Spinning glass musicSourced
Wet fingers play the rims of rotating bowls
Benjamin Franklin’s glass harmonica mounted glass bowls horizontally on a rotating spindle. The player touched their rims with wet fingers to produce tones. His 1761 arrangement was a new way to organize glass sound, unrelated to the familiar blown harmonica.
Transparent vessels became parts of a rotating instrument.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Glass harmonica · Wikimedia contributors
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Reviewed: 2026-10-05