Glass Harp: Making Music with Water and Wine(Glasses)
Enjoy GlassDuo’s rendition of Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming – a German Christmas carol first printed in 1599, harmonized and translated to English by Michael Praetorius in 1609.
#performingartsmedicine commentary:
The glass harp consists of multiple wine glasses that contain varying amounts of water, with each glass representing one note. Aside from possessing musical ability, people playing the glass harp need good fine motor coordination (small hand and finger movements), good hand-eye coordination, and intact senses of touch and proprioception (the technical term for describing position sense, the sense of “knowing where your joints are in space”). If musicians are standing or sitting for a long time, they ideally should also have adequate core strength so they don’t get tired easily, or risk develop upper back or lower back pain.
Speaking of back pain, we also have to take note of ergonomics – fitting the person to the environment in order to prevent injury and reduce injury risk. Prolonged awkward postures can be a possible contributor to back pain. Note that the taller musician on the right has to flex (bend) his back more when playing the glass harp; the table height is just right for the shorter musician. Raising the table, or putting a platform on his side of the table may help. But raising the table will make it too high for the shorter musician, so maybe having the shorter musician stand on a platform to make their heights more equal will be another solution. However either set up may not be a practical situation if they have to change places or reach over to the opposite side to get to other notes/glasses.
Wine glass placement also matters. If possible, put the glasses you use the most closer to the body. This way you don’t have to reach out and lean forward as often. And if there are two (or more) people playing together, they need to figure out optimal wine glass placement so they don’t bump into each other… this duo got that right!
