jew's harp
Noun: A jew's harp is a small, simple musical instrument. It consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue (called a reed) attached to a frame. The player holds the frame against their teeth or lips and plucks the reed with a finger. The mouth cavity acts as a resonating chamber, and different notes are produced by changing the shape of the mouth.
The term is used to name this specific instrument. * The musician demonstrated how to play a traditional folk tune on the jew's harp. * In his collection of antique instruments, he had a beautifully crafted jew's harp from the 19th century. * The distinctive buzzing sound of the jew's harp is created by the vibration of the reed.
- The instrument is known by many other names worldwide, including jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, or the scientific term guimbard. The variety of names reflects its global presence in many folk music traditions.
- Playing the jew's harp involves a technique of breathing and altering the mouth's shape to create melody and rhythm from the instrument's single fundamental pitch.
- Jaw harp (n): A common alternative name for the same instrument.
- Mouth harp (n): Another common alternative name.
- Guimbard (n): The French-derived term used in organology (the study of musical instruments) for this class of instrument.
- Vibraphone (archaic/less common): Historically, this term was sometimes used, but it is now overwhelmingly associated with a completely different, modern percussion instrument.
- Trump (archaic/regional): An old or regional English name for the instrument.
There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs specifically associated with the term "jew's harp." It functions primarily as a straightforward noun naming an object.
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a small lyre-shaped musical instrument that is placed between the teeth and played by twanging a wire tongue while changing the shape of the mouth cavity
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