How to play the jew's harp?

The reed self-sounding musical instrument of the jew's harp has a rather simple design. In the opening, the tongue oscillates freely, with the help of which the sound is created. In this case, the musician's oral cavity and nasopharynx act as a resonator. It is not so difficult to master the instrument, the main thing is to learn how to hold it correctly.

A musical instrument can be arc and plate. Learning to play the jew's harp is quite interesting. The simple design allows you to create mesmerizing melodies. The sound is influenced by the physical characteristics of the instrument, especially its vibrating part.

The easiest way to set up a jew's harp is if there is a ring at the end of the working part. So the tongue can be weighted down with wax or tin solder. As a result, the tone will drop. If there is no ring, you can solder additional material directly to the elbow.

After weighting the jew's harp is washed. Also, experts do not recommend strongly underestimating the tone. Initially, the jew's harp was invented as a high-pitched instrument. With excessive modernization, the melody turns out to be poor, inexpressive.

Raising the tone is a little tricky. The ring on the tongue or knee should be reduced. The procedure is carried out with the help of tools, ordinary nippers are also suitable. You cannot do this with teeth or materials at hand. After reducing the ring, it is necessary to re-weight the tongue to fine-tune.

It is worth noting that all such manipulations with the instrument should be carried out by the musician extremely responsibly. You can not bend or bend the tongue in the absence of skills.There is a great risk of just breaking your knee. Also, do not grind the thickness of the tongue. This will negatively affect the maximum number of reproducible overtones.

It is not recommended to tune the instrument for musicians without experience at all. During manufacturing, the wizard lays down certain parameters. If you break them, then it will no longer be possible to return the jew's harp to its original form. Tips for learning to play the instrument are useful for beginners.

• The technique of extracting and changing the sound should be brought to automatism. This will allow you to play beautiful melodies for a long time.
• All movements of the musician must be silent. You should also pay attention to the position of the tool. The base should not interfere with the vibrating element. Otherwise, the melody will be saturated with overtones.
• You need to relax while playing the jew's harp. The tension spoils the melody, so it is important to hone your ability to hold the instrument.

The basics of playing the jew's harp begins with choosing the correct position. For the sound to be of the highest quality, you need to properly clamp the instrument in your mouth. The ability to hold a jew's harp should be brought to automatism... Then you can already learn various techniques for producing sound.

Professional musicians know that it is very important to hold an instrument comfortably and confidently. This affects not only the state of the player, but also the beauty of the jew's harp sound. There are many ways, everyone can choose the most comfortable one for themselves.

The best option for an arc model:

• place the rounded part of the jew's harp on the index and adjacent fingers;
• Press the thumb firmly to the place of fixation of the tongue, it must move freely during the creation of the melody, otherwise the vibrational element will not resonate.

The sound of the jew's harp is caused by vibrations from the movement of the tongue. In this case, this sound will be really heard only if the instrument is placed near the mouth. The base of the instrument should be pressed against the mouth. The teeth are opened so that the working element of the jew's harp can freely vibrate and vibrate. The tip of the working part of the instrument should be located approximately in the middle of the mouth.

Thus, you can enjoy the most open and clear sound. The melody penetrates the musician and resonates. In this case, the respiratory and speech organs act as an amplifier. There is no other way to get the sound from this musical instrument.

At the same time, the tongue takes part in the process itself, and even air circulation plays a role. With a competent approach on the jew's harp, you can play a melody of any complexity. The musical instrument is capable of producing clear sound and overtones. As a result, the tone gets a special timbre and hue.

First, you should press the jew's harp to your teeth. Then withdraw the vibrating element of the tool and release. This will allow you to hear the voice of the jew's harp. Further in the learning process, the musician can extract the most versatile sounds.

If you move your tongue inside the mouth and press it against the palate, the structure of the sound will change. To increase the volume and prolong the sound, the jew's harp is pressed against the teeth. However, this is not the only thing that matters. You should grip and fix the instrument with your lips. The position of the jew's harp directly affects the volume.

