Recording Studios Sydney : the Jew's harp, also called jaw's harp, juice harp, or guimbard , musical instrument consisting of a thin wood or metal tongue fixed at one end to the base of a two-pronged frame. is published annually, and contains articles, reviews, correspondence and notes and queries on all aspects of musical instruments, in support of the aim of the Society - the publication of original research into the history, construction, development and use of musical instruments. Articles, which are refereed before publication, are welcome from members and non-members of the Society. Since 2003 the journal has been published at A4 format (8¼ x 11¾ inches) and generally runs to about 250 - 300 pages with a color photo supplement.
The B9, as we call it, is a small, handy kalimba with a solid resonance body of American cherrywood. It is the ‘sister' of the B7 model. The measurements of both instruments are the same but the tuning, number and breadth of the tines differ. The vibrations of the nine tines can be easily felt in the hands. The sound of the instrument can be amplified by laying it on or sticking it onto a tabletop or the skin of a drum.
This collection represents the first complete study of the Jew's harp - its history, use, playing techniques, and manufacture - richly supplemented with biographies of virtuosi of the instrument, a geo-linguistic survey of terms, data on composed music, and a bibliographical and discographical essay with numerous musical examples. Illustrated.
In the third chapter, a discourse with importance for the English-speaking area is being discussed. It features the origin and use of the term jews-harp. Wright researched more than 3,000 newspapers, journals, trading papers and dictionaries to find out, in what times how often the word was used. He portrays the history of the word jews-harp with the support of those references He demonstrates that different terms circulated such as Gewgaw, Juice Harp or Jewes Harp. Wright agrees to the thesis that a lot of those words may have originated based on misunderstandings, e.g. words were written down as heard. Yet one can only speculate - Wright points out that there have been many attempts to prove how jews-harp became the common name of the instrument. Some arguments were confusing, others just ridiculous.
In the last room, there are similar instruments from all over the world. Including my country. I was right. Every year there is a competition where Yakut musicians compete with foreign ones. The employee encouraged me to try to play it. I placed it in my mouth. I could only produce a weak sound, but it was better than nothing.
In the Altai Mountains the legend of the bear jaw harp is known. It tells the story of a hunter who, while hunting, observes a bear plucking the splint of a larch which was split by a lightning. The wood of the larch was dry, and the corpus of the tree had a good resonance. The hunter enjoyed the sound which was produced by the bear with the split wood. He did not just let the bear live, he even made a mouth harp for himself. Since then mouth harps are made in the Altai.
Most Yakutians do not often eat out in restaurants. When they do, it is most often for special occasions such as for weddings, birthday celebrations, and other special occasions. Most of the local restaurant customers will tend to be the younger generation who were born after 1970.
When I appear on stage I never know what I'll be playing beforehand. That is because the khomus plays with me. It plays with my emotions and with the people who listen to the concert. The khomus absorbs all those energies and transforms it into music. I cannot claim the music I am playing is mine. It is the khomus that plays it.” Those are improvisations that UUTAi presents on stage. She merely utilises a certain repertoire of techniques to form the music such as the cry of the wolf. The music has no titles as such. There are rather themes that she likes to describe with the jaw harp, for instance a fight between warriors in ancient times.
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