When setting up a theremin, remember that the sound of the instrument is controlled by the electric field around the antennas. Put your instrument either on a microphone stand or on a table. It is advisable to place the theremin at a distance of at least 1 m from massive metal objects, devices and walls. It is necessary to ensure that no one other than the performer is within a radius of 1,5 meters around the instrument. If you are surrounded by a large audience, the distance must be increased to 2.5 meters. If you are using an external speaker, it should be quite close (ca 1 meter) and directed at you, so that you can comfortably hear the sound you are controlling.
When playing the theremin, the performer controls the pitch and volume of the sound. These two functions are distributed between his two hands. One hand controls the amplitude by moving up and down in the air above the volume antenna. Another hand controls the pitch of the sound by moving from the body (right side of the chest) to the vertical antenna (mid of upper half of the antennae). When performing melodies on the theremin, a stable, motionless position of the body is required. Keep your posture straight, elbows relaxed, and feet slightly apart with one foot, that corresponds with your pitch-hand, slightly forward, for greater stability.
At this stage you can consider whether you would play the pitch with your right or left hand. Most common way around right-handed people is using your right hand. However, left-handed people and string instrument players might find it more convenient to use their left hand to control the pitch and control the volume with their right hand. There are some theremins build especially for left-handed playing. However, you can also play a common theremin left-handed way, if just turn it around and replace the volume antenna, so that it faces towards you with the half-loop.
The principle of setting up a pitch antenna is to position the audio range on the theremin in such a way that it is comfortable to play musical works on it. The tuning technique may vary slightly depending on the specific model of the theremin, its range, as well as the nature of the change in the distances between notes in different registers.
Digital theremins, such as Theremini, Open theremin, D-Lev, have calibration methods described in their menu. It is advisable to calibrate distances of your digital theremin as following:
The tuning of an analogue theremin may have two stages. In the first stage, stand in a position slightly to the left of the theremin line of symmetry and 25-40 cm from the volume antenna. You should arrange all the notes to be placed between your shoulder and the pitch antennae, within your arm’s length, however, not longer than the distance between the vertical antennae and middle point of the volume loop.
Rotate the pitch control button until your arm can cover the entire pitch range, from the lowest sounds at your shoulder to the highest sounds at the antenna. When tuned correctly, when you move your hand toward your shoulder, you will hear low bass notes.
The second stage would make sense when you learn moving your hand and fingers. Tune your instrument in such a way, that you would be able to play an octave by moving only your fingers and hand, from closed hand position to fingers stretched out, while bending the wrist, without moving your arm. Depending on a model of your instrument, the octave might be arranged comfortably only within a limited range. In this case, tune the instrument to be able to comfortably play the octaves in the preferred range.
Check the tuning periodically while using the tool. Any movement of the instrument or objects around it may require new settings. Instruments may also get out of tune due to the warming of the instrument, as well as temperature changes in the air.