Jew's harp

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Jew's harp

Altai khomus/kamus
(Listen)

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Jew's harp sold as "Snoopy's Harp", as featured in the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown

The Jew's harp, also known as the jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, trump, or juice harp, is a lamellophone instrument, which is in the category of plucked idiophones: it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. The tongue/reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note.

Characteristics

The frame is held firmly against the performer's parted teeth or lips (depending on the type), using the jaw and mouth as a resonator, greatly increasing the volume of the instrument. The teeth must be parted sufficiently for the reed to vibrate freely, and the fleshy parts of the mouth should not come into contact with the reed to prevent damping of the vibrations. The note or tone thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of his or her mouth, and the amount of air contained in it (and in some traditions closing the glottis), the performer can cause different overtones to sound and thus create melodies. The volume of the note (tone) can be varied by breathing in and out.

History

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Young man with Jew's harp by Dirck van Baburen

This instrument is considered to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 4th century BC. Despite its common English name, and the sometimes used Jew's trump, it has no particular connection with Jews or Judaism. This instrument is native to Asia and used in all tribes of Turkic peoples in Asia, among whom it is variously referred to as a temir komuz (literally, iron komuz), agiz komuzu (literally, mouth komuz), gubuz or doromb.

The instrument is known in many different cultures by many different names. The common English name "Jew's harp" is sometimes considered controversial or potentially misleading, and is thus avoided by a few speakers or manufacturers. (For example, the above-pictured tie-in Jew's harp from the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown is sold as "Snoopy's Harp" instead.) Other speakers believe the avoidance of the term to be offensive and deliberately use the term so as not to cause offense. Another name used to identify the instrument, especially in scholarly literature, is the older English trump, while guimbarde, the French word for the instrument, can be found in unabridged dictionaries and is featured in recent revival efforts.

Since trances are facilitated by droning sounds, the Jew's harp has been associated with magic and has been a common instrument in shamanic rituals.

The temir komuz is made of iron usually with a length of 100–200 mm and with a width of approximately 2–7 mm. The range of the instrument varies with the size of the instrument, but generally hovers around an octave span. The Kyrgyz people are exceptionally proficient on the temir komuz instrument and it is quite popular among children, although some adults continue to play the instrument. There is a National Artist of Kyrgyz Republic who performs on the instrument, temir komuz. One time twenty Kirgiz girls played in a temir komuz ensemble on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Temir komuz pieces were notated by Zataevich in two or three parts. Apparently an octave drone is possible, or even an ostinato alternating the fifth step of a scale with an octave.

Demir-khomus from Tuva

Etymology

There are many theories for the origin of the name Jew's harp. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this name appears earliest in Walter Raleigh's Discouerie Guiana in 1596, spelled "Iewes Harp." The "jaw" variant is attested at least as early as 1774 and 1809, the "juice" variant appeared only in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It has also been suggested that the name derives from the French "Jeu-trompe" meaning "toy-trumpet".

Theories that the name is a corruption of "jaws" or "jeu" are described by the Oxford English Dictionary as "baseless and inept"; the OED also says that, "More or less satisfactory reasons may be conjectured: e.g. that the instrument was actually made, sold, or imported to England by Jews, or purported to be so; or that it was attributed to them, as a good commercial name, suggesting the trumps and harps mentioned in the Bible."

Expression: "In endeavouring to illustrate a continuous strain of thought passing over a wide range of subject, one of my chief aims was diversity of form and variety of style; but there can be no doubt that versatility is always in danger of running into imitation. Play always on the Jew's harp, and no one will accuse you of imitating the tone of any other instrument. I do not pretend that my own instrument is an organ: but I would rather it should be the smallest harmonicum than the strongest and shrillest Jew's harp."

Use

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Man playing the Slovakian drumbľa

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Woman playing the Rajasthani morchang

Carnatic music

The instrument, known as morsing in South India, is part of the rhythmic section in a Carnatic music ensemble.

Turkic traditional music

See also: Music in the Tyva Republic and Music in the Sakha Republic

The instrument is also used by Sakha or Yakut people and Tuvans with the name xomus, or khomus.

Sindhi music

In Sindhi the Jew's harp is called Changu (چنگُ). In Sindhi music, it can be an accompaniment or the main instrument. One of the most famous players is Amir Bux Ruunjho.

World music

The Jew's harp is frequently to be found in the repertoire of music played by alternative or world music bands. Sandy Miller of the UK-based Brazilian samba/funk band Tempo Novo, plays a Jew's harp solo in the piece Canto de Ossanha.

Austrian Jew's harp playing

Whereas Jew's harp music is predominantly played with a drone, i.e., the one fundamental note is sounding throughout the playing, the tradition in Austrian folk music since about the 18th century has been to use multiple Jew's harps tuned to the main degree of a diatonic scale that are used according to the chords of the music. Thus, Austrian Jew's harp music uses typical Western harmony. In recognition of this special development, the UNESCO has included Austrian Jew's harp playing in its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Western classical music

The Austrian composer Johann Albrechtsberger—chiefly known today as a teacher of Beethoven—wrote seven concerti for Jew's harp, mandora, and orchestra between 1769 and 1771. Four of them have survived, in the keys of F major, E-flat major, E major, and D major. They are based on the special use of the Jew's harp in Austrian folk music.

