Jew's harp
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Jew's harp, also known as the jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp 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. Each instrument produces one pitch only, with its multiples (overtones), though different sized instruments provide different pitches. There is no standard pitch.
Jew's harps may be categorized as idioglot or heteroglot (whether or not the frame and the tine are one piece), the shape of the frame (rod or plaque), by the number of tines, and whether the tines are plucked, joint-tapped, or string-pulled.
See also
- Jew's harp music
- Đàn môi, another kind of Jew's 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 Jew's harp from the Philippines
- Morsing, Carnatic Jew's harp
- Mukkuri, a traditional bamboo instrument of the Ainu of Japan, similar to a Jew's 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.