1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 4 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you? It's time for a 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: tech Stuff Tidbits episode. This was a little different from 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: the ones I typically do, and it's because, uh, well, 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: it's because of a few things. First of all, among 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: all my other geek equalities, I am a musical theater fan, 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: and like a lot of musical theater folks and even 10 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: people outside of musical theater fandom, I absolutely was captivated 11 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: by Lynn Manuel Miranda's Hamilton's when that debuted several years 12 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: ago now, and one thing that delighted me was discovering 13 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: that he had written some songs that didn't make it 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: into the show, and one of those songs was about 15 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,759 Speaker 1: one of America's iconic founding father as a man who 16 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: was never president but was a very important ambassador and 17 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: an inventor and uh kind of a smart alec, Benjamin Franklin. 18 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: And he wrote a song for Benjamin Franklin, who was 19 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: originally going to appear in Hamilton's, but ultimately it just 20 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: didn't really make sense for the scope of the show, 21 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: so it got cut, but he handed the lyrics over 22 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: to the band, the Decembrists. Apparently he said that he 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: had always thought of it as having a sort of 24 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: sound like the Decembrists other music. So the Decembrists composed 25 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: music to go along with these lyrics. They padded it 26 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: out a little bit and you get Ben Franklin's song 27 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: Word of Warning. That song, while hilarious, also has a 28 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: lot of coarse language in it. It is not family friendly, 29 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: I will say that, but it's very, very entertaining, and 30 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: in part of it long story short, too late, there's 31 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: a reference to the hardened glass armonica or harmonica, both 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: words have been used to describe it. And that made 33 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: me want to do an episode about this particular invention, 34 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: because not only was it a really cool invention, a 35 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: really neat idea to create an entirely new musical instrument 36 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: based off of older techniques, but also because this instrument 37 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: has a very strange reputation as a reputation for causing distress, 38 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: though it's entirely possible this reputation was invented rather than earned, 39 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: sort of like how reports of chaos in the wake 40 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: of the War of the World's Radio Broadcast seem to 41 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: have been more exaggerated not you know, if not entirely 42 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: invented out of whole cloth. If you've ever looked into 43 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,519 Speaker 1: the supposed panic caused by the War of the World's 44 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: Radio Broadcast, you find out there wasn't so much panic 45 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: as there was a lot of media reports about alleged panic. Well, 46 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:09,679 Speaker 1: it seems like that may have also been the case 47 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: with the the panic around the glass armonica. But we'll 48 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: get there, and I'll also call out another podcast which 49 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: did a full episode about that and it is really 50 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: really good. So first let's talk about what the hardened 51 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: glass harmonica or armonica was really based off of and 52 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: what it does and how it all comes down to 53 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: glass harps. So that's another name for an instrument that 54 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: uses a series of glasses, like like drinking glasses. Sometimes 55 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: they're made out of crystal wine glasses are pretty common. 56 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: The player of this instrument runs a wet finger around 57 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: the rim of a glass or sometimes multiple glasses, and 58 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: this produces an ethereal note at least if you do 59 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: it correctly, the glass sings, it vibrates and rings out. 60 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: So using different sizes of glasses, or by adding or 61 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: removing some liquid to a glass or several glasses. It 62 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: allows you to make different notes to produce different pitches. 63 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: If you add more water to a glass, that actually 64 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: produces a lower pitch. I'll explain why in just a second. So, 65 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: with a collection of these glasses that are each tuned 66 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: just right to represent specific notes on the musical scale, 67 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: a skilled player can actually play a tune on glasses 68 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: running their fingers around it. I'm sure you've seen this, 69 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: or maybe you've seen videos of it. Maybe you've done 70 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: it yourself. It's not difficult to do. You can actually 71 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 1: just do this with your typical glass. It has to 72 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: be glass typically, because that's what you're gonna be able 73 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: to get something to make a note that's that's audible. Now, 74 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: to understand what's going on, we do have to go 75 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: into some physics. And first up, we need to t 76 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: