102
pages
English
Ebooks
2009
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102
pages
English
Ebook
2009
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Publié par
Date de parution
01 juin 2009
Nombre de lectures
2
EAN13
9781565896369
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
18 Mo
The Harmonium Handbook provides detailed instruction in how to play, maintain, and repair this popular devotional instrument. It also reveals the colorful history of free-reed instruments such as the harmonium, which dates back to the time of Marco Polo. The story behind the modern version of the harmonium is a fascinating testimony to the love, skill, innovation, and intermingling of many of the world’s great cultures.
The Harmonium Handbook Reveals:
Satyaki Kraig Brockschmidt is a Microsoft design engineer. He offers precision, inspiration, and an occasional dose of wit in sharing both his musical and technical experience with this special instrument.
by Satyaki Kraig Brockschmidt
CHAPTER ONE
A Short History of the Indian Harmonium
In many ways, the harmonium is something of a crosscultural ambassador of beautiful music and international cooperation. Today the instrument is manufactured almost exclusively in India and is widely used in Indian music. But you might notice that it’s a little different from other Indian instruments: unlike the vina, sitar, an so on, it has only a twelve-note scale—just like its Western cousins—and it has a distinctly Western-style keyboard. This might seem a bit off until you understand that the harmonium was originally a Western instrument…sort of. In its present form, you see, it was actually born in the East before coming to the West, and though its parents were Western, their ancestors originally came from the East.
In other words, the harmonium’s history has been something of a round-the-world journey, one that does indeed begin in the land of many ancestors: China.
Ancient Asian Origins
Harmoniums, along with the accordion, harmonica, concertina, and a number of others, belong to the family of free-reed instruments. These instruments all produce sound through the vibration of one end of a flexible reed while the other end remains fixed. This is distinct from beating-reed instruments, such as the clarinet, oboe, and bassoon, wherein sound comes from the impact of the reed against some other surface.
For a simple free-reed demonstration, place a common plastic ruler on the top of a straight-edge table with about a third of the ruler extending over the edge. Firmly hold the ruler against the table with one hand just behind the edge (to prevent it from bouncing), then pluck the free end of the ruler with the other hand. This causes the ruler to vibrate at a particular pitch—a crude sound, yes, but it demonstrates the principle. To change the pitch, lengthen or shorten the free end of the ruler—with a little practice you can learn to pluck out a simple melody, or even create a musical notation based on inches or millimeters!
To explore the roots of this free-reed family tree, we must venture back in time to ancient China and an instrument called the naw. Here bamboo reeds were mounted inside a couple of pipes that were in turn attached to a gourd (Figure 1-1). Of course, as one might expect from a musically sophisticated people, the naw gradually evolved over centuries into an instrument known as the shêng—pronounced “sung,” literally “sublime voice”—having anywhere from thirteen to twenty-four pipes (Figure 1-2). Interestingly, it is played not by blowing but rather by sucking air through the mouthpiece while closing off holes near the base of each pipe. This draws air through the length of the pipe, causing the reed to vibrate.
No one is sure when the shêng was actually invented. Oral traditions place it at 3000 BCE; others give credit to emperor Huang Tei around 2500 BCE, or to some other unknown innovator around the twelfth century BCE A very old instrument in any case!
In The Harmonica: A Mouthful of Music, Richard Martin describes another primitive mouth-organ of China that resembled (and perhaps even predated) the shêng. This mouth organ used copper reeds instead of bamboo which, according to Martin, “were tuned with blobs of wax” to weigh down the reeds according to pitch. Ancient though this technique may be, it is yet a perfectly legitimate method for tuning modern free-reed instruments such as the harmonium (see Chapter Five). ...
One—A Short History of the Indian Harmonium 9
Ancient Asian Origins • European and American Reed Organs • (Re)Invention of the Indian Harmonium • Coming Full Circle • For Further Study
Two—To Know and Love Your Harmonium:A User’s Guide 23
Keyboard • Bellows • One Bellows or Two? • Stops and Drones • Which Knob Does What? • Coupler • Opening and Closing a Collapsible Harmonium • Dusting and Cleaning • Environmental Considerations • Long-Term Storage
Three—Playing the Indian Harmonium 45
Sitting at the Harmonium • Pumping the Bellows • “Breathing”: Producing a Steady Tone • Volume, Expression, and the Art of Pumping • Repeat After Me: It’s Not a Piano • Playing Styles: Introduction • Single-Note Melody • Melody with Drone • Chords • Melody with Chord-Appropriate Drones • Melody with Semi-Chorded Drones and Rhythm Accidentals • Sources of Chant Music
Four—The Inner Realms 73
External Areas • Keyboard and Key Mechanisms • Reed Chamber • A Little Inside Tour • Removing and Cleaning Reeds • Lower Bellows Chamber
Five—Adjustments, Corrections, and Tuning 95
Buzzing or Rattling Noises • Rumbling Noises • Squeaking Noises • Ticking Noises • Leaky Keys • Sticky Keys • Loose or Wobbly Keys • Wheezing • Slow, Fast, or Non-Sounding Notes • Out-of-Tune Notes • Tuning a Harmonium
Appendix A—Air Stops, Drones, and Tremolo Knobs for Select Bina Harmoniums 125
Appendix B—Chords and Chord Inversions 129
Appendix C—Tuning Sheets 147
Index 151
Photo Credits 157
About the Author 159
Publié par
Date de parution
01 juin 2009
Nombre de lectures
2
EAN13
9781565896369
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
18 Mo