Harmonium

[wallace]

I love em!

[Carlos Boll]

Ditto

[robd]

a friend of mine owns a music shop and has a couple of really cool WW1 portable chaplains organs. they fold out into sit down reed organs that you pump with your feet. The coolest feature is that they have knee levers that you can use to control the voicing as you play. (like the voicing switches on the front of an accordion, but you can use them constantly as an expressive device while you play.)

[ISedlacek]

For European music nice. But this instrument has completely ruined Indian classical music - after some local clever head got an idea to use it for it. Now it is quite widespread there and nothing is more ugly and disgusting than the sophisticated microtonal Indian ragas accompanied or even solo played by this tempered tuned monotonic instrument. It is the bane of Indian music (as Rabindranath Tagore said long time ago - and he was right ...)

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by ISedlacek

For European music nice. But this instrument has completely ruined Indian classical music -

I wouldn't go quite that far... It has no influence whatsoever on instrumental music (i.e. Sarod, Sitar, etc.). It's only used in vocal accompaniment (and for the odd solo performance) or for Tabla solo or dance accompaniment (ostinato). And it is non-existent in South India.

Now it is quite widespread there and nothing is more ugly and disgusting than the sophisticated microtonal Indian ragas accompanied or even solo played by this tempered tuned monotonic instrument.

In the hands of a competent musician (and there are good harmonium players in India), a harmonium can provide better accompaniment than a mediocre sarangi.. I actually like the sound sometimes.

It is the bane of Indian music (as Rabindranath Tagore said long time ago - and he was right ...)

I think that's being a bit overly orthodox. It wasn't the evil west that brute-forced the harmonium into Indian Classical Music - they chose to adapt and use it (as they use the violin), and why not? It's quite common for light-classical, Ghazal and Qawwali singers to even accompany themselves on a harmonium.

It's a natural development, not unlike the transition from the harpsichord to the piano, which some (e.g. the late J.E.Behrendt) probably still regret to this day because of the loss of overtones and sound quality... And again I'd have to say, although it isn't the orthodox original (whatever that would be), I actually prefer Scarlatti sonatas played on the piano...

Daniel

[Open Sky]

Go ahead and flame me for this--I'd understand--but I've been wondering if there is a sample library or virtual instrument that includes harmonium sounds. I've often wanted them for texture.

[wallace]

This is acutally about 45 cents above 440... of couse I only realized that after I bought it. I meant to bring a tuner to the shop but I forgot. It's easy enough to tune in the computer.

[littledoodler]

i have wanted one of these for awile, i love them.
question: how many notes can you play at once with these?

[wallace]

You can play as many notes as you want, I suppose, but realistically you can only play with one hand because you have to pump with the other. There are also different stops like an organ. One of them is a low F# pedal, so that's another note too. Also, make sure you get a harmonium that's in tune with 440.

Good luck.

[d_fu]

There are so called "scale-changing" harmoniums also, which will let you shift the entire keyboard... See attached pic.

I don't think Indian harmonium makers are much bothered about 440 Hz, btw.

Daniel

[wallace]

nice harmonium! I should have shopped around more for mine, but I'm happy with it and it's come in handy. I can tune it quick enough with the waves pitch shift.

[Shan]

Originally Posted by Open Sky

Go ahead and flame me for this--I'd understand--but I've been wondering if there is a sample library or virtual instrument that includes harmonium sounds. I've often wanted them for texture.

This one is pretty good.


Here is a sample set.

I record and mix alot of tracks with Harmonium. The main problem you will find with cheap harmoniums is a very loud "key click" that can ruin a track and you'll find that it will be unusable. Mic placement wont really help much. This is something that should be considered when recording harmonium. Get a good one with minimal to no "key click" and you'll be on your way. Also, you'll want top quality reeds. Some of the high end German reeds are considered the best. It will be more expensive but you'll have a killer sound.

Shane

[Open Sky]

Excellent, thanks!