about friction. Now, I'm sure all of you know what 77 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: friction is already, but just to set a foundation, friction 78 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: is the resistance you encounter when one surface moves across 79 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: another surface. Obviously, that resistance depends upon the surfaces. Like 80 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: if you were to take two pieces of silk and 81 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: rub them against each other, you would find that they 82 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: produce a lot less friction than if you took two 83 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: pieces of rough grade sand paper and then rub the 84 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: sandpaper parts against each other. You have a lot more 85 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: friction in that second case. But when your finger makes 86 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: contact with a glass, there's friction between your finger and 87 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: the glass, which is a good thing, or else you 88 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: would never be able to pick up that glass, and 89 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: you would never be able to take a drink, and 90 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: you'd be very, very thirsty. But the friction can be 91 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: enough to make your fingertips stick against the glasses surface 92 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: a little bit, so it's actually not that easy to 93 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: move your finger smoothly along the rim of the glass. 94 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: And for that reason, glass harp players will first wet 95 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: their fingers. They'll dip their fingers in some liquid. Uh. 96 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: I remember back when I was first learning about this, 97 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: when I was a kid, it was always vinegar for 98 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: some reason, but it could be other stuff. Wine is 99 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: also pretty common, especially uh for things like someone doing 100 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: this at a party. They would use wine glasses with 101 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: wine in them filled to different levels and it would 102 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: be called like singing wine. And uh. This introduces this 103 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: liquid on your fingers introduces a layer of lubrication that 104 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: allows the finger to slip against the glass more readily. 105 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: And of course it is possible to make your fingers 106 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: too slippery, because if there's two slippery, then they aren't 107 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: producing enough vibration for you to have a note. So 108 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: what you really need is the perfect balance so that 109 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: your finger is creating enough but not too much friction 110 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: as you're moving it around the rim in a circle. 111 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: And when this happens, when you get that just right 112 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: with the right pressure and the right amount of lubrication, 113 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: the motion you are creating will cause vibrations to move 114 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: through the glass and this ends up being the note 115 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: that you hear. Now. I have talked a lot about 116 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: sound in tons of previous episodes of Tech Stuff, but 117 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: we'll go over it again really quickly. Sound, when you 118 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: get down to it, is really vibration. Our perception of sound, 119 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: hearing being the primary way for most people to perceive sound, 120 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: involves sensing vibrations. So in hearing, this typically means that 121 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: something has produced vibrations significant enough to cause air molecules 122 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: around it to fluctuate, so you get little changes in 123 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: air pressure. Air molecules are kind of pushing against each 124 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: other and then pushing back. So the air molecules themselves 125 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: are vibrating, and they vibrate outward from the source of 126 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: the sound. If the vibrations are great enough, if they 127 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: have enough amplitude, and we aren't too far away from 128 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: the source, we can experience these fluctuations of air molecules. 129 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: The changes in air pressure can affect our ear drums 130 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: cause the ear drum to vibrate, and tiny bones in 131 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,679 Speaker 1: our inner ear connected to the ear drum also connect 132 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: to the cochlea. Uh, it's a structure in our inner 133 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: ear that contains an organ called the organ of corte 134 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: or court. I. Now, I don't want to get two 135 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: bogged down in all of this because it gets into 136 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: a lot of physiology that I'm just not prepared to 137 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: chat about. But essentially what's happening is little nerves in 138 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 1: our ears pick up these vibrations and transform that into 139 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:50,679 Speaker 1: signals that our brain can interpret as the experience of sound. 