together.

What’s included:

• Discover how the theremin and its invisible waves work
• Set up and calibrate the instrument
• Explore sound through gesture and movement
• Control pitch and volume
• Discover the basic gestures and playing techniques
• Experiment through listening and creative sound games
• Play and create together

Tune In can take place almost anywhere: museums, libraries, schools, companies, festivals, cultural venues, institutions or even at home. The content and format are adapted to the participants’ age, group size and context.

Tune In is a first encounter with the theremin: discover, experiment and, above all… play!

The theremin is one of the most fascinating instruments in the history of music. Invented in Russia between 1919 and 1920, it was one of the first electronic instruments and, more than a century later, remains unique in being played without ever being touched.

Through rare archival material, live demonstrations and musical performances, The Singing Waves traces the extraordinary story of a truly remarkable instrument. How does it work? Why is it played in the air? How did it make its way from research laboratories to concert halls, from science-fiction films to contemporary creation?

Throughout this musical lecture, the theremin becomes a gateway into a story where technological innovation, artistic creation and geopolitical upheaval intersect. From research emerging out of the First World War to the beginnings of electronic music, from Hollywood studios to Soviet propaganda, its journey reveals unexpected connections between science, music, society and power.

Interspersed with musical excerpts performed live, this lecture combines history, demonstration and performance in an engaging and accessible format, offering audiences both discovery and wonder.

Presented more than fifty times in secondary schools, colleges, music schools and festivals, including Electrosanne and Electron, The Singing Waves appeals to curious minds as much as to those passionate about music, history or technology.