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Melodica

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A Hohner melodica

The melodica is a free-reed instrument similar to the accordion and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole, allowing air to flow through a reed. The keyboard is usually two or three octaves long.

Invented by Joseph Lederfine in order to teach music fundamentals to children, the melodica was probably first used as a serious musical instrument by jazz musician Phil Moore Jr. on his Atlantic Records album Right On, 1969 (SD-1530). It is most often associated with Jamaican dub and reggae musicians in the '70s, most notably Augustus Pablo.[1] Henry Slaughter (of The Imperials) played a melodica solo on "I'll Remember You," which was recorded by Elvis Presley on June 10, 1966 and appeared on the album "Spinout."

Types of melodicas

  • Tenor melodicas are a lower-pitched type of melodica. The left hand holds a handle on the bottom, and the right hand plays the keyboard. Tenor melodicas can be played with two hands by inserting a tube into the mouthpiece hole and placing the melodica on a flat surface.
  • Soprano and alto melodicas are higher-pitched and thinner sounding than tenors. Some are designed to be played with both hands at once; the left hand plays the black keys, and the right hand plays the white keys. Others are played like the tenor melodica.
  • Bass melodicas (lower-pitched than the tenor type) also exist, but are less common than other types.
  • The accordina uses the same mechanism, but with accordion-like buttons instead of keys.
  • Italian accordion manufacturer Victoria Accordions manufactures a number of different models of vibrandoneon, which are similar to the melodica in general construction and playing technique. Victoria's vibrandoneons are made with various keyboard and button arrangements.

Popular melodica manufacturers include Sound Electra, Angel, Hohner, Suzuki, Yamaha and Samick. It is also known by various names such as melodion (Suzuki), melodia (Diana), pianica (Yamaha), mylodica (Sound Electra), "melodihorn", or clavietta.

Melodicas are portable enough to be carried around. They have been very popular in music education, especially in Asia.

Comparison with traditional woodwind instruments

Melodicas are somewhat unique because they are handheld woodwind instruments that can be used to play a large variety of chords. This is accomplished by depressing multiple keys simultaneously.

Additionally, a melodica can play accidentals more easily than a traditional woodwind, which requires a partial hole coverage to reach any notes outside of its key.

These two factors give the melodica an unusual degree of flexibility and contribute to the fact that it's used so widely in music education.

Notable players

References

  1. ^ "Augustus Pablo" by Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel
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