140 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: So when you try trace it all back to the 141 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: source again, it's all about vibration. Now. The rate at 142 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: which something vibrates is called a frequency, and we use 143 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: a unit of measure for frequency called a hurts, and 144 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: this tells us the number of times something has a 145 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: full oscillation within a second. So an oscillation is you 146 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: can think of it as going from the starting point 147 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: to the end point and back to the starting point again, 148 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: like if you're if you're making waves with a jump 149 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: rope or something like that, it's one full wave length 150 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: would be an oscillation. So if something vibrates only once 151 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 1: a second, that would be one hurts. The range of 152 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: typical human hearing is between twenty hurts or twenty oscillations 153 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: or vibrations per second, which would be a very very 154 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: low pitched sound, and it goes up to twenty thousand 155 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: hurts or twenty killer hurts that would be a very 156 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: very high pitch sound because whatever is vibrating is vibrating 157 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: twenty thousand times per second. Also, as we get older, 158 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: we typically start to lose hearing at certain pitches, so 159 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: are arranged narrows. This is why you will hear stories 160 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: about stores that will play sounds at much higher pitches 161 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: that irritate young people because they still have the capability 162 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 1: of hearing those those pitches. Well, old people like me 163 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: remain completely unaware because we can't hear those those pitches anymore. Okay, 164 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: that's the very basics of hearing from a very very 165 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: very high level. When we come back from this break, 166 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about resonant frequency and what that 167 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: has to do with glass harmonicas. But first let's take 168 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: this quick break. Okay, we're back. Now we're gonna talk 169 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: about resonant frequency. So if you have a glass and 170 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: you lightly tap it with say a spoon like think 171 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: about you know, weddings and stuff where people would tap 172 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: their glasses in order to signal that the groom and 173 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,719 Speaker 1: bride should kiss, or that the bride and bride or 174 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: groom and groom should kiss. You know, it's any of 175 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: those cases. So if you tap a glass, it produces 176 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: a tone. That tone it has the resonant frequency of 177 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: that glass. This is the natural frequency of the glasses vibration. Now, 178 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: that depends on lots of stuff. It depends on the 179 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: size and the thickness of the glass, and also whether 180 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: or not anything's in the glass. Like I said earlier, 181 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: if you put liquid in a glass, you start to 182 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: lower the pitch of the tone it produces. That's because 183 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: liquid actually inhibits vibration. It makes it it's more work 184 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: to vibrate because you've got more matter that you have 185 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: to push around. So the more matter that's in the glass, 186 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: the lower the pitch is going to be because it's 187 00:11:55,520 --> 00:12:00,200 Speaker 1: going to vibrate fewer times per second as a lee, 188 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: so you get a lower pitch. All right. If you 189 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:08,680 Speaker 1: produce a sound that has the same frequency as the 190 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: resonant frequency of a glass, then that actually induces vibrations 191 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: in the glass as well. So in other words, if 192 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: you were to tap a glass and it played out, 193 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: say middle C, which would be a very low note 194 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: for a glass, but whatever it produces middle C, then 195 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: if you were to produce a middle C sound with 196 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: enough amplitude enough volume, you would cause the glass to 197 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 1: start vibrating at that resonant frequency, and you could potentially 198 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: do it enough for the glass to deform to the 199 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: point where it breaks. And you've probably seen or heard 200 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: of demonstrations of this. The classic example is you have 201 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: an opera singer producing just the right vocal note with 202 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: just the right amount of of oomph, of amplitude of volume, 203 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: and singing loudly and longly enough to cause a glass 204 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 1: a shatter. It's a pretty common thing to see in 205 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: like movies and TV. And obviously MythBusters did and a 206 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: thing on it as well where they reproduced a tone 207 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: and show that it is possible. It's not easy to 208 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: do necessarily, but it is possible. Uh. And side note 209 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: on that it is easy to get an object to 210 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: vibrate and its resonant frequencies, which can also include harmonics. 