The Harmonium Handbook

The book provides detailed instruction in how to play, maintain, and repair harmonium – the popular musical 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 book reveals: The history of the Indian harmonium, from Ancient China to Europe and America; The essentials of owning and caring for Indian harmoniums, helping them give many years of service; How to play the harmonium in a variety of styles, from the simple to the complex, including single-note melody, melody with a drone, chords, and other more advanced methods (a complete appendix of chords and chord inversions is provided); How to explore the “inner realms” of the instrument and perform a variety of adjustments and corrections, including how to tune a harmonium’s individual brass needs. Here, the author offers in written form the love of his heart and the depth of his experience as both musician and technician.