Web Harmonium

A browser-based Indian harmonium you can actually play — keyboard, mouse or touch, with sustained drone, adjustable reed tuning and raga scale guides. No install, no plugin, nothing to buy before you find out whether you like the instrument. ## The instrument is the barrier The harmonium is central to a huge amount of Indian classical, devotional and film music, and it is one of the harder instruments to try casually. A decent one is expensive, heavy, and difficult to source outside India. Someone who wants to find out whether they even enjoy playing it has to commit several hundred dollars and a shipping arrangement before the first note. Web Harmonium removes that step. It is a playable harmonium that runs in a browser tab. ## Actually playable Not a sample pad with harmonium sounds on it — the parts that make the instrument behave the way it does are modelled: **Sustained drone.** The harmonium's character comes from the bellows holding notes indefinitely. Press and it sustains; release and it stops. That is the whole feel of the instrument and it is the first thing a generic keyboard emulation gets wrong. **Reed tuning.** Adjust the tuning so you can match a recording, a tanpura, or a singer, instead of being locked to equal-tempered concert pitch. **Raga scale guides.** Highlight the notes of a chosen raga on the keyboard. For anyone learning, knowing which keys are in and out of the scale is most of the early struggle. **Three input methods.** Computer keyboard, mouse, or touch on a phone and tablet. ## For learners and for practice It works as a first harmonium for someone curious, as a reference instrument for a singer who needs a drone to practise against, and as something to keep playing on wh