211 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 1: That gets super complicated. We're not going to dive into 212 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 1: harmonics in this episode, but uh, it is uh, you know, 213 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: harmonics is what it sounds like, right, So if you 214 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: were to produce a harmonic frequency to a resonant frequency, 215 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: you can also get something to vibrate. But it's very 216 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: difficult to get something to vibrate at any frequency apart 217 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: from its resonant frequency and harmonics. Okay, so let's get 218 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: back to the glass heart. Rubbing your moistened finger along 219 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: the rim of a glass can create just the right 220 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: amount of friction to cause the glass to vibrate at 221 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: its resonant frequency, which produces a note. And if you 222 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: make a whole bunch of glasses and they're all of 223 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: slightly different sizes and thickness, or you fill them with 224 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: different amounts of liquid, you can produce lots of different notes, 225 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: and if you tune these glasses so that they match 226 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: frequencies of specific musical notes, you can play music. It 227 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: does get a little complicated, and um, we should also 228 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: mention that tuning things to specific musical notes it's not 229 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: as straightforward as it sounds, partly because there are different 230 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: definitions of what makes up a musical note, depending on 231 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: whether you're a scientist or a musician. And what do 232 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: I mean by that? Well, Joseph Savour, a French scientist 233 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: of the eighteenth century, proposed that middle C the note 234 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: middle C, which if you were to look at a 235 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: piano keyboard and you start on the left side of 236 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: the keyboard, middle C would be the fourth C note 237 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: as you go to the right on the keyboard. Well, 238 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: he said that middle c's frequency should be two hundred 239 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: fifty six hurts. However, there's another standard called the Stuttguard 240 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: pitch or the A four forty pitch, and that one 241 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: marks middle C is having a frequency of two hundred 242 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: sixty one point sixty three hurts. If you were to 243 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: listen to these two tones right one after the other, 244 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: it can be a little challenging to tell them apart, 245 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: because while to fifty six and to sixty one point 246 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: six are different, they're still really close. And the human 247 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: ear is not great at picking up very subtle shifts 248 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: for the typical person. I mean, there are extraordinary people 249 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: out there who are able to detect such things easily. 250 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: I am not one of them. So why did the 251 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: scientific community say middle C should be two fifty six? Hurts? 252 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,000 Speaker 1: It's because tot is a power of two, which makes 253 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: things easier when you're doing calculations. But musicians sort of 254 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: aimed for this a four note at being four forty. 255 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: Uh frequency and that internment that middle C had to 256 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: be to sixty one point sixty three once you started 257 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: to work outward from a four forty. So yeah, two 258 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: different ways of tuning, and uh, it gets pretty subtle, 259 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: but it does make a difference. Now, whatever pitch standard 260 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: you're determined to follow, your job as an aspiring glass 261 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: heart player is to pick out a selection of glasses 262 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: that can produce a tone that's reasonably close to the 263 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: various pitches of musical notes, and then you you designate 264 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: them in some way so that you remember, all right, well, 265 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: this is a this is B, this is C all 266 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: the way up to G, and then all the incidentals 267 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: or accidentals. You would need to have those arranged just 268 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: right so that you could produce the tones that you want. 269 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: And then you would play glasses in specific sequences and 270 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: combinations to produce music. Really talented players can play multiple 271 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: glasses all at the same time by spreading their fingers 272 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: out really wide and making contact with the rims of 273 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: multiple glasses and create things like chords, which is amazing, 274 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: Like when I see someone who's really good at this, 275 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 1: it is phenomenal. Well, earlier glass instruments actually involves striking 276 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: glasses with like a little a little striking stick for example, 277 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: like a little padded hammer. Um. There are written accounts 278 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: that date to the late seventeenth century, so the late 279 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds, in other words, that actually described playing glasses 280 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: by dipping one's fingers in wine and then rubbing the 281 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: rim of the glass. So we know that at least 282 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 1: as early as the late sixteen hundreds people had started 283 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,680 Speaker 1: to play glass harps in this way. And now we're 284 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: ready to talk about Benjamin Franklin and his contributions to this. 285 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: So the story goes that Franklin was traveling Europe in 286 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: the mid seventeen hundreds. He was acting as an ambassador 287 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: for the United Eates and visiting uh places like England 288 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: and France and attempting to, you know, advance the interests 289 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,239 Speaker 1: of the colonies at the time and and get them 290 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: in a better position. Uh. And that he attended a 291 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: concert at some point in this range of years during 292 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: which a musician entertained the audience by playing the glass harp, 293 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: and