The thread on Benjamin Franklin and the Glass (H)armonica attracted
reasonable interest when it last surfaced on MMD.  I was interested
to see one of these instruments on BBC TV last night, in the program
"Local Heroes" which takes looks at an area and the ideas of its
inventors.  For the sake of this program, Benjamin Franklin was a
London resident!  (He did spend 20 years here.)  I was impressed with
the volume of sound and quality of the music the instrument produced.

The program has issued a challenge to do what Franklin did, which is
to devise a scientific musical instrument.  I somehow feel this could
be within the realms of MMDers' abilities!  See the web page -- follow
the links down the 'challenge' to see a photograph of the instrument.

   http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/local_heroes/

The program also mentioned David Kirkaldy, who introduced the idea
that one tested materials to destruction rather than theorise about how
strong they are.  His testing works was just down the road from where
I first worked, and over the door the lintel was carved with his
philosophy, "Facts not opinions".

I have always found it a useful test to apply to writing on mechanical
music, to separate the facts from the opinions; the two get rather mixed
up a lot of the time!  It was good to see the building on the TV and
getting a bit wider publicity.

Julian Dyer

 [ But why is Ben Franklin's 'Armonica' considered scientific?  One
 [ could also sound a saucer bell with a rosined bow.  What's the
 [ difference if an organ pipe is designed using scientific methods
 [ versus "cut and try?"  -- Robbie