The glass harmonica's unlikely comeback | Hacker News Reader

The glass harmonica's unlikely comeback

economist.com

42 pointsCraneWorm32 comments

I cannot believe this link doesn't give you a video (or at least, i don't see it?)

Here is a link to one being played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQemvyyJ--g

It's the blog of a print magazine... I'm equally disappointed but not at all surprised.

Third paragraph "It’s an unusual and quiet sound indeed"

Good spot. Following that link, there was an "up next" video of what looks like a trade-show demo of an "Eigenharp" - in which they describe "Touch 3D": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9qPf31xYnY

Not quite "3D Touch", but it makes you think!

(Amazed to see that the company behind this "instrument" appear to be still in business: http://www.eigenlabs.com/

Very cool. It's like an instrument out of the Mos Eisley bar.

I genuinely thought this story was in reference to Mitch Hedberg's "glass harmonica". He had a great riff on hotel minibars' use of oddball containers for serving ordinary things like Coke in such a way that the patron can't replace the item before the hotel tallies its consumption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91DJQlYRjg

I had no idea who Mitch Hedberg was, so I googled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auvTMm47uM

Cracked me up! That guy is sharp.

Is he a drug addict, an imbecile, or is it just a speech impediment?

As already pointed out, he was a drug user ("I like the Fed-Ex guy because he's a drug dealer and he don't even know it").

But the delivery is his style. Whether it's natural or not I don't know, but it certainly was an integral part of his comedy, similar to the monotone of Steven Wright (whom Mitch Hedberg is the spiritual successor to, in my opinion).

EDIT: Curiously, Hedberg suffered from terrible stage fright. I find him funny to listen to, but almost uncomfortable to watch because he would often stare at the stage or close his eyes.

He had pretty extreme stage fright, hence the sunglasses and staring downward. By all accounts, just a very shy guy with a knack for clever jokes.

That's not very nice.

He was a self-professed drug addict, but his speech was, as far as I know, an affect.

Does anyone from the UK remember ITV's Picture Box [0] (a children/schools programme) and was old enough to be at school in the 70's when it was broadcast?

For years I thought they used a glass harmonica for the theme tune, but it turns out it was played on an even more unusual instrument, the "Cristal baschet" [1][2][3]. Also made of glass and relying on wet fingers to produce notes.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEMc-NilY-Q

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristal_baschet

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g6i7KUu2Lg

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHzwdnYdEc

I didn't even know what one was until I watched the movie Mr. Holmes (2015) a while back - a glass armonica is part of the story.

With a brilliant performance by Ian McKellen!

https://www.fi.edu/history-resources/franklins-glass-armonic...

They say "also known as the armonica", when "glass armonica" is the far more common term.

The armonica is a truly beautiful instrument, but in terms of technical difficulty and impressive performance I still much prefer original many-cups-of-water glass harmonicas/harps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4

Definitely. Another cool example that has some impressively fast passages, and also a novel sort of vibraphone-esque table-shaking technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAEXH9DAH98

$40,000 each seems like a lot for an instrument there's not that much demand for, and is likely itself an impediment to further adoption.

Is there something about the construction of this instrument that justifies this kind of price beyond just "we don't make a lot, so we've got to charge a lot for the ones we do make?"

$40K is _because_ there isn't a lot of demand for the instrument.

This article should mention then peripheral neurological damages suffered by players of this instrument

Any proof of that claim? I've seen it mentioned more than once but only pointing back to some very early (1798) reports.

Another good article on it with a couple of sample videos http://krui.fm/2015/12/30/whats-sound-glass-armonica/ http://www.glassarmonica.com/census.php

This research paper mentioned several claims about it through Franklin himself suffered no damage despite playing it for years http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079612314...

I remember hearing stories that armonica players got lead poisoning from the glass, but perhaps the whole thing was a myth. http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/lead_poisoning.php

I'm pretty sure lead poisoning is a myth.

As a teen I used to habitually chew on lead solder while I worked on electronics projects.

No adverse effects so far that I'm aware of.

Pretty tiny amounts of lead are damaging to young children, like age 0-6. It causes neurological damage, decreasing IQ and attention span; increasing aggression. It is such a pervasive effect that researchers find very strong correlation between the phaseout of lead in paint and fuel and decrease in crime 20 years later.

I find it hard to believe that this does any more damage to peripheral nerves than jamming a steel wire into your fingers over and over (aka--playing guitar).

Ass heard on the track "All Neon Like" by Bjork on the album Homogenic.

> "Ass heard"

Yes, I giggled. Yes, I'm a child.

Lol. Mobile device fail

"Ass herd," a group of objectionable people.

"Oy! You ass herd up there, keep it down!"

"Sorry, it's our weekly Armonica jam. We'll be done pretty quick."

>"Ass herd," a group of objectionable people.

Or people with very cute backsides...

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