MAKING THE HARMONIUM DRONE CONTINUOUS AND EVEN
Making the harmonium drone as break-free (continuous) and smooth as possible greatly adds to inducing a feeling of relaxation and peacefulness in the audience’s minds.
There are a 2 main reasons for having an uneven drone or a break in the harmonium drone:
- There is not sufficient air in harmonium due to one’s bellow technique
- There are no fingers touching any key on the harmonium
- Bellows technique
When our fingers touch the keys of the harmonium, then air escapes from the inner chamber, rushes pass the key we are pressing, and makes a harmonium sound.
If we have more than 1 key pressed, then more air will escape from the inner chambers.
We must replenish the supply of air in the inner chambers by pumping the bellows.
In general, to smooth out the harmonium drone, short and frequent pumps of the bellows ensures that the harmonium has sufficient air and creates an even drone.
When starting out with a slow tempo, I try a longer bellows stroke to produce an even drone. However, even then at slow tempos, if you have not pumped enough air in the harmonium, you may get an uneven drone, as if the harmonium is gasping for, and running out of air.
Avoid this uneven drone at slow tempos by combining both the long and short bellows stroke. When starting out slowly, be mindful and sensitive as to the quality of the harmonium drone.
At mid to fast tempos, leave behind the only long strokes of the bellows. You must be making short and rapid pumps of the bellows.
We are aiming for an uninterrupted (as much as possible) and even drone. This gives the best chance of inducing a sense of calm and relaxation in the audience.
- AVOID NO FINGERS TOUCHING the harmonium
Once there is no finger touches the harmonium keys, the harmonium drone will have an abrupt stop, even if there is air in the chamber.
One could use that as a rhythm effect once the tempo gets super high. But I don’t like, and don’t recommend not touching any keys in general, and especially at low to mid tempos.
There will be chord changes where there are no notes in common between the two chords. In this situation, we could try 2 possibilities to reduce the amount of break in harmonium drone:
- Add a note “walk-over” as we’re ending the previous chord.
- Practice sufficiently and mindfully so that all three fingers happen so smoothly that the break is not very noticeable and is covered by your singing of the melody.
I’m not drawn to option 1 of note “walk-overs”. I don’t do it myself.
For option 2, it’s good to keep in mind:
- DO NOT LIFT YOUR FINGERS FAR OFF THE KEYS
Why create more trouble for yourself? The further one’s fingers are away from the surface of the keys, then the greater chance in creating a break in the harmonium drone.
Train your brain and fingers to stay very close to the keys, even lightly touching them without pressing/activating them.
This is for the sake of creating calm and relaxation for the audience and creating the maximum benefit from your playing.
You might get excited when playing. You have to rein the excitement in and, among the many many things to notice, you must be aware of how your harmonium is sounding because of your fingering technique. Is the sound smooth and even?
- PRACTICE WITH FOCUSSED INTENT
A 3 finger chord change is the time your mind must be totally focussed on your keyboard technique. This is when you must be acutely aware of what you are doing, like a mind focussed on a meditation object. And how it affects the evenness and continuity of the harmonium drone.
When it is time for the 3 finger chord change, then, after practicing it over and over again, execute it super quickly, super efficiently with minimum finger movement and maximum awareness.
The audience is sensitive, they will feel any uneveness.
In summary, please practice your bellows and fingering technique in order to produce the most consistent and even harmonium drone.