The Harmonium

-A brief overview
 What is a Harmonium?
• A harmonium is a keyboard instrument that is a lot like
an organ.
• It is also known as a Melodeon, Reed Organ, and Pump
Organ.
• Earliest invention is said to be the Physharmonica,
invented by Anton Haeckl in Vienna, in the year 1818.
• His invention was inspired by the Chinese mouth organ,
known as Sheng.
• The popular types of Harmoniums are foot-pumps and
hand-pumps.
• The hand pumped harmonium was created by
Dwakranath Ghose.
• He invented this style of instrument so it could be played
while sitting down on the floor.
• It is popularly used in India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and in other South Asian
countries.
• It is used as an accompanying instrument in Hindustani
classical music, Sufi music, Bhajans and other
devotional music, Qawwalis, Nitya Sangeets and a
variety of genres including accompaniment to Classical
Kathak Dance.
• A typical Harmonium can cover three octaves (C2 – B4)
 Special Types
• First patent comes from Alexandre Debain in 1840 in
France.
• Samvadini, is a special type of Harmonium which is
fused with harp-like strings. This was produced by
Bhishmadev Vedi and his disciple, Manohar Chimote.
– This allowed the strings to be played in one hand, and keys on
the other.
• 22-Shruthi-Harmonium was patented by Vidyadhar Oke,
which has special knobs below each key to regulate the
reeds, allowing 22 Shrutis within 12 keys.
 Working of a Harmonium
• In a foot pumped harmonium, the player presses two
pedals with his feet, one at a time. This is joined to a
mechanism which operates a bellows, sending air to the
reeds.

• In a hand pumped harmonium, the player pushes and

pulls a handle back and forth with one hand, which is
joined to the bellows that blows the air.
 You thought it was that
easy?
• The harmonium produces sound when wind is sent by
the bellows through a pressure-equalizing air reservoir,
which causes metal reeds screwed over slots in metal
frames to vibrate through the frames with close
tolerance.
• There are no pipes, the pitch is determined by the size of
the reed.
• The quality of the sound is determined by the
characteristic size and shape of the tone chamber
surrounding each reed of a given set.
• The reeds are free, which means they’re fixed at one
end, and the other end is free.
• When the bellow is pressed, air enters through the
bellow and enters the lower chamber.
• There is a spring attached to the bellow, so when you
leave the bellow, the spring pushes it back, creating
more air.
• This air flow can be controlled by the stopper knobs.
• The pressed key makes air pass through a certain reed,
which makes it vibrate, and each reed produces a
different note.
THANK YOU