|
17 Mar 98 - 11:45 AM (#23975) Subject: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice I finally have my long-wished for harmonium on its way to me. It should arrive any day. I don't know anyone else who plays a harmonium. I play piano, so I am not anticipating too much difficulty on getting up to speed on the harmonium. Are there Mudcatters who have played or have stories about the harmonium to tell? Alice in Montana |
|
18 Mar 98 - 10:48 AM (#24073) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice What? No one else plays this instrument? Well, maybe I should think that is a good thing. I will stand out as something unique among the guitars, whistles, accordians, and bodhrans. alice, mt |
|
19 Mar 98 - 10:36 AM (#24120) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Some one asked me what a harmonium looks like. You can see a photo at the bottom of this page: http://www.mid-east.com/sitars.html
|
|
22 Mar 98 - 06:26 AM (#24323) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au I had a harmonium, Alice when I lived in Philadelphia. It was great fun to play. Mine was an old one, you pumped it with your feet. I had a friend who took old pipe organs out of churches and renovated them. He found this in some country church that had replaced it by an electric organ and he sold it to me for the price he paid--$75. It was the only one he had ever run into that still had good bellows. The touch is different from a piano. Mine had a springy feel that was an acquired taste. It was great fun to have stops. When I got tired and punchy from playing too much, I would pull out the "vox humana" stop. Don't do it unless you are punchy or have had a good number of drinks. It is probably better not to have an audience unless they had a similar number of drinks. I'll tell one harmonium story. About the same time I got this thing, another friend of mine got an electric organ. A real state-of-the-art one for its time. He invited me to try it out and I did. Something felt funny while I was playing, and he stopped me and told me the base line was very original, but he didn't see what I was trying to achieve with it. Did you guess what happened? Well, the electric organ, like "real" organs, had pedals for the base notes, and my harmonium had pedals to pump it. I was pumping along while I played, so intent in getting used to the touch that I didn't listen to the base. One suggetion. With no stops, mine sounded very much like a windjammer (button accordian) I tried to work up some of the leadbelly songs that he does with the windjammer, but could never get up to speed. If you are more agile on the keyboard, you might manage. You can try sea shanties that one associates with the windjammer too. Murray |
|
22 Mar 98 - 11:15 AM (#24328) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Thanks, Murray. Did you make any tapes of your harmonium playing? A year ago, when I first started to find info on the web about harmoniums, one of the first sites that came up in a search has a very nice description of the taxonomy of free reed instruments.
http://shift.merriweb.com.au/harmonium/types.html
I was looking for a lap harmonium (hand blown, made in India) and it took some searching until I finally tracked it down. The chart shown on the URL page above is very interesting in showing the family of instruments, whether they are mouth blown (harmonica), hand blown (concertina, accordian, lap harmonium), or foot-power blown (harmonium, American organ). |
|
22 Mar 98 - 12:06 PM (#24329) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Much better photos than the one I referred to earlier can be seen here: http://www.binaswar.com/keybor.htm |
|
22 Mar 98 - 06:42 PM (#24357) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au I am unfamiliar with the hand-pumped harmonium. How do you get chords for accompanyment? When I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago there was a busker playing a keyboard with a little flexible pipe ending in a mouthpiece that she blew into. She held it in her hands. It looked like it had two octaves and the whole thing was barely larger than the size of the keyboard. She had a mandolin player with her who provided the chords. I haven't had my harmonium since 1975. I did once make a reel-to-reel tape to send along with some pictures to my wife who was away at the time, and whom I didn't want to surprise too much when she returned. I was presented with the opportunity of buying it on the spot, and grabbed it! I have no idea what happened to the tape. Murray |
|
22 Mar 98 - 07:21 PM (#24358) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Murray, the Indian type harmoniums look like wooden boxes with a keyboard. They can be placed on a stand tall enough for the player to stand and play, (as the chorus director did during the funeral of Mother Theresa) or placed on a table so that the player can sit on a chair, or placed on the floor, and the player sits on the floor to play. As far as stops etc., there are different types from simple to deluxe (and prices). I copied descriptions from a couple of manufacturers:
Harmoniums
First brought to India by European missionaries, the harmonium has, over the years, been adapted for use with Indian music. These days almost any occasion which involves singing, be it classical, devotional or folk, solo or group, concert or teaching, includes a harmonium as an accompanying instrument.