You can make the sound quieter by pressing the instrument to your lips. In this case, the duration and volume of the sound depends on the voltage. If the lips are relaxed, then the sound is soft and short. At the same time, the optimal effort should make it possible to keep the jew's harp in place motionless. Relax slightly if there is a feeling of tension in the lips or arm.

At the beginning of the training, you should master simple techniques. It is important to make sure that the work item has no obstructions in its path before playing. It is enough to wind it by the teeth and return it to its original position.If the tongue moves freely in both directions, then there are no problems and you can proceed to the next stage.

The jew's harp should be firmly held with one hand, and the working part of the instrument should be set in motion with the other. To do this, just hit the tongue with your finger. The touches should be sharp, but moderate, short, abrupt.

The blow can be direct and reverse. In the first version, the working part touches when the finger moves towards you, in the second - away from you. Usually, with any kind of strike, the musical instrument sounds the same. The alternation of views allows you to play a melody with a complex rhythm or a high tempo. You can learn this technique at home, you just need to practice a lot.

The first lessons consist of learning various schemes for extracting sound from a jew's harp. There are 4 main ways. Each musician should choose the best option based on their skills and characteristics of the melody. Let's take a look at the key ways to play.

• Lower elbow... Point your index finger up and tighten slightly, while gathering the rest into a fist. Impacts on the working part of the tool are made by the side part or by the pad. Moreover, to touch with the index finger, it is necessary to bend and unbend the hand at the wrist. This method allows you to perform melodies according to any scheme, with a variety of tempo and dynamics. The universal technique is very popular in America and Europe.
• Place the elbow at shoulder level or slightly higher... Hold the brush slightly above the musical instrument, it should hang over the jew's harp without tension. Leave the index finger, and collect the rest into a fist. To execute an edge strike, rotate the hand at the wrist. The method is as versatile as the previous one. It gained particular popularity in Asia.
• Lower your elbow below the level of the musical instrument. Fold your fingers into a boat, take the big one slightly to the side. The hand, as it were, covers the tongue. The blow is made with the free thumb, its middle part. To do this, bend and unbend the arm at the elbow. A good way for a slow and measured melody. Also, the sound extraction method allows you to hide a musical instrument from weather conditions, prying eyes.
• Place your elbow at shoulder level or slightly higher. Hold the relaxed hand over the jew's harp in a free position. Place your thumb near the temple. To strike, alternately bend 2-3 fingers from the ring to the index. The technique is quite complicated, it is almost impossible to apply it correctly the first time, it will take a lot of training. The method is used in cases when it is necessary to extract a complex of 2-3 sounds. It should be borne in mind that the blow falls on only one side of the tongue.

Some methods of sound extraction are universal, while others can solve a specific problem. The musician himself should choose the optimal method of playing, taking into account the peculiarities of the melody. In some cases, you will have to alternate them to perform one song. As a result, listeners are attracted not only by the sound, but also by the movement of the musician.

When playing a fast melody, breathe through the diaphragm. This breathing engages the abdominal muscles.Sometimes the jew's harp sounds even just from the musician's breath, without hitting the working element. Inhalation and exhalation should be adjusted to the peculiarities of the melody.

There is a relationship between sound and lip movement. This is due to the movement of air. If the lips are open, then the musical instrument sounds quieter, and if closed, it sounds louder. When inhaling, it is recommended to close your mouth so as not to obstruct the uvula.

Jew's harp with one reed is tuned to one note. This sound is called the fundamental tone of a musical instrument. The oral cavity only resonates with sound, does not create it. However, this does not mean that the possibilities of the jew's harp are limited. A musician with the help of the organs of speech can extract various overtones from the instrument.

There are techniques for changing the sound that need to be learned to be completely automatic. This will allow you to combine a variety of sounds, turn them into music. It is especially important to develop these skills for musicians who love to improvise. In such a situation, it is important to have clear moderation in the sound that will sound the next second. Consider the features of the techniques.

