Founding father Benjamin Franklin was more than a skilled negotiator, statesman, inventor/maker, and kite flying hobbyist. He was also an inventor of musical instruments. Musical sound from glass, and eventually wine glasses (thank you, Gallileo) came long before Franklind’s instrument. But the glass armonica (not to be confused with harmonica) is entirely FranklinI’s. The instrument involves a series of glass discs, mounted around a cylinder, then rotated mechanically, so that you can play by touching the glass directly. Ito’s a much more compelling instrument than the later glass harmonicas, which used a keyboard; with the armonica, your touch creates the sound without any mediating apparatus. The sound is delicate and rich; no wonder composers like Beethoven were enchanted.
The significant musical and historical breakthrough in reproducing the once-extinct Glass Armonica of Benjamin Franklin began when Finkenbeiner first thought of making a glass instrument in 1956. It took many experiments until he made his first satisfactory Armonica of one octave in 1982. To make the bowls he took large tubes of crystal and under tremendous heat blew the shape of 2 cups which he then cut apart. After blowing hundreds of bowls, he selected ones that fit and are near the correct pitch. Then he very carefully refined the tuning by grinding and acid cutting.
In 1762 Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend about how he played on his Armonica: This instrument is played upon, by sitting before the middle of the set of glasses as before the keys of a harpsichord, turning them with the foot, and wetting them now and then with a sponge and clean water. The fingers should be first a little soaked in water, and quite free from all greasiness; a little fine chalk upon them is sometimes useful, to make them catch the glass and bring out the tone more readily. Both hands are used, by which means different parts are played together. Observe, that the tones are best drawn out when the glasses turn from the ends of the fingers, not when they turn to them.
On the armonica his preference for tunes was for Scotch airs whose melodies were unadorned by many embellishments. Franklin was much loved and enjoyed a very lively social life in England and Europe. He usually brought his Armonica along to the parties. It seems that word about this got back to the colonies much to the chagrin of Thomas Penn who wrote a complaining report to Governor Hamilton that Benjamin Franklin was happily spending his time in philosophical matters and musical performances on glasses.
