Percussion Instruments

Mridangam

The mridangam is a percussion instrument from South India. It is the most primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble.

The mridangan is a double-sided drum whose body is made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or ends of the drum are covered with a goat skin leather and laced to each other around the circumference of drum. The two apertures are dissimilar in widths. The smaller aperture, when stuck, produces higher pitched sounds.

The wider aperture produces lower pitched sounds. The leather skin covering the high pitch aperture, is anointed in the center with a black disk made of flour, ferric oxid powder and starch. This enables the emission of harmonics. The leather covering the bass aperture is coated in its middle with plain flour paste to give it a perfect tune.

The mridangam is played resting it parallel to the floor. The musician sits cross-legged with the left foot below and the right foot over and slightly extended. The mridangam rests upon the right foot and ankle. The head with the smaller aperture is to the right.

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