Saturday, August 6, 2011

Harmonica

                      Harmonica is a mouth played musical instrument. It is also called harp. It is used in blues, jazz, rock and roll, american folk music and in country music. It is played by blowing air through mouth. It consists of multiple holes and when air through our mouth enters the hole different tone came out from it. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound.
                      Harmonica consists of different parts as comb which is the main body of the instrument, which contains the air chambers that cover the reeds, reed plate which is the grouping of several reeds in a single housing, cover plate which is the reed-plates and are usually made of metal, though wood and plastic have also been used, wind saver which is the reed-plates and are usually made of metal, though wood and plastic have also been used and last the mouth piece which is placed between the air chambers of the instrument and the player's mouth.
                       Harmonica is widely popular in western culture and it produces desirable music.

Damaru

                 Damaru is two headed musical instrument. It is like a hour glass. This is mainly used by sadhu, santu in Nepal and India. It is a unique type of musical instrument. This instrument is mainly used by lord Shiva.
                Damaru is made up of wood with leather drum head. Its height ranges from a few inches to a little over a foot. It is played one handed. The strikers are typically beads fastened to the ends of leather cords around the waist of the damaru. Knots in the leather can also be used as strikers. As the player waves the drum using a twisting wrist motion, the strikers beat on the drumhead. It is especially associated with the Hindu deity Shiva. One legend has it that Shiva gave the world its first syllabary as the sounds of the Sanskrit language arose from his drumbeats and his performance of the cosmic dance of tandava. The damaru is used by itinerant musicians of all stripes, due to its small portable size. It is also used in Tibetan Budddism in a ritual manner particularly with the trance sadhana of the Chod.

Keyboard instrument

               Keyboard instrument is a kind of musical instrument. It is like a harmonium. In other word we can say it is the advance form of harmonium. The keys were traditionally made of natural materials. The white tangents were made of ivory, the black of ebony, but now artificial materials like plastic are used to cover the wooden keys. Cheaper materials like oak, walnut and soft wood are used now.
                Now a days different kinds of keyboard instruments are available. There are electrical keyboards too. These electrical keyboards are widly used all over through out the world. It produces pleasent sound. It is used in jazz, pop, and in other type of music too.
                There are some rare variations of keyboards with more or fewer than 12 keys per octave, mostly used in microtonal music, after the discoveries and theoretical developments of musician and inventor Julian carrillo. It's a simple featured instrument but it is suitable in all types of music.

Flute

             Flute is a wooden made musical instrument. The oldest flute consists if two to four holes. The five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. A flute produces sound when a stream of air directed across a hole in the instrument creates a vibration of air at the hole. It produces sound as per we blow air in it through the mouth.
             Bamboo flute is the most important musical instrument in classical music. The Hindu God Krishna is traditionally considered a master of the Bansuri. It is played through our fingers and mouth. Its a unique type of musical instrument and is very popular in nepali society ani culture.In its most basic form, a flute can be an open tube which is blown like a bottle. There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes, the musician blows directly across the edge of the mouthpiece. However, some flutes, such as the whistle, gemshorn, flageolet, recorder, tinwhistle, tonette, fujara, and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge (an arrangement that is termed a "fipple").

Friday, August 5, 2011

Madal

               Madal is a kind of drum. It is a double headed drum. It is a nepali origin drum used mainly for rhythm-keeping in Nepalese folk music. It is most popular and widely used hand drum in Nepal. The Madal consists of a cylindrical body with a slight bulge at its center, closed on both ends (the sides are often referred to as "heads", one head is smaller than the other).
               Madal is nepalese oldest and most powerful musical instrument. It is the backbone of nepalese folk music. The music comming from fills different feeling in the songs ani make is alive. A well-known Nepali musician Ranjit Gazmer introduce madal in India the first time. There are three types of Madal that are available in Nepal: one is played in the east, another played in the west, and the Madal played by Newars in the central region. It is customary to call Madal “Mardal” in the Newari language. There are three types of Madal that are available in Nepal: one is played in the east, another played in the west, and the Madal played by Newars in the central region. It is customary to call Madal “Mardal” in the Newari language.

Trumpet

                    The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. It is the most oldest instrument in musical history. The trumpet is constructed of brass tubing bent twice into a rounded oblong shape. The trumpet and trombone share a roughly cylindrical bore which results in a bright, loud sound.
                     The most common type is the B trumpet, but low F, C, D, E, E, G and A trumpets are also available. The C trumpet is most common in American orchestral playing, where it is used alongside the B trumpet. Its slightly smaller size gives it a brighter, more lively sound. Because music written for early trumpets required the use of a different trumpet for each key — they did not have valves and therefore were not chromatic — and also because a player may choose to play a particular passage on a different trumpet from the one indicated on the written music, orchestra trumpet players are generally adept at transposing music at sight, sometimes playing music written for the B trumpet on the C trumpet, and vice versa.
                     It is a unique type of musical instrument ani produces heart touching sound.

Harmonium

               Harmonium is a keyboard type musical instrument. It is a free standing instrument. In this sound is produce by air. When harrmonium is played air is  blown through the sets of free reeds. THe first harmonium was produced in Paris in 1840 by Alexandre Debain. It has become world wide popular and is used in different areas like studio, for cultural music, and for other.
                Popular usage is by followers of the Hindu and Sikh faiths, who use it to accompany their devotional songs (bhajan or kritan). There is at least one harmonium in any mandir (Hindu temple) or gurdwara (Sikh temple) around the world. The harmonium plays an integral part in Qawalli music. Almost all Qawwals use the harmonium as their sole musical accompaniment. It has received international exposure as the genre of Qawwali music has been popularized by renowned Pakasthani musicians, including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
                Harmonium played a significant part in the new rise of Nordic folk music, especially in Finland. Like that it is played in different parts of the world ani is one of the oldest musical instrument in the world.