Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was also a musical devotee. That’s why he and Martha Wayles Skelton were so enamored with each other at first. Martha would play the harpsichord and Tom his violin. They loved to sing and dance. Tom ordered a beautiful harpsichord from his agent in Europe, and had it shipped to Virginia as a wedding gift for Martha. So among all the other talents Tom is credited with, music must be counted.

George Washington also loved to dance and loved music. That’s why he and Martha Custis originally hit it off so well together. George loved to have young people come to dances at his home at Mount Vernon. When George walked into the dance parlor, music and dancing would stop, and the youth would stare at George. So George, instead of entering the dance hall, would sometimes stand at the door and look through a crack between the doors to enjoy the dance.

Like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry also liked to play his fiddle. That’s how he and Tom got along well together at first. Tom and Patrick fiddling around! Wouldn’t you love to see that?

Then, of course, there’s Benjamin Franklin, the oldest and wisest of the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention. But did you know he could play music on the guitar, the violin, and the harp? He found simple beauty in simple tunes. In his youth, Ben invented the Armonica. This musical instrument was played by touching the spinning crystal glasses with dampened fingers. This was so popular in Europe that music was written for it by both Mozart, and Beethoven.

So the next time you think about the Founding Fathers, don’t think of them as doting old men. Think of them as wise, knowledgeable, learned, and even musically talented men of faith.