[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Ben Franklin's glass harmonica

[Tony Patti]

Received this as a Google Alert, wanted to share:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/06/02/listen-ben-frankli
n-glass-harmonica-boston-tonight/5x4px4aqrvCb8GIwZwMkOI/story.html

 


Listen to Ben Franklin's glass harmonica in Boston tonight

Musician Vera Meyer plays a modern model of Franklin's 1761 invention.

 

Vera Meyer has played her glass harmonica with the Boston-area Minute
Men.Vera Meyer has played her glass harmonica with the Boston-area Minute
Men.

Courtesy of Vera Meyer

By Kristin Toussaint  <http://www.twitter.com/kristindakota> @kristindakota

Boston.com Staff | 06.02.15 | 3:10 PM

Benjamin Franklin once passed a band playing more than 50 wine glasses on
the street and was instantly mesmerized by the sound, glass musician Vera
Meyer said. So he built his own instrument with the help of a team of
glassblowers.

It was the invention Franklin was most proud of during his lifetime, Meyer
said.

We've all tried the trick of rubbing a wet finger on the edge of a wine
glass, hoping to elicit an ethereal tone, but Franklin perfected it. His
instrument consisted of multiple glass bowls in various sizes that spin
around an axis. When you touch your wet finger to the glass, you hear an
eery but beautiful tone.

Meyer will be bringing back Franklin's musical legacy tonight at the South
End branch of the Boston Public Library.

Meyer said she is one of 20 people in the world who plays the glass
harmonica, invented by Franklin in 1761. Meyer usually plays at the Paul
Revere house or along the Freedom Trail, but she is playing in three
<http://www.bpl.org/programs/revolution.htm> BPL locations for the library's
Revolutionary Boston program series.

"It tells the story of the founding of America," said Beth Prindle, manager
of exhibitions at the BPL, of the program. This year is the 250th
anniversary of the Stamp Act, and that event is being used as a gateway to
looking at Colonial life.

Meyer's instrument isn't a Ben Franklin original, though. She had her glass
harmonica built by a local "scientific master glassblower" after she came
upon a man playing wine glasses in Harvard Square.

"I just became transfixed by the sound of glass music," she said.

Since starting, Meyer says she has learned every country's national anthem.
Tonight, she'll play traditional colonial music and take modern requests.
The most frequently requested songs are "Let it Go" from the Disney movie
Frozen, and the Jurassic Park theme song.

"It combines history with science with music, and it's very simple and very
ingenious. I like that combination," Meyer said. "Everybody who hears it
loves it."

Watch a sample of Meyer playing here:

 <https://youtu.be/OYEJtQzHt70> 

 

 

 

This is also excellent YouTube:

 

 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEKlRUvk9zc> 

 

Enjoy,


Tony Patti
  
 <http://www.glassblower.info> www.glassblower.info
  
 <mailto:gaffer at glassblower.info> gaffer at glassblower.info

 <http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20150604/9858439b/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/png
Size: 672347 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20150604/9858439b/attachment.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 111291 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20150604/9858439b/attachment.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 76593 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20150604/9858439b/attachment-0001.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 18749 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20150604/9858439b/attachment-0002.jpe