Historic Folk Toys: Music, 'Jew's Harp (Jaw Harp)'

Jew's Harp (Jaw Harp)The jaw harp is a centuries-old folk instrument that is played by holding it to your mouth and striking the vibrating "tongue." Our Jaw Harp comes packaged with playing instructions and a brief history.Historical Background: The Jew's Harp or Jaw Harp (5002) is a small musical instrument held between the player's teeth or against the lips and plucked with one or more fingers. It has been debated since 1511 as to whether the Jew's Harp is a percussion or chromatic instrument. Music scholars Fredrick Crane and Ole Kai Ledand support an earlier notion proposed by Marin Mersenne, a 17th-century musicologist. Mersenne's ideology subscribes to the classification of the Jew's Harp as an aerophone since the "full functioning of the instrument occurs only when a stream of air moves past its tongue."The name Jaw Harp is a bit of a misnomer and does not hold much scholastic merit. For 400 years, this instrument has been connected in English with Jews and called a Jew's Harp (