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Jew's Harp

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Jew's harp, from an American Civil War camp near Winchester, Virginia
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Jew's harp, from an American Civil War camp near Winchester, Virginia

The Jew's harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. It is also sometimes called a jaw harp or juice harp, among other names, and has no particular connection with Jews or Judaism. Another name used to identify the instrument especially in scholarly literature is the older English "trump".

The instrument is a lamellaphone, which is in the category of plucked idiophones: it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note. The note thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of his or her mouth and the amount of air contained in it the performer can cause different overtones to sound and thus create simple melodies.

There are many theories for the origin of the name Jew's harp (see the external links below), one being that it may derive from its popularity amongst Eurasian steppe-peoples like the Khazars, perhaps being introduced to Europe from that direction. Another explanation proposed is that it is a corruption of "jaw harp", while a less likely explanation espoused by some is that its name comes from "juice harp" from the amount of saliva produced when played by amateurs. Both of these explanations lack historical backing, as both the "jaw" and the "juice" variants appeared only in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is interesting to note that many names of the instrument, in English or other languages, refer to other musical instruments, cordophones, membranophones, or aereophones largely included.

The instrument is known in many different cultures by at least forty different names. It has been associated with magic and has been a common instrument in shamanic rituals, because the vibration of Jew's harp sound can induce the condition of light trance.

Examples of the Jew's harp in modern music include Jimmie Driftwood on many occasions, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give it Away" on the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Black Sabbath in "Sleeping Village" from their eponymous album, Aphex Twin's "Logan Rock Witch" on the Richard D. James Album, The Zutons in "Nightmare Part II" from the album Who Killed The Zutons?, The Who in "Join Together", and Leonard Cohen throughout the album Songs from a Room. The instrument can also be seen used by Snoopy in various "Peanuts" television specials.

Around 1765, Beethoven's teacher Johann Georg Albrechtsberger composed at least seven concertos for maultrommel, mandora and strings (three survive in a library in Budapest). They are pleasant, well written works in the galant style.

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