Is a type of musical instrument that uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction (instruments of this type are known as friction idiophones).
Because its made of glass, is a crystallophone. The phenomenon of rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a wine goblet to produce tones is documented back to Renaissance times.
The Irish musician Richard Pockrich is credited as the first to play an instrument composed of glass vessels by rubbing his fingers around the rims , he performed in London on a set of upright goblets filled with varying amounts of water. His career was cut short by a fire in his room, which killed him and destroyed his apparatus
Because its made of glass, is a crystallophone. The phenomenon of rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a wine goblet to produce tones is documented back to Renaissance times.
The Irish musician Richard Pockrich is credited as the first to play an instrument composed of glass vessels by rubbing his fingers around the rims , he performed in London on a set of upright goblets filled with varying amounts of water. His career was cut short by a fire in his room, which killed him and destroyed his apparatus
The glass harmonica consists of a series of glass plates or bowls of different sizes superimposed and aligned horizontally, crossed by an axis connected by belt to a pedal that rotates them while playing, in the manner of an old sewing machine. It is played by wetting the fingers slightly and touching the plates while they rotate, which produces a crystalline sound.
In some places it was prohibited because it was considered harmful. It was said to cause cancer in those who touched her; although today it is known that the real cause was the lead with which the crystals were formerly made and that it could also be a cause of saturnism, which is why its use is again increasingly frequent, yes, with manufactured harmonics of lead free crystals.
Nowadays it is a little used instrument, although some musicians have used it to expand its sound.
Due to the problem of lead in the crystals that once existed (it produced poisonings in musicians), it was replaced by flutes. Since the 80s of the last century, it has been reused in certain versions of the famous scene of the madness of the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, by Donizetti.
In some places it was prohibited because it was considered harmful. It was said to cause cancer in those who touched her; although today it is known that the real cause was the lead with which the crystals were formerly made and that it could also be a cause of saturnism, which is why its use is again increasingly frequent, yes, with manufactured harmonics of lead free crystals.
Nowadays it is a little used instrument, although some musicians have used it to expand its sound.
Due to the problem of lead in the crystals that once existed (it produced poisonings in musicians), it was replaced by flutes. Since the 80s of the last century, it has been reused in certain versions of the famous scene of the madness of the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, by Donizetti.
