057 - Metal Mouth

There is something particularly satisfying about playing a jaw harp.

A truly ancient instrument that has many different names depending upon geography - maultrommel, vargan, khomus, dan moi, munnharpe, and, oddly enough, trump, because of its unique tone color the jaw harp can be said to be one of the first synthesizers.

I have several of these, but the latest addition to my collection arrived earlier this week, a superb Spiral vargan made by Ildar Gimadiev of Tatarstan:

This harp is tuned to a C and is low and saturated. Notice the little magnets stuck to the neck under the spiral? Add one or more of those to the loop trigger and the pitch lowers.

If you want to see what these instruments are capable of check out this clip from the world virtuoso competition in Siberia (yes there are such things) a few years ago:

This tune is in no way imitative of a jaw harp - I just happened to compose it around the same time I got my latest instrument. It’s not easy to imitate a jaw harp without playing one.