Sunday 28 May 2006

of music and engineering

Quite some time ago, I was interested in the later more than the former. Needless to say, the situation is exactly opposite now.
Speaking about the incident, I found a broken harmonium kept on the loft. When I opened it in a hope of some melody, I found the bellows full of dust and occasionally stuck to their original place. Before estimating the extent or repairs needed, it was very apparent that it would cost as high as a new harmonium itself, so I decided that I should practice some of my "acquired engineering skills" and try to repair it myself. So a laborious but interesting job of glueing them back and fixing the joints with plastic, tape and paper, was done. In the end the instrument looked renovated but had a clear patchy appearence.
Though the reeds played the right notes after all the labour, the bellows were so weak that the sound of blowing the bellows was more than the sound of the reeds. Nevertheless, I could play the usual chords and sargam for a while, till my left arm told me that it was time to quit.

Some time back, I fancied instrument making as a profession. This day I realized the joy of keeping it as a hobby. I don't want this occasional fun to be a monotonous daily routine, which was very clear from the job I did. I would rather have the fun less frequently than destroy it.

Well, it surely was fun for the first time.