I learned it as a Jaw Harp as a child, i think in Boy Scouts, in
Philadelphia in the 1970's.

kev

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 8:43 PM, Boyer, Jeffrey, DCA <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Colleagues in Euroamerican Artifact Analyses,
> We at the OAS are seeking your help with the question, what do you call the
> musical instrument often known as the Jews Harp (or Jew's Harp)? We have
> examined all the references available to us as well as many websites about
> the instrument, its history, and its identities. As many of you know, there
> is controversy about whether that name is ethnically inappropriate, even
> offensive, because of its reference to Jews and, by inference, Judaism. The
> ethnic reference does not, to me (some at the OAS don't agree), seem
> offensive at face value, and I have no interest in political correctness for
> its own sake in this situation any more than in the use of the name French
> Harp for the instrument often known as a harmonica. The history of the
> instrument, however, indicates that the name Jews Harp was and is limited in
> distribution to England, a few parts of Germany, and the United States. The
> first known recorded name of the instrument uses that name (15th century
> England), but there are artistic renderings much older than that and the
> instrument, in many varieties, is found all over the world. One website
> lists over 1000 names for the instrument around the world, almost none of
> which mention Jews. So, it seems use of the name Jews Harp in the United
> States reflects the English portion of the nation's heritage.
> Our concern with what to call the instrument has two foci. The first is to
> find an adequate and appropriate descriptive name. Although pretty much all
> of us know what a Jews Harp is when we see one or read about one, the
> limited distribution of the name suggests that it might be adequate to
> identify the instrument in specific contexts but not in a general analytical
> sense. We are leaning toward calling it a "jaw harp," a term that seems to
> describe it adequately (although, as I understand it, the instrument can be
> broadly classified as a "woodwind" even though the reed is often,
> particularly in Europe, the Americas, India, and parts of Southeast Asia,
> made of metal, usually steel or brass). Still, if we were to classify it as
> a woodwind instrument, we would still need to have a specific name for it.
> What do our colleagues call the instrument for analytical purposes?
> Our second focus is on historical names for the instrument in western and,
> particularly, southwestern North America.  A generalized, modern, Spanish
> name is "arpo de boca" (mouth harp), but there are many others in modern
> Spain and we don't know their antiquities or the breadth of their use in
> Spanish colonies around the world. We can find no Southwestern Native
> American examples of the instrument, but we assume that doesn't necessarily
> mean there weren't/aren't any. Is it a post-Columbian instrument in North
> America? Do our colleagues know what the instrument was called in Spanish
> Colonial, Mexican National, and early United States periods? Answers to this
> focus would probably not change what we call the instrument during analyses
> but would be useful for discussions of its identity in archaeological and
> historical contexts.
> Thanks for your consideration and answers. We await them on the edges of
> our seats,
> Jeff Boyer
>
>
> Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
> Project Director
> Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
> mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87504
> physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87501
> tel: 505.827.6387          fax: 505.827.3904
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. (Dorothy
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