Morsing: India musical instrument

A morsing is a wind percussion musical instrument that is primarily used in Rajasthan, in the Carnatic music of southern India.  The musical instrument can be categorized under lamellophones that is sin the category of plucked musical idiophones. The musical instrument is made up of metal ring in the shape of horseshoe, having two parallel forks that form the frame as well as a metal tongue in the middle between the forks, attached to the ring at one extreme and free to vibrate at the other end of the instrument. The metal tongue of the instrument is bent at the free extreme in a plane perpendicular to the circular ring so that the musical instrument can be struck and is made to vibrate. The bent part is known as the trigger.

source of picture: mridangam.com

The origin of this musical instrument in India is not very clear, but many stories and myths have been told about the instrument. In India, morsing is found primarily in the southern part of the country, Rajasthan as well as in some parts of Assam. In the southern part of India, the musical instrument features in Carnatic concerts and percussion groups. In Rajasthan, the musical instrument is known as ‘morchand’ and it is used as the percussion musical instrument in the folk music.

The musical instrument is placed between the teeth and held securely in the hand and is struck with the use of the other hand of the player to manufacture sound from the instrument. Movement of the player’s tongue, variations of the player’s throat and blowing and sucking of air through the musical instrument manufactures various sounds or overtones.

The instrument is firmly held in the hand, the ring between the palm and the fingers of the player’s hand often in the left hand. The player of the instrument should take care to make sure that the middle part of the metal tongue is not being touched by the hand or any other thing when the instrument is held idle. Then the upper of the two parallel forks in slowly pressed against the front upper teeth of the player; the lower fork, against the front lower teeth of the player, to make sure that the metal tongue of the instrument will not contact the teeth of the player when it moves. The trigger is plucked with the tip of the index finger of the player. Sound is manufactured because of the vibration of the metal tongue of the instrument in the mouth and the throat cavity. Movement of the tongue of the player with constant plucking can manufacture very fast style of sound. By constricting the space in the mouth of the player and the throat several variations of sounds can be manufactured from the musical instrument.

 As the musical instrument is played most of the time together with the mridangam, it is important to know the syllable or aural interpretation of what is performed on mridangam. It is necessary to know that aural representation of the ferns performed on the mridangam as it is being silently sang while performing the musical instrument. The vocal art of declaiming the syllables performed on the mridangam is known as ‘konnakol’. Though while playing on the morsing, you do not really make sound of reciting the syllable but just move your tongue that way so that the air passages will be blocked and cleared in a style so that the instrument can manufacture the sound of the ferns. It is important to follow the konnakol and perform the same ferns as far as it can, but it is hard owing to the limitations of the musical instrument.

Glimpses of distinctive and versatility of the morsing can be shown when singly accompanying for the song or during neraval.  The musical instrument is performed as a shasow of the mridangam in all the concert and the capabilities of the musical instrument should be displayed when playing the musical instrument or accompanying alone during or during Thani or Talavadyas.