How does a glass harmonica work?
How does it work? Franklin’s design called for 37 different-sized glass bowls to be threaded on to an iron spindle, which is rotated using a foot pedal, like a spinning wheel. Lightly touching the rims of the bowls with fingertips that have been dabbed in water and chalk makes the spinning bowls “sing”.
What culture is the glass harmonica from?
The Irish musician Richard Pockrich is typically credited as the first to play an instrument composed of glass vessels (glass harp) by rubbing his fingers around the rims. Beginning in the 1740s, he performed in London on a set of upright goblets filled with varying amounts of water.
How does the glass harmonica work?
Who was the inventor of the glass harmonica?
Glass harmonica, musical instrument consisting of a set of graduated, tuned glass bowls sounded by the friction of wetted fingers on their rims. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin and was derived from the vérillon ( musical glasses ), a set of glasses, holding different amounts of water and thus yielding different notes,…
Why did people get sick from the glass armonica?
Some people thought that the high-pitched, ethereal tones invoked the spirits of the dead, had magical powers, or drove listeners mad. Others thought that lead from the crystal bowls or paint was absorbed into the musicians’ fingers when they touched the glass, causing sickness.
What happens when you put water in a glass harmonica?
However, William Zeitler put this idea to the test by rotating an armonica cup into a basin of water; the water has the same effect as putting water in a wine glass – it changes the pitch. With several dozen glasses, each a different diameter and thus rotating with a different depth, the result would be musical cacophony.
Is there a glass harmonica at the Franklin Institute?
The Franklin Institute is also the home of the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. A website has attempted to catalog publicly known Franklin-era glass armonicas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has an early 19th-century instrument on display, which is occasionally used for public performances and recordings.