Eerie sound of the theremin can be heard in Oklahoma City

The eerie, electronic notes of the theremin rise and fall with a wave of the hand near the machine.

Many people have heard the sounds the instrument known as the theremin makes, but they might not know what it is, Maggie Abel said.

The theremin was frequently heard in soundtracks of classic science fiction, suspense and horror films.

In 2015, Abel created a local theremin club, and is in her fourth year as president of the growing Oklahoma Theremin Society. About 30 theremin enthusiasts gather once a month to set up their theremins and play along to any song that comes to mind. There are no set lists at monthly gatherings, Abel said.

Ryan Hulin, 30, of Tecumseh, had played various stringed instruments, and he was "vaguely familiar" with the theremin when he decided to show up at a monthly meeting of the group in January. He said he had heard theremin music from 1950s science fiction films. Now he is learning to make the same kind of sounds.

"What I like is the eerie, hauntingly beautiful quality of the sound of it," Hulin said. "The mechanics of playing it are very interesting when you can just use your hands to change the pitch."

Abel had played the musical saw, accordion, harmonica and guitar before learning theremin four years ago.

The theremin, Abel explained, is played with bare hands that move in the air around it. A rectangular box with circuits and wires is mounted on a microphone stand. An antennae sticks out the right side of the box and another antennae sticks out the left side.

She said the notes blend together, sliding from high to low as she moves her right hand. The left hand controls volume, she said.

"It's like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time," she said.

In her living room in northwest Oklahoma City, a collection of accordions is found on the wood floor near a theremin. She makes sure someone standing near it is not too close to interfere with the sound.

"It can be kind of like an AM radio or an old TV," she said. Standing too close to it can interfere with the reception.

"So it is kind of an anti-social instrument," Abel said. "You have to keep people away from it."

She used her hands to make the whistling sound of a high note that quickly dropped to a low note with a slight drop of the hand.

With Virginia Campbell on an electric piano, Abel played “The Swan,” from “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens. Next the pair played a 1920s song, “Indian Love Call,” by Rudolph Friml.The theremin's sound can be similar to a violin, a woman's voice or cello.

The theremin was one of the first electronic instruments invented in 1920 in Russia by physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen, also known as Leon Theremin. The instrument was featured in music in the 1945 Alfred Hitchcock mystery movie, "Spellbound," and the 1951 science fiction film "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

"The attraction of the theremin for me is that it is an instrument that can be played by ear," Abel said.

She demonstrated how to make the wavy sound known as tremolo, shaking her right hand back and forth to manipulate the sound waves.

"Any song you have ever heard and loved you can just walk up and play it once you get the system down," Abel said.