Indian Musical Instruments

Just like the cultural and linguistic diversity of India, there are a wide collection of musical instruments as well. Most of the major musical instruments of India have gone periodic evolution through the centuries, and if you dig deep into their history of tradition, you will find that has been reasons for those evolutions too. Some of the instruments are purely indigenous while some travelled to this land in the hands of the foreigners and became a part of our cultural musical milieu. A broad classification of the instruments are like string instruments that are pulled or plucked by fingers, the wind instruments that are blown with the mouth, and the rhythm instruments that require beating by the palm of hands. Discussed below are some of the most well known amongst them.

Sitar

This is a very popular Indian classical music instrument that falls under the category of chordophone of the lute family. The neck of the sitar is crafted from teakwood or Tun and the resonator is carved from a gourd. The gourd has to be a ripe and seasoned one, which is sun dried to perfection. The modern sitar that you find today holds seven strings that play from sixteen to twenty. There are two frest that are adjustable in order to alter the pitch as desired. The other vital components of the sitar are: Dandi, Drone strings, Gulu, Kaddu, Parda, Tar, Tumba and the Tuning beads. You wear a Mizrab or a wire pelcrum on the index finger of your right hand in order to play the instrument.

Sarod

This classical musical instrument is primarily made of wood. One end of it is rounded and covered deftly with a parchment. The shape of the Sarod is very similar to a pendulum, where the top is quite thin and pointed, known as the peg box. The other parts of the Sarod comprise of the resonator which is round and full in shape. The shell or the body of the instrument has to be carved out of a single block of wood, which can be teak, Sagwan or Tun, teak being the most preferred one. The three components of the Sarod are thus, the resonator, finger box and the peg box. The pelcrum with which the strings are plucked is triangular in shape and made out of coconut shell and laminated or coated with shellac.

Tanpura

This classical instrument is also known as Tambura and belongs to the lute family. The drone lute is a long necked one and is a chordophone. It has a rounded body with longish hollow neck and four to six strings in this fretless instrument. Tanpuras are available in two sizes, and according to the purpose of the composition or the way it is used as an accompanied instrument, one needs to choose from the big or the male one, or the smaller or the female one. The Tanpura is designed in three major styles: Miraj, Tamburi and Tanjore. The instrument is played by plucking the strings in a successive manner with the fingers.

Harmonium

This instrument falls under the family of free-reed aero-phone. It comes in a table top size, quite small and has an organ that has to be bellowed at the backside. The player pumps the bellow usually with his left hand and with his right, he plays the keyboard. The wooden box of an average harmonium is known as the body, there are two handles each on both sides, so that the box can be moved, there are also bellows, keys, reed, reed board, stops for the main and the drone, a scale changer and a coupler. It is a very popular instrument that is widely used in classical music, devotional and also film orchestra.

Tabla

Tabla is in fact a set of two drums called the Dayan or the right and Bayan or the left; Bayan is also known as Duggi in some places. The Dayan is a wooden drum that is solid and cylindrical and made from black wood. It is usually played with the right hand. The Duggi or Bayan can be made of wood, metal or even ceramic. It has a conical bowl like shape. Near the centre of the head, there is a thick black spot on both the drums. It is known as Siyahi and is made from graphite paste, iron fillings, rice powder and glue. It plays a very important role in determining the sound emanating from the Tabla. One has to beat the upper surfaces of the Dayan and the Bayan to get the rhythmic beats.