12 March 2014
March 11, 2014
TWANG!
This is one of those comic strips that started out as one idea then upon further research and enlightenment about some facts, ended up becoming something else entirely.
Waaay back in 1998, I spent three weeks on an island that had no electricity or potable water to perform some experiments on the foraging behavior of the Redfin Butterflyfish for my college undergraduate thesis to earn my degree in Biology. My team and I were sharing the island with an expedition from Coral Cay Conservation. One of their volunteers taught me how to play the Jaw Harp (and subsequently, the didgeridoo, but that's another story). So every sunset, we would accompany the blazing sky with an ambient harmony between the two instruments.
But my first encounter with the Jaw Harp would come from Snoopy.
This is one of those comic strips that started out as one idea then upon further research and enlightenment about some facts, ended up becoming something else entirely.
Waaay back in 1998, I spent three weeks on an island that had no electricity or potable water to perform some experiments on the foraging behavior of the Redfin Butterflyfish for my college undergraduate thesis to earn my degree in Biology. My team and I were sharing the island with an expedition from Coral Cay Conservation. One of their volunteers taught me how to play the Jaw Harp (and subsequently, the didgeridoo, but that's another story). So every sunset, we would accompany the blazing sky with an ambient harmony between the two instruments.
But my first encounter with the Jaw Harp would come from Snoopy.
Then as I was researching about this comic strip, which was supposed to be about Ludwig van Beethoven, I encountered something interesting about his teacher, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. He actually composed a number of concertos involving the Jaw Harp!
I actually enjoyed this concerto and it shined a new light on the little instrument I had such wonderful memories of.
Now for some further awesomeness...
Now for some further awesomeness...
Posted by Carlo Jose San Juan, MD.
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