Glass harp

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A glass harp (also called musical glasses, singing glasses, angelic organ, verrillon or ghost fiddle) is a musical instrument made of upright wine glasses.

It is played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses. Each glass is tuned to a different pitch, either by grinding each goblet to the specified pitch, in which case the tuning is invariable, or by filling the glass with water until the desired pitch is achieved. Adding water causes the pitch to go down. Each glass model may have its pitch lowered by a fourth or even larger interval.

In addition, the sounds of a musical glass may be generated by bowing its rim with a bow for stringed instruments. In this case, a skilled musician may obtain the lowest tone (such as the one created by rubbing with the soaked finger) and also one or more higher notes, corresponding to the glass bowl higher modes.