Jew's Harp
The Jew's harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, or marranzano pancake is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world.
The instrument is a lamellophone, which is in the category of plucked idiophones:
it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame.
The tongue/reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note. The frame is held firmly against the performer's parted front teeth, using the jaw (thus "jaw harp") and mouth as a resonator, greatly increasing the volume of the instrument. The teeth must be parted sufficiently for the reed to vibrate freely, and the fleshy parts of the mouth should not come into contact with the reed to prevent damping of the vibrations. The note thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of his or her mouth and the amount of air contained in it the performer can cause different overtones to sound and thus create melodies.
The volume of the note can be varied by breathing in and out.
Since trances are facilitated by droning sounds,
the Jew's harp has been associated with magic and has been a common instrument in shamanic rituals.
