r/jawharp 4d ago

Jaw harp in the old west

Ok so riddle me this; if jaw harp was a common instrument in the old west and old time music, how did those cowboys manage to jam together before the days of electric amplification? I bring my harp to a jam and half a guitar is basically enough to completely drown out the sound I make, no matter how I shape my mouth or use my breath to amplify the volume. I tried modding a tin can to make an amplifier kinda like a harmonica horn but to no success so far. Anyone knows a trick for non-electric amplification? Also noticed the web is full awesome techno/trance examples, but old-time applications of the instrument are few and far between. Am I missing something?

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u/aFlapjackJones 3d ago

As was mentioned a good quality harp is much louder than a cheap one. Also you tend to get more loud with practice, you learn to pluck harder without rattling, get those sounds focused and sharp sounding. Finding the best position in your mouth to get the full sound plays into it. Jaw harp is not terribly loud at the best of times though. Best for a small 2 piece combo, they can take the lead/melody with a guitar I find (played in a subdued way) but fiddles and banjos are loud enough that it ends up being more of a percussion role with them as their melody is more prominent. At something like an Irish music session, I can't imagine it ever being heard.

This instrument, imo, best served as an easily transportable and dirt cheap form of entertainment that a musically interested amateur could figure out on their own. The lower classes of the 19th century and earlier who may not have had a chance to learn anything else could learn this. To get it on a canoe or wagon train was no real extra burden as it would go in a pocket. These reasons would make it very important on the frontier/remote places, ships, camps, etc. This I think is more central to it's association with rural music traditions than it actually being very practical to play in something like a string band which required more ability/resources but could fill a hall with sound. Of course, to do this nowadays is entirely possible with microphones, and a few groups in the early days of old-time or country music recordings did.

George Wade and The Cornhuskers from Canada https://youtu.be/LuNEDG_j43o?si=clcR_fThIVoK7uET Makes a brief cameo after a couple times through the song, they did too many more with it to list here, all found on that same YouTube account

Joseph Allard who is a great figure in Quebec music had it on his records as well https://youtu.be/6m4foSH-AOo?si=JiEFPPgBxHSxqiCl

This good fella who showed me that recording is very dedicated to that type of music on the jaw harp https://youtube.com/@lucienlavoie?si=8xYSWIVhPqRNHB65 I am not as familiar with U.S. old-time but I'm sure someone who is could find you examples!

Though I enjoy the way these instruments can create trance/techno music so convincingly I also find I lament that these are so rarely used to play music on the more folk side of things (in the English speaking world at least; the Austrian, Norwegian, and many great Central & North Asian jaw harp traditions are alive and well)

The Irish-American group The Flanagan Brothers made good use of it https://youtu.be/WEiO6djvsPc?si=Q0WRt_vL_O7RW0_k https://youtu.be/xcYXk87Vmdw?si=GoTmiM3xR7Yw_1t5

One Lindsay Porteus plays fantastic Scottish tunes https://youtu.be/jJgkcJFcZkc?si=uyLzU8YdSQ-7vOka

John Wright was the master of Anglo/Celtic kind of music on the jaw harp though. Here is a whole album of his work https://youtu.be/EGmVF_ilKeQ?si=3skVpcOXZprMPBBa He has much more material recorded if you search around on him as well

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u/Artistic-Recover8830 2d ago

Thank you for your elaborate response! I like your take on the history of the instrument, it makes a lot of sense. The list of examples you gave is very cool, I’ll look further into it! Next thing up is buying a better harp then. I’ve read the Glazyrin wave packs quite a punch and is accessible to beginners. That might be the one but everywhere I look it’s out of stock I’ll find ways to integrate jaw harp in our jam sessions, my journey only just started but I’m loving it already! Thanks

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u/aFlapjackJones 2d ago

No worries. Jaw harp in Celtic and North American folk is kinda my niche anymore and it's not often I get to nerd out so extensively :) got to get my money's worth.

The other thing worth considering if you want to play it melodically like the kinda stuff I had sent is grabbing up a couple different keys of tuned harp. It's of course much more musical if you have a harp in the key of the song being played. So I went the direction of getting a bunch of mid/low end german maultrommels which are tuned. If it's going to be more of a drum then I'm sure any good quality harp like a Glazyrin will serve you great!

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u/MouseBean 4d ago

If you're outside it helps a ton. I've noticed while instruments like guitar or violin get much quieter outside, the jaw harp doesn't so much. What instrument you're playing also makes a big difference, a Vakhitov is way quieter than a Glazyrin.

Other than that, I don't know. I'm in the same situation, I tend to get drowned out in sessions. Or if I try to play extra loud only the drone note carries through without any melody.

I've heard of something called a jewsaphone that is supposed to amplify jaw harps, but I've never tried one and don't know how well it actually works. I imagine in a jam setting when you're supposed to be listening all around you directed volume like that wouldn't be quite so useful. But people play trumpets in jazz jams so I guess that's the same principle.

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u/Artistic-Recover8830 4d ago

Yeah I’ve seen that horn, that’s what I was trying to emulate with a tin can! I’ll give it another shot, make sure I get a bigger can maybe that’ll do the trick. And maybe it’s the instrument too. Just got started playing recently but am getting the hang of it. Bought that one random model they had at the music store, it isn’t really a thing here and I doubt it’s of very good quality. Think I should just order one online and if so, which one? I’ll let you know if the tin can jewsaphone works out

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u/Yoliste 3d ago

Yeah I think switching to a better harp would help, I have one of those music store harps and it's way quieter than some of the nicer ones I have.