मोर्सिंग

The morsing is a jaw harp, also called a jew's harp or mouth harp, used in the Carnatic music of South India. A metal tongue vibrates between the two arms of a horseshoe-shaped metal frame. Grinnell College's collection describes it as the only jaw harp given classical status. In Rajasthan and North India the same instrument is called the morchang.

KalaSudha teaches the morsing online and in workshops, and every beginner starts at Foundation level. You learn to hold the frame against your front teeth, firmly but lightly, and to pluck the bent tip for an even sound. Children learn with us as well as adults: ask us about a starting age and about a size for a younger learner.

Players back after a long break start again where they left off. Our courses run in levels, so your teacher first hears where you stand.

A morsing can be fine-tuned only within narrow limits: beeswax on the tongue tip lowers the pitch, and filing raises it but may damage the instrument. Because each morsing is tuned to the sruti, the tonic of the performance, a player needs one instrument per sruti and chooses the one that matches the soloist. Larger instruments sound lower and smaller ones higher.

The morsing player holds the instrument in one hand, usually the left, and presses the frame against the upper and lower front teeth, firmly but lightly. Sources disagree on plucking: some describe the right index finger, others the right thumb pulling and releasing the tip. Changing the shape of the mouth with the tongue and larynx selects which overtones sound.

The best-known morsing lineage begins with L. Bhimachar of Bangalore (1931 to 2024), who took up the instrument in the early 1940s and in 1979 became the first morsing artist at All India Radio Bangalore. His style, the Bhimachar bani, voices only the syllables suited to the morsing. His children B. Rajashekar and Bhagyalakshmi M. Krishna are senior morsing artists, both graded A by All India Radio.

The jaw-harp family to which the morsing belongs is found across Eurasia, South and Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Melanesia, and sources disagree on whether it had one origin or several. Grinnell reports that the morsing spread south into the subcontinent from the northwest. Sruti says it entered Carnatic concerts possibly in the early 1900s, and the V&A holds an iron jaw harp collected in British India by 1879.

Morsing and morchang are names for the same metal jaw harp: morsing in South India, morchang in Rajasthan and North India. It is also called mukharshanku. Assam's gogona, played at Bihu, is a different construction: it is cut from one piece of bamboo or horn, while the morsing's metal tongue is a separate piece fixed to its frame.

Choose a morsing by pitch: each is tuned to one sruti, so pick the instrument that matches the tonic you will play in, and expect to need one per sruti. Test instruments before buying and consider buying several, because morsings wear out, the higher srutis faster. Beeswax on the tongue tip can lower the pitch a little.

You can buy a morsing from KalaSudha outside India, by quote or made to order, and we deliver worldwide. Each morsing sits at one pitch, so choose yours by the sruti, the tonic, you play in. We pack the morsing for international shipping; ask us about a case and insurance.

We service and repair any morsing in any country, wherever you bought it. Ask us for spare parts too. For help with your instrument after the sale, use the chat on any page or email [email protected]. Ask us, too, if you need a gift voucher, a class set for a school or a flight case for travel.

The mridangam leads Carnatic percussion, and the morsing joins as an optional addition with the ghatam and kanjira. It shadows the mridangam through the concert, and players recite the mridangam's syllables silently and reproduce them with tongue and mouth. It also takes solo turns in the tani avartanam, and it reinforces the sruti and adds texture as well as rhythm.

A morsing is held with its frame pressed against the upper and lower front teeth, so the pressure matters. Keep the contact firm but light, because pressing hard risks toothache and damage to the teeth. Some players hold it between the teeth instead. Heavy breath for fast effects quickly causes hyperventilation.

KalaSudha can book a morsing player for your concert, event or recording: ask us. The morsing shadows the mridangam in a Carnatic concert and takes its turn in the tani avartanam, the percussion solo. Send your request through our page to book Indian classical musicians, and hear our artists first in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.