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The glass harmonica, also known as '''glass armonica''', '"hydrocrystalophone" or simply '''armonica''' (derived from "armonia", the Italian word for harmony) is a type of Musical Instrument that uses a series of Glass Bowl s or goblets graduated in size to produce Music al Tone s by means of Friction , making it both a Crystallophone and a friction Idiophone ). Note that despite being played with wet fingers, the sound is produced by the glass (matter in the first of the various states-of-matter, i.e. solid), so the glass harmonica is not a Hydraulophone even if played completely submerged in water. HISTORY The glass harmonica is derived from the Glass Harp , a musical instrument consisting of a set of wine glasses, usually tuned with water. When Benjamin Franklin invented his mechanical version of the instrument, he called it the "armonica", based on the Italian word "armonia", which means "harmony". The German name for Franklin's instrument is ''Glasharmonika''. The free reed wind instrument called Harmonica was not invented until 1821 , sixty years later. Benjamin Franklin's armonica Benjamin Franklin invented a radically new arrangement of the glasses in 1761 after seeing water-filled wine glasses played by William Deleval. Franklin, who called his invention the "armonica" after the Italian word for harmony, worked with London glassblower Charles James to build one, and it had its world premiere in early 1762 , played by Marianne Davies . In Franklin's version, 37 bowls were mounted horizontally nested on an iron spindle. The whole spindle turned by means of a foot-operated treadle. The sound was produced by touching the rims of the bowls with moistened fingers. Rims were painted different colors according to the pitch of the note. As were dark blue, Bs purple, Cs red, Ds orange, Es yellow, Fs green, Gs blue, and accidentals white. With the Franklin design it is possible to play ten glasses simultaneously if desired, a technique that is very difficult if not impossible to execute using upright goblets. Franklin also advocated the use of a small amount of powdered chalk on the fingers which helped produce a clear tone in the same way rosin is applied to the bows of string instruments.
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