Harmoniums come in a great variety of styles. A harmonium can be characterized by the number reeds per note, by the quality of the bellows, and by the number of drones and stops it has. Deluxe options include a scale-changer (the keyboard can shift up or down one to five notes, thus allowing easy transposition)and an octave coupler (doubles the octave).
Simple or fancy, a harmonium should come from a good maker - one who will use good wood and take proper care. We usually have harmoniums from Pakrashi and Dwarkin, several of the best and oldest makers in Calcutta.
Harmoniums
The harmonium is an Indian musical instrument, somewhat akin to the early American pump organ. The piano-like keyboard is played with the right hand, while pumping the bellows with the left. Harmoniums give an amazing amount of good sound and music, even for the beginner with little skill or experience. Their mellow, warm-sounding tone blends well with the human voice; thus they are especially well-suited for individual or group singing. The handcrafted harmonium makes an attractive addition to any home. The convenient size about (1 ft. x 1 ft. x 2 ft.) makes it easy to move about or store, and still have at your fingertips when you want it there. The harmonium requires little maintenance and servicing, and is reasonably priced. Each is its own individual instrument with a unique sound and style, differing in volume, tonation and performance characteristics. alice |
|
23 Mar 98 - 04:27 PM (#24419) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Mountain Dog Hi, Alice If you're interested in hearing an unusual use of harmonium (the hand-pumped kind, I'm fairly certain) you might dig up a John Mayall recording from the late 60s/early 70s called "Bare Wires". It's probably on the British Polydor label (most of his stuff from that era was). On the title track, he plays solo harmonium and sings. A unique effect. The only other blues application I've ever heard of the instrument was done by Alan Ginsburg accompanying himself on "Troost Street Blues". He was playing in Kansas City in the early to mid-70s, backed up by Bhagwan Dass, a California surfer turned Indian guru and musician (yes, it was an odd night...). Don't know that he ever recorded the tune, with or without that instrumentation, but again, it lent a unique flavor to the Blues and provided a very interesting linkage of East and West. Thanks for the URLs, too. I plan to pass them along to a friend who is a player and collector of eclectic instruments. |
|
23 Mar 98 - 05:00 PM (#24426) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Mountain Dog, part of my quest a year ago to track down this instrument was seeing Ginsburg reciting some of his poetry while pumping a wooden box that created a drone sound. I also had seen this on an Irish music documentary with a woman and some monks in a monastery singing, and she was playing a drone on the same kind of small wooden box. I found it's name finally, is a shruti box. I ordered one along with my harmonium, since it is so portable and relatively inexpensive. In my search, I also found an Indian instrument that is a combination of strings and an unusual keyboard, that is held in a wooden case. It is called a Banjo (nothing like what we would picture with that word) and its description and URL are here: Good quality, Harmonium type, box shaped, 3 feet long BANJO (Taishokotos) NO. 202 http://www.binaswar.com/string01.htm alice
|
|
27 Mar 00 - 09:23 PM (#202369) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice refresh for Llanfair Here is a page about my harmonium, shruti box, and ethnic harp.Alice's Harmonium alice flynn |
|
28 Mar 00 - 03:09 AM (#202508) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Llanfair Thank you, Alice, I had missed this thread altogether!!! I will keep in touch when it arrives, and let you know more about it. Having bought it at auction, I didn't have much time to look at it properly. Hwyl, Bron. |
|
28 Mar 00 - 09:30 AM (#202576) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,Sam Pirt I am an accordion player really but I do have a harmonium at home. They are great instruments. Have you ever heard Timo Acatola from Finland. He is bands JPP and Troka as well as playing with Maria Kalenimi in Algarez. They are great. Cheers, Sam |
|
28 Mar 00 - 09:44 AM (#202583) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice If you already play piano, the Indian harmonium is easy to learn and an easy, portable acoustic instrument to carry to sessions or gigs. I think it's great. You don't have to strap it to your chest and play the keyboard sideways (ha!) and I found it faster to get up to speed than trying to play concertina. I would like to be able to have the time to learn the concertina, as well, but the harmonium was a quick solution to add another acoustic instrument to the mix, something no one else in the group plays. Also, the wood makes it a beautiful instrument, and I always get curious people coming up to check it out. alice |
