FAQ · Instruments & artforms

How is a harmonium tuned?

Updated

A harmonium reed's pitch is changed by removing metal from its tongue: scraping near the root flattens the note, and scraping near the tip sharpens it. Broader tongues give a bolder tone but slower speech. The Indian harmonium keyboard is fixed to the 12 equal-tempered semitones, a tuning adopted in Bengal so that music could be transposed.

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