Re: Glass Harmonica

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

As I wrote just previously, the guy I remember was Jim Turner, and as correctly
noted before, he used distilled water from a bowl he deftly dipped into.  He
searched long and hard for the proper glasses, of various sizes, to ring
beautifully.
Lorele

Joe Kurland wrote:

> His name was Bruno Hoffmann.  He recorded at least one LP, Music for
> Glass Harmonica, Vox STDL 501.110 including works of Mozart,
> Reichardt, Rollig, Schulz and Naumann.  He called his instrument a
> Glass Harp. I saw him in concert at MIT in the 1960's.  He did not
> fill the glasses with water, but had a vessel filled with water in
> the instrument so that he could dip his fingers in order to produce
> the sound.
>
> Zayt gezunt (be healthy),
>
> Yosl (Joe) Kurland
> The Wholesale Klezmer Band
> Colrain, MA 01340
> voice/fax: 413-624-3204
> http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com
>
> At 12:07 AM -0400 10/25/00, Jacob and Nancy Bloom wrote:
> >It could have been Jim Turner.
> >
> >The musical glasses is the original instrument, the one that Mozart et al
> >composed for.  I believe that Ben Franklin invented the term Glass
> >Harmonica, along with the idea of laying out the glasses on a common
> >spindle, in an arrangement similar to the layout of a keyboard.
> >
> >Jacob Bloom
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Seth Austen" <seth (at) sethausten(dot)com>
> >To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> >Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 10:08 PM
> >Subject: Re: Glass Harmonica
> >
> >
> >  > on 10/24/00 4:21 PM, Lori Cahan-Simon at l_cahan (at) 
> > staff(dot)chuh(dot)org wrote:
> >  >
> >  > > I remember him.  He used to play under the pavilion at Newmarket on 2nd
> >street
> >  > > between Lombard and South alot.  Really nice guy.  As I recall, his 
> > were
> >all
> >  > > separate glasses, NOT all of the same size, played by running the
> >fingers
> >  > > around
> >  > > the rims, not the B. Franklin spindle arrangment.  My favorite part was
> >when
> >  > > he
> >  > > would play harmonies and chords with many fingers at once on his
> >judiciously
> >  > > juxtaposed glasses.
> >  > >
> >  > > Lorele
> >  > >
> >  >
> >  > Sounds like the same guy, I wish I could remember his name. A number of
> >  > years later, he played on Johnny Carson, or some similar late night TV
> >show.
> >  > Yes, his chordal playing and harmonies were great.
> >  >
> >  > Obviously, there's different types of glass harmonicas, I knew he used
> >water
> >  > in his.
> >  >
> >  > --
> >  > Seth Austen
> >  > please visit me on the web at http://www.sethausten.com
> >  > email; seth (at) sethausten(dot)com
> >  >
> >  > Download a song (mp3) at www.mp3.com/sethausten
> >  >
> >  >
> >
>

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