that got old Benny Boy to thinking. See, when 294 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: you have your traditional glass harp, the musician has to 295 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: definitely move between glasses. They constantly are keeping their hands 296 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 1: in motion as they're rubbing the rims of glasses in 297 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 1: this circular motion. But Ben thought, what if you could 298 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: rotate the glasses and then you just press a wet 299 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: finger to the rim and you can just hold your 300 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 1: finger there. You don't have to move your finger around 301 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: the glass. The glass is rotating, So that way you 302 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,919 Speaker 1: can produce this note, but you don't have to do 303 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: this circular motion the whole time. Wouldn't that make it 304 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: easier to play the glass harp? Well? Yeah, but how 305 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: do you do that? So Franklin figured that if you 306 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: could create a stack of tuned glass bowls, each tuned 307 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 1: to a single note, and then separated from all the 308 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: other bowls with some sort of dampener, like a cork 309 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:26,400 Speaker 1: type material, so that they're not making contact with each other, 310 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: because if you did that then there would be issues 311 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: with producing the right vibrations. You could create a stack 312 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: of containers tuned from low to high or high to low. 313 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: The largest bowl would produce the lowest note, the smallest 314 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: bowl would produce the highest pitch note. So step one 315 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: was just having glass bowls made that could produce approximations 316 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,879 Speaker 1: of specific musical notes, then finding a way to stack 317 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,880 Speaker 1: them while not having them actually make contact with each other, 318 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: and then finding a way to rotate them so that 319 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: you could rub your fingers against the rim of each 320 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: of these balls and produced these notes. Then Franklin came 321 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,160 Speaker 1: up with this amazing idea of drilling a hole through 322 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: the bottom of each bowl. Through those holes he inserted 323 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: an iron rod. So now you had a stack of bowls. 324 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:21,200 Speaker 1: The original armonica had thirty seven of them, and they're 325 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: on a stick. And then he turned the stick horizontal, 326 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: and then he mounted it in a cabinet and connected 327 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 1: the rod to a wheel that could rotate. So this 328 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: is the rotational action that causes the whole rod and 329 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: thus all the balls that are mounted on the rod 330 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: to rotate. So you just put your finger against the 331 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: rim of the bowl and it sings. So he connected 332 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: that wheel to a foot pedal, a treadle similar to 333 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:52,120 Speaker 1: what you would find on an old treuttle powered sewing machine, 334 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: and he used a belt to connect the two so 335 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: by peddling with your foot you could provide the rotation 336 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: chinal force needed to turn the wheel, which in turn 337 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: was connected to this iron rod that had all these 338 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: bowls mounted on it. So you would treadle, it would 339 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,439 Speaker 1: spin the bowls, and then you would move your fingers 340 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: on the rims of these bowls to produce the music. 341 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:27,159 Speaker 1: That was composer William Zeitler playing the glass armonica. It 342 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: was truly ingenious and it's drastically simplified playing the glass harp. 343 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 1: I mean really it was a different instrument that was, 344 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: as he called it, the harmonica or harmonica, and Franklin 345 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,440 Speaker 1: was known to give performances in Europe. He also produced 346 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,879 Speaker 1: some of these for musicians to play. He himself was 347 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: an amateur musician, and according to what I read, people 348 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: were delighted to attend one of his performances where he 349 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: would play well known pieces and some compositions of his 350 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: own on the armonica. But there were other musicians who 351 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: became truly famous for playing this instrument. I imagine it 352 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,479 Speaker 1: was quite the challenge for him to tour around with 353 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: this thing, because you have to pack it up in 354 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: such a way to minimize the possibility of damage. You know, 355 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: you have a lot of glass pieces in there. In fact, 356 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: there are a lot of historical harmonicas that suffered damage 357 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: during shipping incidents in the modern era where you had, 358 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: say a museum receiving a glass armonica from some like 359 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: some of Franklin's descendants, and then in the shipping some 360 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: of the bowls got cracked and broken. So it was 361 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: a really delicate instrument still is to this day. I mean, 362 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: the armonica still is a thing, although you're more likely 363 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,679 Speaker 1: to encounter it in a museum than you are on 364 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: the stage. Now