|
28 Mar 00 - 12:20 PM (#202660) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: richardw alice; Thanks for this thread and your links. You have a great site. I have been looking for a harmonium, or something similar, for some months for a recording project of 1800s music. WE ended up using an oild leaky organ which had its own percussion/step dancing section as the pedals were pumped. actually it made for a great sound. However, I will check out your links more closely. We have a large East Indian population in Vancouver so their may be a music shop there. thnaksd again. richard |
|
28 Mar 00 - 12:36 PM (#202668) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice richardw, I'm sending you info by personal message about how you can purchase a Harmonium from my instrument store. |
|
05 May 00 - 12:06 PM (#223527) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: richardw Alice; Just got my harmonium after checking every music store in Vancouver and then wandering through the Punjabi Market. Found a music store that imported 4 different models. Top of the line with the shifters was nice but a bit rich for me. Do you know if there is a discussion group for harmonium? The one problem I have found so far is a lack of instructin book on the stops etc and that the drones are in odd keys, presumably for eastern music. C# for instance, for the bass drone, is not real useful in most we4stern music. When I get a chance I will pull it apart and see if this is changable but thought there might be a way of finding if someone else had already done this. Have you found any instructions or ideas on line? richard |
|
05 May 00 - 04:56 PM (#223697) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice I have found only one book in English, but I haven't looked too extensively. The book came with my harmonium. You can get it from Mid-East Ethnic musical instruments website. Haven't looked for a discussion list, either. Good luck. |
|
08 May 00 - 04:11 PM (#224794) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,lpeek@mail.smu.edu Richard, Generally it is easier to retune a free reed downward. Your C# should be able to be retuned to D. D would be a useful drone in Irish and Canadian tunes. Leon Peek |
|
08 May 00 - 10:38 PM (#224987) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Susan A-R Alice, when Michael and I were out in San Francisco, we visited Dave and Pam Swan. Pam had just acquired a harmonium, and was starting to figure the thing out. Michael (who's a pianist for his livelyhood) messed around with it and had a great time. You may want to drop Dave a personal message, ask him if Pam has any insights and alert Pam to the site. Have fun!!!! Susan |
|
08 May 00 - 11:26 PM (#225004) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: richardw Thanks Leon; I guess the question now is, how does one retune a reed? I have yet to start takin gthings apart but the instrument does need some fine tuning in terms of action etc. Richard |
|
13 Oct 01 - 11:13 PM (#571563) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice |
|
13 Oct 01 - 11:43 PM (#571574) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alice Corrected link (I moved my website) Alice's harmonium. |
|
01 Apr 10 - 08:30 AM (#2877298) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,mahesh shah i am learning to play harmonium.its very interesting.i live in birmingham UK, so if anyone wants to practice with me please let me know.rgds |
|
01 Apr 10 - 10:34 AM (#2877377) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: meself I bought an Indian harmonium in a pawn shop about twenty years ago. I used to play it a lot, accompanying songs. I found it a good substitute for concertina or accordion for someone who plays piano. Although, I think some manner of small accordion would be a little more practical if a person is choosing. |
|
01 Apr 10 - 10:30 PM (#2877815) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: The Fooles Troupe Alice's link of 13 Oct 01 is now defunct. |
|
02 Apr 10 - 05:07 AM (#2877905) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Bonnie Shaljean Delighted to hear about your new "baby" Alice - it's a very rewarding instrument to play and especially to sing to. (Goes well with harp too, except that I can't drive both at once...) There's another good harmonium thread here: harmoniums in folk music http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=108477#2257537 [CLONES: Can you please add this to the blue list of threads above?] |
