Glass 'Armonica

[fiere redfern]

Ben Franklin, while also being the insane genius that we all know and love, invented this beauty of an instrument after a trip to Spain where he heard a street musician playing wine glasses. I love its sound, personally, and apparently the 'armonica is coming back into style, though because of the nature of the beast it will never find its way into a large concert hall =P

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The piece being played is the first movement from Mozart's "Adagio und Rondo". Mozart was so taken with the instrument when he heard it that he wrote two pieces specifically for it.

[Kothnok]

that's very neat!  thanks for sharing =)

[kajunlady]

that is awsome, i love it thanks for shareing that fiere

[Luise]

That's amazing- Looks pretty difficult to play. I wonder how many there are in the world?

[Jandris]

Amazing what you take for granted when you live near the Franklin Institute.
I grew up knowing about this instrument and have heard it played many times.
Would never have thought to post it here - Thanks Fiere.

[Kothnok]

Decided to read more about it on Wiki, very interesting.

I found this video and thought it very appropriate here since The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies was written specifically for this instrument.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQemvyyJ--g&NR=1[/youtube]

On a related note...

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opf5jIukSBM[/youtube]

fyi, the telsa coils are not playing the music, but rather they are reacting to it.  I have something similar (plasma globe) and it behaves the same way to loud music.  Very interesting to watch now and then. 

[Oilslick]

Oooh, just saw this post...love the glass harmonica.  My favorite piece of trivia about it is a bit of a cultural one.  The sound of the glass harmonica has become associated with "creepiness" and can often be heard in the background music of old scary movies.  Why?


Every player that played them around the time of invention died...young.

Why?

Leaded glass.

I just thought that was interesting...how being made of leaded glass and all the players dying early on from lead poisoning has permeated our culture...people who hear this sound think it creepy - without knowing why, without knowing even where the sound comes from.