we're gonna take a little break. When 365 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: we come back, we're going to get to the weird stuff. Okay, 366 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 1: we're back. So Franklin invinced this glass armonica and drastically 367 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 1: changes how you can produce music by by creating these 368 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: vibrations and glass with your fingertips. And his invention was 369 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: a pretty big hit in Europe according to the Franklin Institute, 370 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,880 Speaker 1: and old Benny was just happy to donate his invention 371 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: to the world. He didn't patent it. He didn't file 372 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: a patent for this invention. He apparently thought that there 373 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: was sort of a moral imperative to share your ideas 374 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,880 Speaker 1: with the world in order to contribute to the general improvement, 375 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: and that trying to keep an idea to yourself or 376 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: to maintain ownership of it was almost like an immoral 377 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 1: or evil thing to do. Um keeping in mind that 378 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: he also was enjoying a lot of support from his country, 379 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,399 Speaker 1: so he wasn't in a position where he was like 380 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: starving or anything of the sort. So he was in 381 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: a real position of privilege as well. We have to 382 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: acknowledge that anyway. Composers, including really famous ones like Mozart 383 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: and Beethoven, wrote pieces for the glass armonica, but the 384 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: instrument was somewhat limited in scope. You could actually change 385 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 1: the the amplitude or volume of the notes you played 386 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: by adjusting how much pressure you were putting on the 387 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: rims of the bowls as you played them, but only 388 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: to a point. And if you were to combine the 389 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: armonica with an orchestra of other instruments, it was very 390 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: easy for the armonica's sound to get lost in the 391 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: mix because there was a limited amount of volume you 392 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: could produce. So it had limited utility, which meant that, 393 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: you know, you could have these nice little pieces written 394 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: for it almost distractions, but you couldn't easily incorporated into 395 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: more um ambitious works of music. Another drawback of the 396 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 1: harmonica is obviously it is a very physically delicate instrument, 397 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: and when you make an instrument out of glass, he 398 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: really takes some risks. They were expensive to make because 399 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,199 Speaker 1: you had to get the bowl sizes just right to 400 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,440 Speaker 1: produce the notes you needed, and so the instrument also 401 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: had limited practicality just because they were difficult to keep 402 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 1: in good working order and they were expensive to repair 403 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,639 Speaker 1: or replace. But the truly weird part of this instrument 404 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: is that they got a reputation for given people the 405 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: hebe gebs or worse, the sound produced could be perceived 406 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,360 Speaker 1: as unpleasant or unsettling to some kind of like how 407 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: some people really the sound made when you rub your 408 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 1: hand against the surface of a of a rubber balloon, 409 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: or the horrible fingernails down the chalkboard sound like those 410 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: just make people's skin crawl. Well, some people had a 411 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 1: similar reaction to hearing the music produced by the armonica, 412 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: and there are rose reports of people having unpleasant reactions 413 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: or worse what during or shortly following an harmonica performance. 414 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,919 Speaker 1: One of the quotes I found while doing research on this, 415 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: at least in most of the sources I came across, 416 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: allegedly came from an eighteenth century writer, Dave J. C. 417 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,679 Speaker 1: Miller and says, quote, it is true that the armonica 418 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,159 Speaker 1: has strange effects on people. If you are irritated or 419 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: disturbed by bad news, by friends, or even by a 420 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: disappointing lady, abstain from playing it. It would only increase 421 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: your disturbance. End quote. Now, the reason why I said 422 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 1: came from allegedly came from a writer named J. C. 423 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: Miller is that's the name that I found in a 424 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: lot of different sources that all seemed to be pulling 425 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: from the same roots source, and I could not find J. C. Miller. 426 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: I kept looking at I kept trying to find the 427 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:21,199 Speaker 1: original source, and eventually I found out why I couldn't 428 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: find J. C. Miller because at some point someone must 429 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: have made a mistake with that person's name, and a 430 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: lot of other people repeated that mistake, and thus J. C. 431 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,640 Speaker 1: Miller was born. But no, the actual person who did 432 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: say that quote, although it was in German so it 433 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: wasn't exactly the same as how I just recited it 434 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: was a man named Johann Christian Mueller in his work 435 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:54,399 Speaker 1: and light zoom zeb stunt off their harmonica or method 436 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: of self instruction for the harmonica. And yes, I know 437 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: my German pronunciation is terrible. Look my English pronunciation is terrible. 