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Harmonium a keyboard musical instrument, with the wind
being supplied by bellows. Although it originated in the west, the harmonium
has occupied a permanent place among Bengali musical instruments since
the late nineteenth century. A Frenchman, Alexander Dorian, is credited
with its invention in 1840. It is also known as 'Cabinet Organ'.
In appearance, the harmonium looks like a box. To play it, one
needs to pump air inside it with the help of built-in bellows.
Inside there is a reedboard, with metal reeds arranged according
to the seventh diatonic scale of musical notes. The air that is
pumped with the help of the bellows strikes the reeds, and musical
notes emerge.
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Harmonium |
The keyboard comprises black and white keys. The white
keys are for pure notes and the blacks ones are for soft ones. However,
this is not applicable if the scale is changed.
During its initial stages, the harmonium was made in
the diatonic scale for use in the west. However, there was no scope to
change the keys, and thus it was quite difficult to modulate tunes. To
solve this problem, the diatonic scale was changed into an equally tempered
scale.
As the keys of the harmonium are arranged in a particular
scale, one does not need to compose a tune to present a song. Thus, it
is easily adapted to vocal practice. It is probably for this reason that
the harmonium has become so popular in Bangladesh. At present, the harmonium
has become an indispensable and popular accompanying instrument for vocalists.
Among the different kinds of harmoniums in use are Coppler Harmonium,
Box Harmonium, Scale Change Harmonium, Single Bellows Harmonium, Double
Bellows Harmonium, and English Bellows Harmonium.
It was probably in Kolkata that the harmonium was first
used in Bengal. In the 1860s, dwijendranath
tagore played it in his private theatre in Jorasanko. At the
beginning people were curious, but gradually developed an interest in
playing it. Several books were also written to help learners. Sourindramohan
Thakur's Harmonium Sutra (1874) and krishnadhan
banerjee's Harmonium Shiksa (1899) are the first, and
most important, books that describe in detail how to play the harmonium.
[Mobarak Hossain Khan] |