|
02 Apr 10 - 05:17 AM (#2877908) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Bonnie Shaljean And this one: BS: free to good home , harmonium (U.K) http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63911 |
|
02 Apr 10 - 10:48 AM (#2878086) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: meself Note: Alice's "new baby" is twelve-years-old by now .... |
|
02 Apr 10 - 11:01 AM (#2878101) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Bonnie Shaljean Ooooops! Soon-to-be-teenager, then - I keep thinking of the tune to Alice's Restaurant... you can get anything you want... |
|
04 Apr 10 - 04:10 AM (#2879223) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton We have a small folding one like the one in OH What a Lovely War. Main problem it is in an old pitch F# or F# and a bit which is ok for songs but no good for playing with most others L in C |
|
04 Apr 10 - 04:25 AM (#2879230) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Will Fly My old Edwardian harmonium - from a chapel in Birmingham originally - is languishing in my garage. Alas, there's no space for it in the house. It's in working order and very sweet - free to anyone who would like it. |
|
04 Apr 10 - 05:33 AM (#2879252) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,Granny In Wales I have one, made in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the 1890s. I bought it in Oxfordshire in the 70s and it is a prized possession! How I wish it could talk, and tell me its' history! I bought a book, "The American Reed Organ" from St Albans Organ Museum which tells you how to restore the internals. Yes the people at the Organ Museum in Saltaire were enormously helpful |
|
04 Apr 10 - 04:43 PM (#2879559) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Tootler I have recently bought a shruti box. It is great for singing with and has attracted a lot of interest wherever I have taken it. Most people have not come across it before, but the reaction to it has generally been very positive and most seem to like it as an accompanying instrument. I play it with one hand and use a harmonica in the other hand to play intros and fills between verses etc. which works very well. It is also possible to play it with a foot so that you can play an instrument requiring both hands such as a flute or a whistle. There is a U-Tube video of someone doing that. I will have a look and post a link. My shruti box is one of these I have the low G version. It is fully chromatic over one octave and tuned to A=440 in equal temperament so it can be played with Western instruments. |
|
04 Apr 10 - 05:12 PM (#2879572) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Newport Boy I learnt to play piano on an American organ in the mid 1940's. At least, I had lessons on my teacher's piano, and practised on our organ at home. I restored it in about 1954, and it was given to a local chapel - I wish I still had it. In the pedalled instruments, there is some confusion about terminology between harmonium and American organ. The American organs, turned out in their thousands in the 1800s, were all suction instruments. The bellows at rest were fully expanded - pedalling extracted the air until they were closed, while the springs expanded them, sucking air through the reeds. On an instrument in good condition, with the bellows fully closed, you could play at least one line of a hymn tune before the sound died. What I always understood as a harmonium was a pressure instrument - pumping closed the bellows, forcing air through the reeds. Few of them had a significant air reservoir - 2 or 3 notes maximum if you stopped pumping. The term 'harmonium' was often applied to both types of instrument. The most interesting American organ I've seen was in Ethiopia, in an old Norwegian mission. Made in Norway in 1872, it was in sad condition when I saw it, hadn't been used for 40 years, and was too big to bring home! Phil |
|
05 Apr 10 - 11:55 AM (#2880033) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: meself You can always put your harmonica in a rack to play along with either a foot- or hand-pumped harmonium, which is what I used to do back in my rock-star daze. |
|
05 Apr 10 - 11:59 AM (#2880035) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: meself Of course, the above presumes that the harmonica and harmonium are tuned reasonably close to each other. Sometimes either or both are tuned to something far from standard. |
|
05 Apr 10 - 03:03 PM (#2880154) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Tootler I have a harmonica rack, but you don't really need it with a shruti box. |
|