438 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: I'm from the South. Just give me a break. Anyway, 439 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: Mueller was a composer. He was a musician who attended 440 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: uh St Thomas School in Leipzig, which was a school 441 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: that Johann Sebastian Bach taught at. Though there's no way 442 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: of knowing whether or not Mueller actually studied directly under 443 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: Bach or not, there are a lot of sites I 444 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: saw that listed Mueller as a pupil of Bach, but 445 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: also had to acknowledge that, you know, it's not like 446 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: we have any record that he actually was taught directly 447 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: by Bach, who was a true master of a composer. 448 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: I don't have a whole lot more information about Mueller. 449 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: I know that he was born in the early eighteenth century, 450 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: but don't know when you died. I didn't find any 451 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: record of that. And that apparently he played the harmonica 452 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: and later wrote a book about how you could teach 453 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: yourself how to play it. Also that he indicated that 454 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: the music produced could make people feel an easy and 455 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 1: irritable as if they had encountered a disappointing lady, which 456 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: is a heck of a thing to say. And this 457 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: reputation for the harmonica spread a little bit, and in fact, 458 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: I think it's spread way more in the modern era 459 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: than it did in the eighteenth century. Stories emerged about 460 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: people reportedly suffering all sorts of negative health reactions after 461 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: either listening to an armonica performance or actually playing the 462 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: instrument themselves, and so the musical instrument began to be 463 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: associated with this idea of of negative health impacts, and 464 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: that the sound produced by the instrument, this ethereal singing sound, 465 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: would cause these these health impacts somehow like that sound 466 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: would somehow create these physiological reactions in certain people. So 467 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: the glass armonica was blamed for pretty vague complaints, ranging 468 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: from promoting irritability so it could like cause a a 469 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: pair of spouses too uh to end up fighting with 470 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: each other if they listened to an harmonica performance, for example, 471 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: And it ranged all the way up to causing nervous disorders, 472 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: usually poorly defined nervous disorders because people really didn't have 473 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: an understanding of what the underlying issue was and they 474 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: just kind of painted it with this overall vague term. 475 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: But it all even included a an allegation that the 476 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: harmonica was connected to the death of a child who 477 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: attended a concert in Germany. Now I will add that 478 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,840 Speaker 1: I couldn't find any definitive source about this this death 479 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: and the nature of it and what actually happened. I 480 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:57,719 Speaker 1: don't know if that happened at all. What I do 481 00:30:57,800 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: know is there are a ton of different sources out 482 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: there that mention it, but I couldn't find a primary 483 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: source that actually talks about what really happened. Allegedly, a 484 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: town in Germany even outlawed the harmonica because of its 485 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: relationship with causing these sorts of negative health impacts. I 486 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: will say that from what I could tell, it looked 487 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: like this reputation was pretty much confined to a region 488 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: within Germany. So maybe this was just a very localized 489 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: superstition more than any sort of actual effect that was 490 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: really produced by the armonica. There was also a hypothesis 491 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:42,719 Speaker 1: going around that perhaps ill effects on armonica players weren't 492 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: because of the sound being produced. It wasn't that the 493 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: notes were somehow disturbing the humors inside the human body, 494 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: but rather that the bowls were made out of lead glass, 495 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: kind of like the glass you would find and say 496 00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: stained glass windows. And it's true, lead it's of is 497 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: toxic right if you consume lead. First of all, it 498 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: accumulates in your body if you don't get rid of it, 499 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: and so it can build up over time to becoming 500 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,480 Speaker 1: a toxic level, and you can get lead poisoning. But 501 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: just touching lead glass is not likely to cause problems. 