Basic Instruments in Indian Classical Music: 

Part II - Harmonium

Material: Vardhman Millennium - Shade Black, Shade No. 24 (off white), Shade No. 113 (Wooden color), Buttons 3 black (see figure), crochet hook 3.5 mm, 2 golden beads, one red bead, Tapestry needle, sewing needle, black and off white thread.

Actual Dimensions of Harmonium: 22” x 12” x 10”

Crochet Harmonium Dimension: 9 cm x 5 cm + 1 cm bhata  x 5 cm

Fig 1

Fig 2

Rectangular Body: Fix your gauge with your yarn and needle. Then as per fig 1 make a strip of single crochets with making one chain instead of sc at the st where we have to fold. After completing pick up the base stitches on one side of base-rectangle and work to cover the base, sew the extended part with the remaining three edges of the base. 

I have started with 50 chs. From 2nd st work
Row 1: sc 8, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 15, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 8, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 15, ch 1 turn

Row 2: sc 15, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 8, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 15, ch 1, skip 1 st, sc 8, ch 1 turn
Repeat rows 1 and 2 till the height is 5 cm. End with even row.
Then work only on these 8 sts.
Row 1:  8 sc, ch 1 turn and
Row 2:  Sc 8, ch 1 turn repeat till the length of this strip is 9 cm. Join to form a box as shown in fig. 2.

Decorative Strip and Handles: With off white yarn and chain stitch, a cord is made which is sewed nearly 1.3 cm below the upper face (which is open) of the box, on all four sides ( as the decorative metal strip which real harmonium has). Two small handles are made with 2 chains, 3 ch-picot, ch 2 and sewed on both sides to hold the harmonium.

Fig 3

Fig 4, 5 and 6

Note Board: White strip is worked as shown in fig then with black yarn, notes are made in the groups of 2 and 3, as they happens to be on real harmonium. Then it is stitched to the upper side of the harmonium.
I made note board of 16 sts with white wool and 15 sc starting from second chain and work 4 rows

Fig 7

Fig 8

Bhata: This is the part of the harmonium for blowing the air. Generally player push and pull this wooden bhata by one hand (left)  and play note board by other hand (generally right). A simple rectangle is made with the size of the harmonium with wooden color yarn. I have 16 chs and 15 sc starting from seconnd. I worked 9 row to reach the required height.

One holed black strip on outer side of bhata: There are generally 3/6 holes on the outer side of this bhata for blowing air but here we have shown only one hole as in figure 7. Because with wool it is impossible to show three holes, otherwise I should make a black strip with 20 number thread instead of wool. Then it may be possible to have three holes for airblowing but as I don't have black thread, I just reduced the number of holes. You may have this correction.

Make one white strip as per fig 8, narrowing at both edges and join bhata with the body of the harmonium by sewing this white strip.

Boarder: Make a cord by chains with double yarn in wooden color and sew it to all the four sides of the back part where the note board is joint (as shown in the fig 9).

    Fig. 9                                           

Fig 10

Wooden cover: With wooden color yarn and make this wooden cover strip to fit or to cover the portion behind the note board or which fits inside the boarder we have just created, with three stitch button hole at four places where you can see the red lines as shown in fig 4. Then on the back side of this coverred strips four strips are embroidared with 3 strange of wool so that it can be seen from above side, as shown in fig. 10. I know that you can do it in a better manner but now I am in hurry to see it completed. Then sew a red bead in the centre of this wooden cover on upper side to pick up this cover.

R1: ch 16, sc 1 in each st from second, ch 1 turn,

R2: sc 1 in each of next 2 sts, ch 3, skip 3 sts, sc 1 in next 5 sts, ch 3, skip 3 sts, sc 1in last 2 sts, ch 1 turn,

R3: sc 1 in each st till end, ch 1 turn,

R4: As R2,

R5: As R3.

On back side sew red yarn to cover these button hole type holes.

Black Base: Lastly we make black cord with 6 strands as shown in the photo or make a twisted cord with four strands and sew it to the base of the harmonium. 

Hope that you get guide lines from this to make the harmonium. This is the very first piece I have made. Now I thought if I will make another one it will be more finished. I also thought that if I would have made it with thread instead of wool, it may look more beautiful so you can try that. Lastly here I am giving a simple photo of real harmonium for the reference of those who have not seen it. So that you can make corrections in that will be improved version.

The following video may help you to make this harmonium.

ETC: Enjoy the Creativity.

Buttons: Number of buttons varies in different harmoniums but generally there are 3 buttons above the decorative strip and 4 buttons below the strip. The buttons below the strip are little bit bigger than upper buttons. I sewed 2 small buttons above the decorative strip and 3 black buttons below.

Instead of filling with fiber I used a piece of thermocol of the same size, you can use sponge. Then covered it by making the top similar to that of lower base and sew the extended portion to the  remaining three sides.