[elektrovolt]

Harmoniums are great, I have five of them.
two of them are the Indian kind, one is very old, wheezing and soft, the other one is new, recently built by DMS, Delhi. a very strong sound, three registers and treble coupler... nice, but often a little too bright.
the other ones, an american reed organ (vacuum system) which is soft and spooky, a nother one - pressure system church harmonium (french system) which is really loud and powerful

and the last one, and my favourite - the collapsible Mannborg harmonium. I recently restored it and it is beautiful. only two registers, but such a nice, warm, gluey sound... wow! see image below

a tip for buying an Indian harmonium: do not buy cheap crap. buy from Keshav Das and ask for 440hz tuned instruments. Buying directly from india (DMS for instance) - ask for 439 hz tuning. the pitch rises when transporting to Europe or most U.S. places.

[Dronelove]

When missionaries came to India, they brought reed organs with them, which were operated by a foot pump, with the player seated in a chair.

The Indians apparently liked the sound of the things but it was not cultural for them to sit in chairs -- in everyday life and in musical performances, everyone sits on the floor.

So the instrument was modified to use a hand pump instead. Since Indian music does not employ much by way of chords or harmony, there was no need to use both hands on the instrument and the further addition of drone stops helped make it portable, audible and convenient instrument.




I love the sound of these things, especially for drone... very pleasing buzzing noise.

The harmonium strikes me as an instrument that would be pretty tricky to model well as a VSTi because there is so much subtlety caused by nuances in the performance such as:

- variable pumping speed
- variable pumping pressure
- the occasional "click" that comes from the keys
- creaking from the box itself

I find these little imperfections integral to an authentic harmonium sound.

[snaimpally]

Originally Posted by ISedlacek

For European music nice. But this instrument has completely ruined Indian classical music - after some local clever head got an idea to use it for it. Now it is quite widespread there and nothing is more ugly and disgusting than the sophisticated microtonal Indian ragas accompanied or even solo played by this tempered tuned monotonic instrument. It is the bane of Indian music (as Rabindranath Tagore said long time ago - and he was right ...)

Harmonium was a British instrument introduced into India and for this reason was banned from All India Radio for many years after India got independence.

Also, please note that harmonium is used strictly in North Indian (Hindusthani) music. South Indian music has adopted another Western instrument, the violin, and violin is now a very accepted part of that tradition.

I agree that harmonium is not ideally suited for Indian music, and while there are some very accomplished harmonium players, it is still not ideal.

[geeek]

Do you guys have any pointers on recording these with a decent stereo image?
I have a quirky Italian reed/wind organ, with an internal fan.
Have tried many different ways of recording it, ORTF, Spaced Pair, XY etc and have struggled to get a perfect tone from it.

[Mid-East.com]

Originally Posted by wallace

You can play as many notes as you want, I suppose, but realistically you can only play with one hand because you have to pump with the other. There are also different stops like an organ. One of them is a low F# pedal, so that's another note too. Also, make sure you get a harmonium that's in tune with 440.

The basic harmonium will have 2-5 stops. The stop pulls out and allows air to pass to a bank of reeds. Most harmoniums will have 2 banks of reeds, sometimes a male lower bank and a female higher pitched bank. So if you open stops to the two banks, then one key will give you two pitches. After that you have 2-5 drones, the look like the stops but allow air to pass through one reed continually. If you activate the drone, you can then have the two reed in the two banks, plus a third, fourth or fifth in the drone. Then you move to the more sophisticated harmoniums: Couplers. If you have a coupler you couple, or fix, two keys together. When you play one reed the coupled reed also plays. So you see you can get a simple straightforward sound, or a complicated harmonic. they are very versatile, very temperamental, but very versatile.

[Kady]

I've had good luck with Keshav Music in New York. Only problem is they're so popular - that every time a shipment of harmoniums arrive, 90% of them are pre-sold. I paid three months in advance for the two I have in my studio. But it was worth it. They're both A-440 and have great sustain. Keshav offers a one year warantee on the reeds and keyboard - but it's only effective for folks who live in the New York area and can bring the harmonium by in-person. He did a lot of free tweaks for me - even after the warantee was up. Pretty cool