About this online harmonium
The harmonium is a free-reed keyboard instrument — you pump the bellows with one hand and play the
keyboard with the other. It is the backbone of Indian classical, devotional (bhajan, kirtan) and
light vocal music, where it typically accompanies a singer by holding the tonic drone and doubling
the melody.
This page plays real recorded harmonium samples, not synthesized beeps: every key of one full
octave (C4–C5) was sampled note by note and loops seamlessly while you hold it. Choose any of the twelve
notes as your Sa, fine-tune the reference pitch between 430 and 450 Hz to match a singer or another
instrument, and use the drone for accompaniment practice.
It runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to install, no account, and no sound leaves your
device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this harmonium really free?
Yes — it is free to play and there is nothing to buy or sign up for.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. The keyboard is touch-enabled with full multi-touch, so you can hold several keys at once.
Browsers only allow sound to start after you touch the page, so tap any key once to switch the
audio on.
Why is there a delay between pressing a key and hearing sound?
The app itself responds in a few milliseconds. If every note feels late, you are almost certainly
on a Bluetooth speaker or headphones: wireless audio buffers add 100–200 ms of delay. Switch to
the device's built-in speaker or wired headphones and it will feel immediate.
What do the drone and the Sa setting do?
The drone is the sustained background note a harmonium player usually accompanies with. Pick the note
that matches your song's tonic (your Sa) and the drone holds it — optionally with its fifth (Pa) —
an octave below your playing range. The A4 slider fine-tunes everything from 430 to 450 Hz.
Which notes are included?
One full octave, C4 to C5, all thirteen keys sampled. More range may be added in a later version.