05 Apr 10 - 09:28 PM (#2880361) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: The Fooles Troupe "The American organs, turned out in their thousands in the 1800s, were all suction instruments. What I always understood as a harmonium was a pressure instrument - pumping closed the bellows, forcing air through the reeds." Correct. |
|
17 Jul 10 - 03:48 AM (#2946569) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton We are thinking about buying one of those table top hand pumped harmoniums. Any advice on which to buy? L in C |
|
17 Jul 10 - 04:13 AM (#2946576) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray Rapunzel bought wee a laptop earlier in the year - very shoddy workmanship but after a few essential modiofications (mostly to keep the volume down and blunt the razor-sharp metal trimmings!) it now sounds a treat: Come Write Me Down Watch out as a lot of these things are somewhat sharp of concert. I'm told there's somewhere in Bradford, failing that - ebay or somewhere like JAS Musicals. I believe scale-changers are best avoided too. We have a larger one for domestic use (pot-luck on ebay) of which we're rather fond; not the best quality, but it sounds lovely, despite it too being a tad sharp of the old A=440! |
|
17 Jul 10 - 04:22 AM (#2946585) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Bonnie Shaljean Clones: There's another good harmonium thread not included in the blue list at the top. Can you please add: harmoniums in folk music http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=108477#2257537 and there's also: BS: free to good home , harmonium (U.K) http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63911 |
|
17 Jul 10 - 04:43 AM (#2946593) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray I note at JAS Musicals they do harmoniums with English reeds in A=440; something to be aware of... |
|
17 Jul 10 - 08:53 AM (#2946672) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: The Sandman my partner Cathy Cook plays one on my cd concertinas and[a free reed compilation]. |
|
17 Jul 10 - 09:15 AM (#2946685) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton Thanks Good Soldier - any advice? Any details L in C |
|
17 Jul 10 - 05:37 PM (#2946888) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: The Sandman Concertinas and, from my website |
|
18 Jul 10 - 03:23 AM (#2947015) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton ???????????????????? L in C |
|
18 Jul 10 - 07:33 AM (#2947058) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: The Sandman websitehttp://www.dickmiles.com However theHarmonium does not take any solos but is used as rhythm instrument |
|
19 Jul 10 - 10:08 AM (#2947595) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton Still looking for advice on what to buy L in C |
|
19 Jul 10 - 10:45 AM (#2947624) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray See my posts above, Les! To clarify, there's a lot of bargains to be had (on ebay) but over at JAS Musicals you can get something for £261 (K107) tuned in concert / A=440, which most Indian harmoniums aren't. Of course neither of ours are, and it doesn't bother us too much... Otherwise look out for such features as drones, couplers and stops - the more the merrier really, but I've been advised to avoid scale-changers. Portability could be an issue; our wee lap-top harmonium is very portable but is so badly made it requires a lot of general maintenance. Sounds a treat though. Some harmoniums are collapsible, folding away inside of themselves to facillitate greater portability. There are many smaller instruments which sound very good - some quite cheap at JAS, not sure how good they'll be though. On ebay right now is THIS - announcing itself as Indian Gaelic! This is the Dulciana type with a built in Shruti box - could be lovely, could be absolute pants... |
|
19 Jul 10 - 11:53 AM (#2947674) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton Thanks sean, I have followed your links and liked the look of things - I guess a trip to Londom would be useful L in C |
|
22 Jul 10 - 05:40 AM (#2949608) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Les in Chorlton Anyone else giving advice? L in C |
|
19 Dec 11 - 08:17 PM (#3276872) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Jack Campin This is rather funny: Nathan Hollander plays klezmer I didn't think he was quite as bad as the uploader's comments suggest. The picture is of an Indian harmonium but I think the instrument must be an American organ. |
|
20 Dec 11 - 09:45 AM (#3277112) Subject: RE: fellow harmonium players? From: Alan Day Tuning of harmonium reeds is identical to that of a concertina and information exists for tuning. For sharpening the reed file the tip, for flattening file the body.Not an easy job and if you are of a clumsy disposition do not attempt it. Pm me if you want more info. Harmonium Hero has a nice CD out. Al |