The American composer Charles Ives wrote a part for Jew's harp in the Washington's Birthday movement of A Symphony: New England Holidays

See also

• Đàn môi, another kind of jaw harp from Vietnam
• Gogona, a similar instrument played by Assamese people (especially women) while singing and dancing Bihu
• Kouxian, the Chinese version
• Kubing, a bamboo jaw harp from the Philippines
• Morsing, Carnatic jaw harp
• Mukkuri, a traditional bamboo instrument of the Ainu of Japan, similar to a jaw harp.
• Music of Central Asia
• Traditional music of Sicily
• Musical bow, a one-string harp that is played with mouth resonance.
• Piperheugh, a village in which trumps were once made.

References

Bibliography

• Alekseev, Ivan, and E. I. [i.e. Egor Innokent'evich] Okoneshnikov (1988). Iskusstvo igry na iakutskom khomuse. IAkutsk: Akademiia nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe otd-nie, IAkutskii filial, In-t iazyka, lit-ry i istorii.
• Bakx, Phons (1992). De gedachtenverdrijver: de historie van de mondharp. Hadewijch wereldmuziek. Antwerpen: Hadewijch; ISBN 90-5240-163-2.
• Boone, Hubert, and René de Maeyer (1986). De Mondtrom. Volksmuziekinstrumenten in Belgie en in Nederland. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre.
• Crane, Frederick (1982). "Jew's (jaw's? jeu? jeugd? gewgaw? juice?) harp." In: Vierundzwanzigsteljahrschrift der Internationalen Maultrommelvirtuosengenossenschaft, vol. 1 (1982). With: "The Jew's Harp in Colonial America," by Brian L. Mihura.
• Crane, Frederick (2003). A History of the Trump in Pictures: Europe and America. A special supplement to Vierundzwanzigsteljahrsschrift der Internationalen Maultrommelvirtuosengenossenschaft. Mount Pleasant, Iowa: [Frederick Crane].[1]
• Dournon-Taurelle, Geneviève, and John Wright (1978). Les Guimbardes du Musée de l'homme. Preface by Gilbert Rouget. Published by the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle and l'Institut d'ethnologie.
• Emsheimer, Ernst (1941). "Über das Vorkommen und die Anwendungsart der Maultrommel in Sibirien und Zentralasien." In: Ethnos (Stockholm), nos 3-4 (1941).
• Emsheimer, Ernst (1964). "Maultrommeln in Sibirien und Zentralasien." In: Studia ethnomusicologica eurasiatica (Stockholm: Musikhistoriska museet, pp. 13–27).
• Fox, Leonard (1984). The Jew's Harp: A Comprehensive Anthology. Selected, edited, and translated by Leonard Fox. Charleston, South Carolina: L. Fox.
• Fox, Leonard (1988). The Jew's Harp: A Comprehensive Anthology. Selected, edited, and translated by Leonard Fox. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London: Associated University Presses; ISBN 0-8387-5116-4.
• Gallmann, Matthew S. (1977). The Jews Harp: A Select List of References With Library of Congress Call Numbers. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Song.
• Gotovtsev, Innokenty. New Technologies for Yakut Khomus. Yakutsk.[2]
• Kolltveit, Gjermund (2006). Jew's Harps in European Archaeology. BAR International series, 1500. Oxford: Archaeopress; ISBN 1-84171-931-5.
• Mercurio, Paolo (1998). Sa Trumba. Armomia tra telarzu e limbeddhu. Solinas Edition, Nuoro (IT).
• Plate, Regina (1992). Kulturgeschichte der Maultrommel. Orpheus-Schriftenreihe zu Grundfragen der Musik, Bd. 64. Bonn: Verlag für Systematische Musikwissenschaft; ISBN 3-922626-64-5.
• Shishigin, S. S. (1994). Igraite na khomuse. Mezhdunarodnyi tsentr khomusnoi (vargannoi) muzyki. Pokrovsk: S.S. Shishigin/Ministerstvo kul'tury Respubliki Sakha (IAkutiia). ISBN 5-85157-012-1.
• Shishigin, Spiridon. Kulakovsky and Khomus. Yakutia.[3]
• Smeck, Roy (1974). Mel Bay's Fun With the Jaws Harp.[4]
• Wright, Michael (2008). "The Jew's Harp in the Law, 1590-1825". In: Folk Music Journal 9.3 pp. 349–371; ISSN 0531-9684.
• Wright, Michael (2015). The Jew's Harp in Britain and Ireland. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate; ISBN 978-1-4724-1413-7.
• Yuan, Bingchang, and Jizeng Mao (1986). Zhongguo Shao Shu Min Zu Yue Qi Zhi. Beijing: Xin Shi Jie Chu Ban She: Xin Hua Shu Dian Beijing Fa Xing Suo Fa Xing; ISBN 7-80005-017-3.
• Paolo Mercurio (2013). Gli Scacciapensieri Strumenti Musicali dell'Armonia Internazionali, Interculturali, Interdisciplinari. Milano; ISBN 978-88-6885-391-4.

External links

• The Jew's Harp Guild
• How to play the jew's harp (instructions with sound examples and remarks on the functioning of Jew's harps)
• A page on guimbardes from Pat Missin's free reed instrument website
• Origins of the Jew's Harp. A popular synopsis of the archaeological findings of Jew's harps combined with an extensive illustrated survey of the world distribution of different types.
• Jewsharper Jews harp history, news and tutorials from Michael Wright, of Oxfordshire, UK
• Demir-xomus (Tuvan Jew's Harp) Demos, photos, folktale, and text