502 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: If you were to drink from a lead glass, that 503 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: could actually cause issues because lead could conceivably leach into 504 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: whatever liquid you're drinking, especially if you have like some 505 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: sort of acidic drink or hot drink in there. You 506 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: might end up consuming some lead as you drink, so 507 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: you should not use lead glass to make glassware out 508 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: of And like I said, that lead will stick around 509 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: in your body, so even if you're just getting a 510 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,479 Speaker 1: tiny bit of it each time, over the course of 511 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 1: your life, it can get to a point where you 512 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 1: can actually start to encounter symptoms of lead poisoning just 513 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: because you've you've over time consumed enough of it to 514 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: have that toxicity manifest But again, playing the class armonica 515 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: with your fingers would not likely cause such problems. I mean, 516 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: maybe there'd be a way of having lead accumulated on 517 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: your fingertips, and if you're not washing your hands at all, 518 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: then perhaps you could start consuming it, but it's it's 519 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: a long shot. It's not like just playing the harmonica 520 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: would make you sick from exposure to lead. Maybe if 521 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: you ate your armonica that would be a different story. 522 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:25,959 Speaker 1: It would also be a hell of a story because 523 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: those things were pretty darn big and you're eating glass. 524 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: So not that that's unheard of, there are people who 525 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: have done it. But yeah, that that's one way you 526 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: could get lead poisoning, although you might have some other 527 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: more acute issues to worry about before the lead poisoning 528 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: sets in. I wanted to give a shout out for 529 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: another podcast I mentioned that earlier, and that podcast is Sawbones, 530 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:54,440 Speaker 1: a marital tour of Misguided Medicine, hosted by Dr Sidney 531 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: McElroy and her husband, Justin McElroy of the mcilroys, of 532 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: my brother and my brother there in me. In fact, 533 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: I almost forgot his name there for a second. I 534 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: had to think, who's the oldest brothers? Justin and uh? 535 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,799 Speaker 1: And they do a podcast called Sawbones where they go 536 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:18,879 Speaker 1: into various medical related stories throughout history, usually to kind 537 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: of unveil when we were just completely off track or 538 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: sometimes when we accidentally found our way on the right 539 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,399 Speaker 1: pathway as we were learning more about medicine. They did 540 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: a full episode about the Glass Armonica. I recommend listening 541 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,319 Speaker 1: to that one. It came out actually almost a year 542 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: ago today. Came out in early February of two So 543 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,239 Speaker 1: definitely check that out if you want to hear more. 544 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,400 Speaker 1: They have a great show, and I think Dr Sydney 545 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:51,439 Speaker 1: is fantastic at explaining medical matters in a way that's 546 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 1: really easy to understand. She does for medicine what I 547 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:59,080 Speaker 1: try to do for technology. So yeah, check that out. 548 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 1: But I really want to talk about this because again, 549 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: I was just listening to that Ben Franklin song and 550 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: it popped into my head and I just thought, what 551 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: a curious story, ranging from the the inventiveness of the 552 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 1: musical instrument itself and the simplicity of its mechanism, I mean, 553 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: a very simple belt driven rotational wheel that turns the 554 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: stack of bowls so that you can play them, and 555 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,320 Speaker 1: then the very weird reputation it got later on. Plus 556 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,839 Speaker 1: it's connected to a founding father of the United States. 557 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,400 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just kind of like, so such a 558 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: weird story that I felt that I wanted to to 559 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: do a quick tech Stuff tinbits on it. Hope you 560 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,840 Speaker 1: enjoyed this. If you have suggestions for future topics I 561 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: should cover on tech Stuff, please reach out to me. 562 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,720 Speaker 1: One way to do that is on Twitter. The handle 563 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: for the show is tech Stuff hs W. Another way 564 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,120 Speaker 1: to do that is to download the I Heart Radio app. 565 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: You can download it for free on Android or iOS, 566 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: and once you have it downloaded, you just type in 567 00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: tech Stuff in the little search bar that'll take you 568 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: to the text a page within the I Heart Radio 569 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: app and you'll see there's a little microphone icon. If 570 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,880 Speaker 1: you click on that, you can leave a voice message 571 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 1: up to thirty seconds and like, let me know what 572 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: you would like to hear in future episodes and I'll 573 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:21,759 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Yeah. Text Stuff is 574 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: an I heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I 575 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 576 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:30,760 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.