The glass armonica was invented by none other then Benjamin Franklin, this unusual instrument was unofficially his favorite invention. He got the idea when he saw a local musician gently rubbing his wet fingers against the rim of different wine glasses. As a musician himself he naturally wanted to make an easier way of making this beautiful noise. He came up with a crank powered version and played it avidly. The drawbacks from the instrument include it being to quiet and expensive thus there are few today. Once Benjamin woke up in the middle of the night and decided to relax himself by playing his invention. Hearing the noise, Mrs. Franklin thought she had died and went to heaven.
I could never make the the sound on the wine glasses, but his invention sounds really cool. Good post! Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting instrument. I want to try playing it now.
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