Guide-chant

{{Short description|French harmonium}}

{{Infobox instrument

| name = Guide-chant

| image = Guide-chant Kasriel.jpg

| caption = A guide-chant made by Kasriel at the Bardelaere Museum

| names = 100 Franc Organ, Guide-chant Picard

| classification = Aerophone

| hornbostel_sachs = 412.13

| related = Orthotonophonium, Harmonium

}}

The guide-chant (singing guide) is a small harmonium used to accompany choral singing. It is a free reed aerophone using thirty-seven reeds, with a range of three octaves. It employs a manually pumped bellows.{{Cite web |title=guide-chant |url=https://encyclopedie_universelle.fr-academic.com/191044/guide-chant |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=Dictionnaires et Encyclopédies sur 'Academic' |language=fr}}

The keyboard consists of forty-four keys, although only thirty seven can be played at a given time, due to the number of reeds. This system is used because the keyboard is transposable, being physically shifted three of four semitone higher or lower to facilitate playing in different keys.{{Cite web |title=Typologie des instruments à vent : harmonimum et guides chant |url=http://jeanluc.matte.free.fr/articles/typologie/harmonium.htm |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=jeanluc.matte.free.fr}} It was played resting on a table.{{Cite book |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5698628j/f85.item.r=guide-chant.langFR |title=Mobilier scolaire. Matériel d'enseignement. Catalogues. Recueil. |year=1878–1879 |pages=83 |language=fr}} With manual models, the instrument had a handle on the left hand side of the instrument, which limited playing to the right hand. With more recent electric models, the instrument uses electric bellows.