• To get the lowest sound you need to prepare to pronounce the “o” sound. In this case, the mouth is rounded and widened, and the tongue goes back. To perform the technique, all organs must imitate pronunciation, but the vocal cords should not be strained.
• To obtain the highest sound, it is necessary to imitate the pronunciation of the sound "and"... As a result, the oral cavity becomes smaller, and the tongue is practically pressed against the lower teeth.

So with a simple movement of the tongue, you can change the tonality of the jew's harp. This changes the volume of the oral cavity, which plays the role of a resonator. Additionally, lips, throat and voice apparatus should be connected. In this case, the sounds will be as versatile as possible.

There has long been a well-known technique - imitation of a lark. It is used by many musicians who have mastered the jew's harp. For implementation, it is necessary to soundlessly pronounce the sounds "th-th-th". In this case, the tongue quickly moves forward and goes back to its original position.

Imitation of the song of the goose is no less popular. This technique, in general, is more classified as classical, traditional. The movement of the tongue is more complicated here. You should also move it back and forth, additionally moving the tip up and down. The tongue should touch and lift off the palate.

The characteristic of the sound largely depends on which organ is used to extract it. Overtones, two voices can be obtained in different ways. The respiratory and oral organs are usually involved.

• Breathing through the nose provokes nasal sounds. It is worth noting that you do not need to breathe. You just need to simulate the same position of the nasopharynx as in nasal breathing. Understanding the technique takes some practice. During training, it is not recommended to move the ligaments and other organs of the speech apparatus.
• Silent movements of the throat produce the pharyngeal sound of the jew's harp. In the process, you should hold your breath. To change the sound, movements of the closed pharynx are needed. To imitate the singing of a cuckoo, the muscles of the throat should be tightened. The language is translated into a position, as when pronouncing the sounds "e" and "o". After hitting the instrument, the musician moves his tongue, as if pronouncing "kuk-kuk". It is important to understand that there should be no sound from the pronunciation. It is only necessary to translate different organs into the desired positions.
• The way to change the sound using the throat is quite difficult physically and technically.... However, this skill allows you to play melodies on the jew's harp, which simply cannot be repeated on any other musical instrument. In this case, it is here that you should use the techniques of stopping the sound.

Several factors affect these characteristics.Initially, it is worth considering the force of impact on the working part and the position of the tool itself. The sound will be loud when the tongue moves at its maximum amplitude. At the same time, the musical instrument itself should be pressed against the teeth, and the lips should fix it as tightly as possible. In this position, the air circulates only between the body and the vibrating element of the jew's harp.

The maximum duration of the sound is possible if the musical instrument is pressed against the teeth. With this arrangement, the working part fluctuates much longer. The sound will be shorter if the instrument is pressed against the lips. You can shorten the duration as much as possible by placing your finger close to where the tongue is attached to the base.... The sound stops the moment you touch it.

In some melodies, it is important to clearly control the stop of the sound. It is not always possible to wait for the tongue to stop on its own. Jew's harp is quite diverse in its sound, so you should learn to use its capabilities to the maximum. There are several ways to stop the sound.

• Remove a musical instrument from your mouth... First, you should move it away from your teeth without removing your lips. Only then remove the jew's harp completely. This rule applies for the safety of the musician himself. Otherwise, the vibrating part may touch the teeth and cause injury. As a result of manipulation, the sound will disappear completely.
• Touch the tongue with your finger. This should be done with the hand that holds the musical instrument. If it is inconvenient to act this way, then you can use the same finger that strikes. Some musicians use language to stop the vibrations of the instrument. The sound will disappear, but the fade will be heard. This is not suitable for all tunes.
• Make a powerful, sharp exhalation. The sound will first increase, then fade out and disappear. Breathing while playing allows you to control the behavior of a musical instrument.

Playing the jew's harp is suitable for creative people. With such a musical instrument, you need to experiment and practice a lot. To begin with, it is important to master the basic techniques and bring them to complete automatism. Then even a complex melody can be performed without much effort.

You can learn more about the features of playing the jew's harp in the next video.