solo or accompanied instrument?

I had one person ask me this when telling him about the theremin. Is the theremin a solo or accompanied instrument? I noticed that Clara Rockmore and others I heard on XM radio's Thouroughly Thrilling Theremin Theater always had piano accompaniment. Is the theremin flexible on this aspect and can be used as either solo or accompanied?

Risking taking this thread off topic, can you tell us more about the XM program? I haven't heard of it before, and though I don't have satellite radio, this could convince me to get one :)

Me too...

As far as your question, I think the theremin holds up either way.

I've always found it far easier to play along with other instruments. My hand seems to jump to pitches better. As a solo instrument the theremin can be beautiful, but it's much harder for me to get it to sound good.

Hey guys, TNX for the info.

The "Thoroughly Thrilling Theremin Theater" was a feature(I think that is the right word) that they used to play at randum times of the day on XM's Special X (Channel 30). The feature presentation would include around 2-3 songs that are played on a theremin. The feature did also include a neat introduction and outroduction too. The Special X channel was where all the weird 'none of the above/Dr. Dementoey' stuff would go.

Unfortunatly (I admit it, I liked Special X) Special X has been taken off the air so XM can make room for other channels, they say. Although I wonder if this is really the case since they left channel 30 empty with no programing on it. From what I understand, Special X has been moved to XM's online radio service. I have not heard the online version of Special X yet, since I am too cheap to pay the extra fee for getting their 75 or so online channels when I can get about 3000 or so channels from Live365 for around the same price. But, XM will start including their online radio service in the fee for their basic satelite radio service starting in April. I will let you know if Special X is on there and if Special X still includes "Thoroughly Thrilling Theremin Theater".

The "Thoroughly Thrilling Theremin Theater" program is what inspired me to take up the theremin.:)

I prefere it as an accompanied instrument..

theremin and acoustic guitar makes for a great jan session