JEW'S HARP     


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"Finding the Jew's harp Notes I"

       Jew's harp tunes are quite difficult, notably not only for players but for listeners also. The point is that a lot of overtones sound simultaneously at the same time, even if we make an accent at one of them making it sound a bit louder, an unprepared ear has problems in recognizing the melody. It is just a peculiar feature of the jew's harp, it is not a big deal, this skill develops step by step and tunes become heard very well.
Suitable jew's harp
       Not any jew's harp suits playing overtones. Some instruments hide overtones complicating the studying process. Among all the jew's harp models which I tried I would recommend you a Kubiz from Tatarstan (medium model), it is just created for overtone playing. Sound examples of this article are played by a jew's harp tuned to the sound "A", that is why it is more comfortable to use such an instrument during studying. The list of suitable jew's harps:
1. Tatar Kubyz
2. Norvegian munnharpas
3. Kirghiz temir-khomuz Batirkanov or Kenchinbaev
4. Vargan Dernovoy Ukraina
5. Austrian Moultrommel Jofen
6. Vargan Pyshov Ukraina
7. Vargan Litvinov Russia

"The secret of jew's harp overtones"
       For correct playing of all overtones you need to learn two kinds of sounds: open and closed:
1. Оpen sounds. They are the easiest, as they are played just with breath, not stopping anything in the mouth. To change the pitch you need to change the volume of your mouth cavity.
2. Closed sounds can be produced by different ways, but the best one is to close your glottis. Closed notes should be played without breathing. Close your vocal fold (cords) and then use air pressure to open your vocal chords and say "A". Same closed technique are used in jew's harp closed sounds. To develop the glottis you can do light coughing, hiccupping, laughing. Anyway the air flow should be stopped somewhere at the top of your throat. To change the pitch you need to change of your mouth cavity, continuing to keep the throat closed.
       There is one secret how to produce all the overtones, the answer can be found for instance in Kirghiz folk music. Sure you heard how musicians playing temir-khomuz constantly rotate open and closed sounds. The matter is that overtones should be played exactly this way, some of them required open sound for sure, other ones only a closed one.*
       How to reveal in what way the necessary harmonica should be played? Actually it is absolutely simple. Jew's harp overtone row in order are:
1 - Fundamental tone (can't be amplified on Jew's harp)
2- Second overtone requires open sound
3 - Closed one
4- Opened
5 - Closed
6 - etc
       All even numbers are played by an open sound, and odd ones are played by a closed. In our musical notation closed sounds are signed by a cross (+), opened sounds do not have any extra signing.
       We do need to use slightly different positions of organs of articulation in order to play same tune on two different tuned jew's harps. It takes place as one and the same overtone has got different pitch while playing by different jew's harps, and to amplify them we need change volumes of mouth cavity. So it's good idea to practice with few jew's harps tuned to not one pitch.

Practicing the jew's harp scale
       Jew's harp overtones create a tone row quite close to the major row, which is widely used in modern music. The simplest for reading and understanding scale is a "C major" one.


       It can be played by pressing only white keys of the piano. You do not need flats or sharps to play steps of this scale. In this web site I use only this scale for writing down of jew's harp music. However in our case notes do not correspond to the concrete pitches like in classical notation system. In our notation notes show certain overtones which should be played on the jew's harp. A great advantage here is that such notation is no need to be transpose, and it can be used on instruments tuned any note.**
       Try to learn to sing the major scale before starting to play it. You will not have problems to play it when you have it in your mind. One more useful exercise is to whistle all the sounds. It is difficult to whistle at the low overtones, it will be similar to air hissing, but it is O.K. Such exercises are useful because processes of increasing and changing of pitches in whistling are similar to playing the jew's harp.
        The most important for jew's harp players eighth overtone is the beginning (the first step) of the jew's harp "major" scale, and it is marked by the C note of the first octave. It helps to start learning all other overtones. As not all the overtones are used in the jews harp scale, rotation of open and closed sounds is a bit another, the last ones are marked by the sign (+):


        Notes marked by 8--------) are to be played one octave lower then it is written. This sign is convenient because you do not need to put lots of additional ledger lines.
       Although no learn of overtones in particular, but just to play Jew's harp and, our organism remember a lot of overtones unconsciously. Musicians typically studying jew's harp melody playing typically learn by copying other soloists' performances.
       The current exercises are aimed also to teach people to play main overtones and becoming familiar with the two aforementioned types of sounds. You only need to copy them from the record. Use the backing tracks to play along practice.
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       First of all we will get the first five scale steps, they are characterized by notes from C to G, as the toner 8 to 12 correspond. We play the first five notes check with the given notation, from an open sound and strictly rotating open and closed types of sounds.

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        If you fail, you need to repeat the above mentioned sound exercises and try to play known melodies. Its sounds help to reveal overtones correctly.

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        So now we play all the scale from C note to the C note of the next octave. Pay your attention to the fact that the sound change after G note is another. A and B are produced by close sounds, and the next is C at an open sound.

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        I would like to present you a short melody which is made especially for scale mastering. Pay your attention to the sign "tie" joining two or several notes in a group. Make the rhythm stroke the reed only at first tied note. All the rest tied notes of the group are made only by breath.

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        Only first part (the basic theme) is played in the audio example. After studying the theme we need to learn to improvise it such a way that your solo logically comes out of it, develop in an independent melody. Harmony (chords) is pointed at notes. At the next stage you need to learn to play your own improvisation strictly corresponding to the harmony, and at the end to return to the theme smoothly. It is not the same as to create all the improvisations only this way, but it helps a lot to develop the harmony sense and to play in a big group. Harmony can be played on the guitar or another instrument. For your comfort, I suggest you use the so-called "minus one track", ie a recording with the lack of a solo instrument, and that is comfortable to study at (a A Jew's harp):
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* Having learning it you will be able to produce overtones with no strict shifting of open and closed ones, but this method gives most clear overtones.
** A major scale consists of the degrees, in C-major: C is the root or first degree, D is the second one and so on. If the basic tone of your jew's harp is another, for instance F-sharp (F#), so: "F-sharp" - is the root, "G-sharp"- is the second degree, "A-sharp"- is the third one and so on. However sound intervals between identical steps of different scales are equal. That is why you can just play a jew's harp of any key at C-sharp notes, accepting them as indexes of degrees and corresponding to them overtones.
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© Vladimir Markov 2012
this article translated by Natalia Ivanitsa