Indian harmonium
The tabla a popular Indian percussion instrument which is a part of the standard Indian musical society and used in the classical, popular and religious music as well. The Tabla consists of two drums – Dayan (right) or the Tabla and the Bayan (left) or the Duggi. Dayan or Tabla is a cylindrical, wooden drum made of black wood and played with the right hand. Bayan or duggi- the left hand drum is slightly conical and bowl shaped. This drum can be made of metal, wood, or ceramic. There is a black spot on both the drums near the centre of the head. Known as siyahi, this black raised area is usually made of rice, glue, graphite, and iron fillings. The siyahi is essential in the sound of the Tabla. Tabla is played by beating the upper most surface of drums with hands.
Harmonium belongs to the family of free-reed aerophones. It is a small, tabletop size organ with bellows at the back that is pumped by one hand while the other hand plays the keyboard. It contains multiple chambers inside with different banks of free reeds in each chamber. The size and shape of each reed in the bank determines its pitch. Engaging stops directs the airflow to various chambers. Each playing Key and each Drone controls the air through one or multiple reeds within a chamber. When engaged, Drones provide a continual harmony note and are played in union with the keyboard. Though not native to India, today it is widely used in all forms of Indian music whether it is classical, Hindustani, devotional or film music.
Tabla
Kartal
Dholak also known as dholki is a barrel shaped hand drum that is widely used in folk and popular music in India. Dholak belongs to membranophone family of instruments. It is a double-headed drum (hollow inside) with the bass head on one side and the treble head on the other. The larger bass head creates low pitched sounds and the smaller one treble head produces higher tones. The smaller side has a simple, single layer membrane, where as the larger side has a special application on the inner surface known as dholak masala. There are two types of Dholak that are commonly used, the traditional dholak with rope lacing and modern with nut and bolt dholak. The dholak is played by strucking on both sides by the hands, fingers, knuckles and part of the palm.
Khartaal or Kartal is an ancient instrument mainly used in devotional songs. It has derived its name from Hindi words ‘kara’ means hand and ‘tala’ means clapping. This wooden clapper is a Ghana Vadya which has discs or plates that produce a clinking sound when clapped together. It falls under the class of idiophones of self-sounding instruments that combine properties of vibrator and resonator.
Dholak
