Garmon decorated with mother-of-pearl V.Gafarov's private collection. Shamakhi. 1988

The garmon is a keyed wind instrument with bellows and free metal reeds (photo 23). It first became a part of Azerbaijani traditional musical culture at the end of the 19th century.

Nowadays it is a popular part of Azerbaijan's musical culture. The garmon is used in various ensembles and has found wide application in dance music. It's no surprise that the modern version of the garmon is very often considered to be Azerbaijan's national instrument.

The garmon is a rectangular box, the lateral parts of which are made of wood, with leather bellows in the middle part. The height of the instrument is 360 mm, and the width is 268 mm. Thin metal keys are located in an internal part of the box, on wooden plates in a certain order.

By stretching and compressing the bellows with both hands, while pressing the keys, the pfayer causes the compressed air to pass through the space formed. The fingers of the right hand play the melody, and the fingers of the left hand hold the tonic of the appropriate key. Thus, depending on the size of the vibrating plates, the performer produces sounds of various pitches.

The garmon has an attractive timbre. Its range goes from the "do" of the small octave to the "fa" of the third octave. The technical performance properties and sound structure of the Azerbaijani Pgarmon with its chromatic scale is different from those of the Russian garmons. Instrument makers who w:jived in Azerbaijan developed its sound system in complete conformity with the Azerbaijani musical \scale. Besides this aspect, the timbre and color of the instrument and its wide technical and performance opportunities make it a very convenient instrument for performing Azerbaijani national music, including mughams.