15 Years With Jew's-harp
First jew's-harps (in Altaic language it is called “khomus”) which I made from 1988 to 1993 were copies of Yakut and Tuvinian jew's-harps. During five years I studied their advantages and disadvantages. I talked to jew's-harp-makers and masters of playing, studied technology of different jew's-harp-making, characteristics of metals, the nature of sound origin and its influence on a person and on a space… This work has still been going on. In 1993 on basis of five-year experience the technology of jew's-harp-making was completely changed as a result of problems put by:
1. Jew's-harp should be manufacturable.
2. It has to have all the advantages of previous jew's-harps.
3. It is necessary to introduce a flexible opportunity of sound tuning in jew's-harp construction.
4. It is needed to get away from traditional technologies and make a fundamentally new, modern, refined, sounding jew's-harp.
And in spite of the fact that the jew's-harps which I have made look like manufacturing, standard, there are only 20% of machine working in their making. The rest is manual laborious working. Almost 50% of time is spent for the tuning of jew's-harp. This is the main task in its manufacture. Outward appearance delights our eyes and sound influences on our body and soul. Unfortunately, only some people know how the jew's-harp should sound and that's why they take every if only it utters sounds. Let's imagine a wild Papuan whom you gave a untuned guitar, showed some accords and left. He would never know how a tuned guitar should sound.
Jew's-harp playing should be light, sounds should dissolve in a player, fill him with pleasant vibrations. This is when you want to play and play, and play!..
Wrong-tuned jew's-harp (muttering) has a bad influence on a state of health. At once it can be unremarcable and after that a player usually think it is because of bad weather, changes of atmosphere pressure or if he has eaten something wrong, etc.
Perhaps everybody has listened the sounding of untuned guitar, piano, in this cases it is said: “it makes one sick to hear”. But this is because you have listened a tuned instrument a long time before. Try to listen 20-30 minutes of untuned guitar playing. But this is only the guitar, and jew's-harp sounds are much more stronger by the influence on psyche. That is the reason that only shamans played it in bygone days. That is why there is such serious attitude to sound tuning. To make a jew-‘s-harp sound correctly a master has to meet at least six (from ten) conditions of tuning. Bur these are already the secrets of a master. Here it is necessary to explain that sound tuning and tuning to a certain note are two different things. For example, to make a guitar sound beautiful and strong a master has to meet very many conditions of its making and only after that its strings are tuned to a certain notes.
Jew's-harp is simple by sight but it needs very responsible and serious attitude. It is usually considered as a musical instrument. In the distant past it was only a religious, ceremonial, ritual instrument of shamans and magicians. It cannot be forgotten and that is why it is necessary to deal with the jew's-harp very respectfully.
At this moment we have abundant experience, and six improved jew's-harps are already developed in project, and they practically have not got any disadvantages. Among them there are also concert ones. Now the technological process of manufacturing is developing and soon they will be on sale.
A little bit about myself. I came from Tomsk region. School, army, Tomsk Institute of Radio Electronics (TIASUR at that time). In 1980 when I was 30 I came to Gorny Altai because my heart calls me and I stayed there fascinated at this beauty. I have worked as a chief power engineering specialist in a village which is called Verh-Ujmon, Ust-Koksinsk region.Since 1986 I have lived and worked in Gorno-Altaisk.
Besides me, Pavel and Zhenya also participate in process of jew's-harp manufacturing. They make all mechanical and manual working. I make final operations, sound tuning, preparation and tooling, development of technology, jew's-harp projects, ect. I am a designer, a turner, a milling-machine operator, an electrician, a consructor, a stove-man, ect. It turns out that you need to know practically everything to make a jew's-harp. We have build a workshop by ourselves in the outskirts of town, there are only mountains and a forest behind.
Our Altaic nature, mountains, space vibrations are our JEWS-HARP. Through lifelike, tender sounds of our jew's-harp we send you our love, joy, power, wisdom and regards of Grey Altai.
And I wish all people who has already got a jew's-harp (not obligatory made by me) that the playing it brought them only joy, and remember that it is not such a simple instrument. Do not try to apply different “shaman” techniques at once, especially by the books, because except of real shamans nobody can explain you how to use them and the main thing – what for! Play just for pleasure and if you are ready, a jew's-harp itself tells you what to do. Believe me and take your time . Good luck !
Yours faithfully, Vladimir Potkin.
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