Harmonium

Review by eFreeware

A harmonium is not the easiest instrument to own. It is bulky, it needs a stand and a room to sit in, and it does not travel well, which is awkward when so much of its value lies in daily vocal practice. Singers who work on pitch, breath and tone want the instrument within reach every day, not only when they are at home.

Harmonium, from the developer GameG, puts a free-reed keyboard on an Android phone or tablet. The instrument itself is an old one: air moves past a thin metal reed in a frame and the reed sounds. It has a firm place in Indian classical music and turns up widely in Indian concerts, and it is equally common as a practice aid for singers, including those still learning.

The app is free, carries ads and offers in-app purchases. It has been on Google Play since August 2017 and has passed 10 million installs, with a 4.4 average from more than 64,000 ratings. Those numbers suggest a lot of people treat it as a working tool rather than a curiosity.

Pulling a harmonium onto a touchscreen

The playing surface is built around the bellows keyboard you would recognize from the real thing. What stands out in the developer's account is the sliding gesture: to move from one key to the next you do not have to lift your finger, you glide across the keys. On a touchscreen that is a meaningful detail, since it mimics the way a hand runs along a keyboard instead of stabbing at separate keys.

The keyboard now spans 88 keys across 7.3 saptak octaves, extended from an earlier 42 keys and 3.5 octaves. That is a substantial range, and it matters for anyone who practices raags that move across registers or who wants to work bass notes low in the voice.

Two features help you manage that range on a small screen. Plus and minus buttons zoom the keys in and out so you can set the size that suits your hands, and a fullscreen keys view, reached from an expand button or from the settings, fits more keys on screen at once. Between them, you can choose between fewer, larger keys and a wider span of smaller ones.

The coupler adds notes an octave above the ones you play, which the developer describes as giving the sound more richness. On a real harmonium a coupler is a mechanical link between sets of reeds, and having it here means the app aims at the fuller tone many players expect rather than a bare single-reed sound.

Tabla taals and tanpura drones

A recent update brought rhythm and drone into the app. Tabla taals are now included, with Teentaal, Ektaal, Rupak, Dadra, Jaaptaal and Keharwa named among them. Tanpura and drones were added alongside. For a practice tool this is a sensible pairing, because a singer working on pitch usually wants a steady reference tone underneath and a cycle to sing against.

The structure comes from the music itself: a taal to keep time, a tanpura to hold the tonic, and a keyboard to follow.

The developer frames the app around vocal work in particular, listing Sur Sadhna, Raag Sadhana and Kharaj ka riyaz among its uses. Kharaj riyaz is the practice of developing the lower register, and surilapan refers to the sweetness and steadiness of the voice. These are specific, traditional forms of training, and the app is presented as a companion to them rather than a course that teaches them.

What the free version involves

Harmonium costs nothing to install, and the developer's pitch is exactly that: a real harmonium costs money, while this one is offered free. The app does contain advertising, and it also offers in-app purchases.

The trade-off is easy to understand. You get a playable instrument without buying one. Whether that arrangement suits you depends on how much time you plan to spend with it and how much the interruptions matter during practice.

Since the app is free to try, the practical approach is to install it, spend a session with the keys and the zoom controls, and decide from there whether the ad-supported version works for your routine.

Singers and students, not keyboardists

The clearest audience here is the singer who uses a harmonium to practice. If you work on pitch, on the depth of your lower register or on the evenness of your tone, this gives you a keyboard wherever you happen to be. Students learning to recognize and hold Sur, and those studying raags, fit the same description.

The second audience is anyone who plays the instrument and wants something portable. The developer makes the point that there are places where a real harmonium cannot go, and a phone can. That is a real convenience for a musician who wants to keep their hands moving between lessons or performances.

What the app is not is a general-purpose music toy. Its features, from the coupler to the taals and drones, are organized around Indian classical practice. A player looking for a broad keyboard with a catalog of songs would be looking at a different sort of app. I would also keep expectations realistic about the touchscreen: sliding between keys is designed to feel natural, but it is still glass under your fingers rather than wooden keys and bellows.

A practice companion worth installing

Harmonium does one job and does it in a focused way. It puts a free-reed instrument with 88 keys, a coupler, adjustable key sizes and a fullscreen view onto hardware you already carry, and it adds tabla taals and tanpura drones for singers who want rhythm and a reference tone alongside the keyboard. The install figures and the 4.4 rating suggest that approach has found its audience.

My recommendation is straightforward. If you sing Indian classical music, practice vocals regularly, or study raags and Sur, this is a sensible thing to install and try, especially since it costs nothing to start and the developer's whole argument is that you get the instrument without buying one. If you already own a harmonium, the app is a second instrument for the places the real one cannot go.

What's new

All New TABLA Taals Added Now Play with Teentaal, Ektaal, Rupak, Dadra, Jaaptaal, Keharwa Tanpura / Drones Added