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jews-harp
Jew's harp
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
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1996
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© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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Jew's harp (Fr. rebube, guimbarde; Ger. Trumpel; It. scacciapensieri). One of the simplest and most widely distributed instr., being found throughout Europe and Asia. It consists of a tiny iron frame, open at one end, in which end a single strip of metal vibrates. The frame is held between the teeth, and the strip then twanged by the finger. The strip, in itself, is obviously capable of producing only one note, but the harmonics of this note become available by resonance, through various shapings of the cavity of the mouth. Thus tunes can be played.
The origin of the name is unknown and seems to be unconnected with Jewry. The name ‘Jew's trump’ was recorded in 1545.
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The Jew's Harp in the Law, 1590-1825
Magazine article from: Folk Music Journal; 1/1/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...have been paid for a Jew's harp by tracing the information...importation of Jew's harps from the Continent throughout...with references to Jew's harps or Jew's trumps spanning the...and another has 'Jews-Trumpes, the groce...
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Jew's harp: David in Copenhagen.(Poem)
Magazine article from: Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought; 1/1/2003; ; 653 words
; ...be cab-drivers, bakers, blue-collar workers. What else after uprooting from Israel, selling our belongings, giving up Jews for gentiles? We met other women, some fifteen years younger than ourselves. And suddenly, nine years go by and I have two...
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Jew's Harp: David in Copenhagen
Magazine article from: Judaism; 1/1/2003; ; 576 words
; ...be cab-drivers, bakers, blue-collar workers. What else after uprooting from Israel, selling our belongings, giving up Jews for gentiles? We met other women, some fifteen years younger than ourselves. And suddenly, nine years go by and I have two...
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Harping back to songs of tradition Scottish Harps: Strings of Every Sort St Cecilia's Hall
Newspaper article from: The Scotsman; 8/19/1998; ; 664 words
; ...the Renaissance or "Bray" harp, its buzzing reverberations not unlike a sitar or Jew's harp, their lingering overlap also...her music's depth to African harp traditions, as well as jazz...magnificent sound of six different harps - totalling 300-odd strings...
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Witching hour more in tune with harps than harpies Scottish Harp - From Music Fyne to Ossian's Muse St Cecilia's Hall
Newspaper article from: The Scotsman; 8/28/1998; ; 519 words
; ...hallmark of this whirlwind history of harp music beginning in 13th- century...surprisingly well with Taylor's Bray harp. As the name suggests, it makes a buzzing sound - a cross between a Jew's harp and synthesiser. This provided novelty...
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 "Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)")
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The harp sings its salute to Jerusalem; "The nice thing about a harp is that it sounds beautiful right away," says Sunita Staneslow, of St. Paul, who wants to restore the harp's place in Jewish musical tradition.(NEWS)
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 1/3/1996; ; 700+ words
; ...Staneslow of St. Paul played the harp at a concert in Jerusalem, a...month, Staneslow will play her harp in St. Louis Park, for Jerusalem...out of Jewish culture when the Jews were driven from Spain in 1492...very portable, he said. So Jews lost their familiarity with the...
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The Harp and the Shadow.
Magazine article from: The Nation; 10/21/1991; ; 700+ words
; THE HARP AND THE SHADOW. By Alejo Carpentier...to show what life was like for Jews (and conversos) in Spain from...to the final expulsion of the Jews in 1492. It is harrowing history...Susan Wiggs). In turn: The Harp and the Shadow was published...
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The lyric dispensation: Coleridge, Mosaic law, and equivocal authority in "the Eolian Harp".
Magazine article from: Studies in Romanticism; 9/22/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...exploration of this formal need in the second lecture, the "Eolian Harp," or "Effusion xxxv" as it was then known, expresses just...apostacy from him to shew the hateful Effects of Idolatry the Jews were chosen above all others--a people of a stupid and ea
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 "The Birmingham Post (England)")
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Made in Birmingham.(Features)
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 6/7/2002; 262 words
; Jews harps In the 18th century, the Birmingham...Troman & Co started making Jews harps, Scotch harps and Irish harps. It was a great success, and there...to give lessons in playing on a Jews harp. The harps consisted of a malleable...
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HISTORY: The First Polish Musician in America
Newspaper article from: Polish-American Journal; 6/1/1994; ; 510 words
; ...until now that Sadowski bought brass jews'-harps from England, taught Indians and...jews'-harper, one who plays the harp, 2.) trader, and 3.) teacher. The only evidence that he had jews'-harps to play and sell turned up in an...
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jew's-harp
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
jew's-harp or jews'-harp, musical instrument...with the fingers. Each jew's-harp can produce only one...in Germany, jew's-harps were made with as many...been called jaw's-harp, jew's-trump or jews'-trump.
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Jew's harp
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
Jew's harp • n. a small, lyre-shaped musical instrument held between the teeth and struck with a finger. It can produce only one note, but harmonics are sounded by the player altering the shape of the mouth cavity. Jew's harp
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jew's harp
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
jew's harp, a name sometimes given to the shackle with which a chain cable is attached to an anchor. It is always secured with the bow of the shackle outboard so that, when the anchor is let go, the lugs of the shackle do not catch up on the rim of the hawsehole .
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Jew
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
Jew XII( Giw , Gyu , Iu(w) , Ieu...descended from him. OE. had pl. Iudeas. Jew's EAR fungus growing on trees, esp...auricula Judæ Judas's ear. Jews' HARP , earlier Jews' TRUMP (XVI), rudimentary musical...
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Morton, Jelly Roll
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...play other, more traditional instruments. By age five he could play the harmonica and at age six he had mastered the Jews' harp. Morton was an accomplished guitarist by age seven. He studied the guitar and was soon playing in street bands. He...
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