Jew’s harp

Instrument group

Jew’s harp is a small instrument that is played in front of the mouth by typing the instruments reed with your finger. The mouth and various breathing techniques act as sound modifiers. The jew’s harp is a pluckable idiophone. The idioglotic models of the instrument can also be considered as intermittent-aerophonic freereed instruments, as some of these jew’s harps use the same type of freereed application as mouth organs.

Development and spreading

The date of birth of the jew’s harp is unknown. It is also impossible to determine the exact place of origin of the instrument because the original instruments or other signs of the group have been destroyed over time. In general, it can be said that jew’s harps developed during the Stone Age in Southeast Asia, making the duck harp one of the oldest known instruments of mankind.

The evolution of the free reeds can be considered to have started with idioglotic idiophones echoed by the oral cavity: the free reed acted on airflow in these models, just as in Sheng, which is clearly a further development of a simpler free reed application. The first jew’s harps were made of natural materials. The material could be bamboo, for example. Over time, the length of the reed and the materials of the jew’s harp have evolved, allowing for different playing techniques and instrument development. Long reeds can be played by typing, while short language can be played with different breathing techniques. The development of metallurgy is an important step in the evolution of the free reed instruments.

The jew’s harp and the current free reed have a connecting factor, although the link is indirect. The Chinese word chuàn means string and the word is used in China to describe reeds in sheng as well as jew’s harps. The idioglotic metal reeds used in these instruments is made in the same way regardless of the instrument: the brass or bronze piece is forged thin, after which the outer edges of the reeds edges are scratched into the metal with a sharp object and scratching is continued until traces appear on the other side. The last step is to lightly grind the hitherto untreated side of the piece of metal until the reed comes off its edges. There is a very small gap between the reed and its frame.

The instrument spread widely in Asia and to Europe the it traveled through Central Asia. European archeological finds of jew’s harps date back to the 13th century (Nordic countries) and the 14th century (Germany). However, the instrument is believed to have moved to Europe at the beginning of our common era. Today, the jew’s harp has spread to Europe, Southeast and Central Asia, Siberia, East India and the Pacific. The instrument has moved to Africa via Europe. In Europe, metallic jew’s harps are mainly played, while in Asia, models made of bamboo and wood are common.

Over time, the jew’s harp has been strongly associated with witchcraft and evil spirits, especially in Europe. In Asia, the instrument has been used in religious rituals and positive things have been associated with the instrument. In the 16th century, the general opinion in Scotland was that the jew’s harp had magical powers and was said to be used by witches to accompany dances on Giraffe Mountain. In North and Central Asia, shamans used the instrument to exorcize evil spirits. In the 19th century, the instrument was used in Europe, for example, for hypnotizing. In many countries, the harp has remained mainly an instrument for the poor.

Today, the harp is commonly used in various forms of music. By listening carefully to the songs playing on the radio, you may be able to distinguish the sound of the jew’s harp. For example, in the Red Hot Chili Peppers song Give It Away and in the Finnish band Apulanna song Twin Peaks, a jew’s harp is played. Jew’s harp music has also been recorded as solo music, but the recordings are quite limited.

Structure and principle of operation

Although the jew’s harp is made of one or more parts, the finished instrument has several designations, which are clarified in the figure below. The dimensions of the jew’s harp in the picture are 8.5 cm x 5.7 cm, so it is not a big instrument. Jew’s harps range in length from three centimeters up to 30 cm. However, the size of the reed is not very large, as it must accommodate vibrations between the lips. The building materials are mainly metal and bamboo, but the instrument is also made of wood. The instrument is also not expensive: the cheapest industrial models in Finland are about five euros, but handmade and nicely decorated models cost clearly more.

The basics of playing the harp are easy to learn in a fairly short amount of time. Here are the playing instructions in brief:

• Take a firm grip on the harp frame.
• Place your front teeth around the instrument’s arms. One arm is for the upper teeth and lip and the other for the lower teeth and lip, respectively. Leave your teeth open so that the reed can move freely. Keep your lips relaxed.
• Use the index finger to flick the instrument’s strings inwards or outwards If you have placed the instrument correctly in front of your mouth, a harp will produce sounds.
• The color of the sound can be changed by forming vowels as the language vibrates. Do not use the vocal cords to create sound. You can also use consonants to emphasize articulations. Use your mouth imaginatively to create sound.

Munniharppu, näkin harppu, devil’s iron violin …

The jew’s harp is the generic name for all its related instruments, just as the word “accordion” refers to all button or keyboard-operated, bellow-operated, lap-operated, free-reed musical instruments. The jew’s harp has hundreds of names in the world, maybe even thousands. There are differences between models and many models have their own designation.

Many of the names have been born in part through misunderstandings. Although the name Jewish harp has nothing to do with Jews or the harp, the name is used in English, for example. However, some people do not want to use the name because of its misleading and possibly offensive nature. The name Jew’s harp may have come from the French word “jouer”, which over time has been translated possibly incorrectly into English. The word Jouer means playing.

The word munniharppu has become in Finnish through Germanic languages. In Finnish, the jew’s harp is also called the Jewish harp, but to a lesser extent. Below is a list of Germanic-based indigenous peoples words that mean jew’s harp

• Swedish: mungiga, munharpa, näckens Harpa, hin ondes järnfiol, judeharpa
• Norway: munnharpa, munnharpe
• Danish: mundharpa, jødeharpa
• German: Maultrommel, Brummeisen, Brummstahl, Mundharp
• English: jew’s harp, jaws’ harp, jew’s Trump, Trump, jawharp, juice harp, giga