To answer the question in the headline of this article, the short answer is: yes. Jim Parsons actually taught himself how to play the theremin for “The Big Bang Theory.”
In the episode “The Bus Pants Utilization” (January 6, 2011), the lead characters gather together to invent an app that lets users solve differential equations. Such an app, they figure, is specialized enough that no one else has published one yet, and they begin to have fantasies about potential wealth and fame. Sheldon (Jim Parsons, giving a career-altering turn), however, begins to fantasize that their roommate Penny (Kaley Cuoco) might be angling to steal their idea, even though she clearly wants nothing to do with it. Sheldon also becomes preoccupied with their team’s command structure and who the leader might be. He becomes caty, cruel, and vindictive, making fun of his teammates to assert his leadership over them.
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Sheldon is eventually, understandably, kicked off the team. As revenge, he extracts his theremin while his friends are having a meeting, and plays it as loudly as possible. This will eventually get Sheldon kicked out of the apartment as well. He will end up playing “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” in the hallway, trying to sing along to his own theremin playing. Penny will have to teach Sheldon how to apologize before he will be let back in.
Yes, that was a real theremin, and yes, Parsons was actually playing it. He admitted in a Paleyfest interview (reported on by The Hollywood Reporter) that he wasn’t very good at playing the theremin — he said that his inabilities brought him to tears — but he was actually playing it.
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What is a theremin?
Parsons is actually rather musically inclined, saying in an interview with NPR that he is able to play the piano, having practiced from an early age. The theremin, however, was something he had to learn for the show. Given what we hear, he avails himself well enough. Although he is no Clara Rockmore.
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The theremin was invented by Leon Theremin, an inventor who developed listening devices, electromagnetic televisions, a burglar alarm, and the world’s first drum machine. His instrument, the theremin, gave off electromagnetic waves that could be interrupted and manipulated by a player’s hands. A vertical metal beam allowed one to alter the tone, while a horizontal metal loop controlled the volume. A player would change the tones without having to touch the instrument at all. It was the first electronic instrument to be mass-produced.
Its electronic hum was eerie and ethereal, and filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s found themselves drawn to the sound. Famously, one can hear theremin music in Miklós Rózsa’s score for “Spellbound” and in Bernard Hermann’s score for “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was used by Elmer Bernstein for “Ghostbusters” and retained for its late-stage sequels. There is a theremin whining in the background of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” Frank Zappa was fond of it. There is a passing mention in “The Big Bang Theory” that a theremin was also used for “Star Trek,” but that is incorrect.
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The story of Leon Theremin, his instrument, and all his other inventions is detailed in the very good 1995 documentary film “Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey.” Leon Theremin was a fascinating man, and his experiments with electromagnetism were cutting-edge. It’s not available on streaming, but one can see it on the Internet Archive. It’s more than “the sci-fi instrument.” It’s a part of a vast culture of electronic music.
