[Harp-L] Melodicas - for fun and training

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

Just checked out Michael Rubin's new teaching segment on YouTube (chapter 
2) and he is using a Melodica to demonstrate how music works.

I used my Hohner HM36 (36 keys) to demonstrate how I IV V chord pattern and 
a walking bassline over the same pattern were the same at my Harmonica 101 
class that just ended. Using just the harp by itself didn't have the same 
impact on the students. But playing the chords and boogie bass run made it all 
clear. 

The Melodica is a member of the harmonica family. Some call it a keyboard 
harmonica. 

The Melodica dates from the late 1950s and has been produced by Hohner 
under the name Melodica to this date. Hohner offered a pickup for a while (Paul 
Oscher has one) but no longer makes it. Hammond has a model with a built-in 
pickup.

If you want a good one, you can order a Hohner 36 Pro. I got mine about 
1970 when I wanted a portable keyboard but couldn't afford keyboards available 
at the time. At the time, there was no tube extension for the mouthpiece.

They are sometimes called wind pianos but they are more like a wind 
accordion in sound. They play chords and single notes. With the bugle mouthpiece 
attached, you can get a sharp percussive chord sound -- double tonguing, 
triple tonguing. 

It has a strap on the back to hold with your left hand   and the keys 
"open" on the right side to play with the right hand. (no left-handed models 
exist that I know of)   But if you put a saxophone strap on the handle, you can 
use both hands, extending the left fingers over the "back" of the 
instrument. Also, you can attach a piece of quarter-inch plastic tubing to the 
mouthpiece and instrument, allowing you to play the Melodica on a table or desk.

Since it is a blow-only instrument, the number of keys you depress only 
depends on the amount of air you can put into it.

I've seen a few of them at SPAH conventions from time to time.

Anybody who knows piano chords can play one and they are a lot easier to 
master than the Chord Harmonica or the Harmonetta. To my ears, my Melodica 
chords sounds about the same as my Harmonetta chords. A little bit like an 
accordion. Which is to say different from the Chord Harmonica because the reeds 
in both the M and H are sounded in a closed but vented box area.

Other harmonica companies make them. Check out this page. The people who 
run this page even have their own model Melodica -- with a wood body instead 
of plastic. The Hohner HM36 costs about $333 but there is a less expensive 
model made in China by somebody else for $44 or so. The Hammond has 44 keys 
and costs about $500.

I couldn't find my trumpet mouthpiece, or my tube so I ordered them and got 
them within a week from the below site:

http://melodicas.com/

If you want to find a good example of the playing, try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgIcmQrT4aM&feature=related

The value for harmonica players is that they can record a tune on the 
Melodica and them play along with the recording on their blues harp or chromatic.

It's also good for learning bends on pitch: You record the bent notes and 
match them on your harp. Obviously, you can't play both at the same time. But 
since the Melodica has reeds, it sounds more like a harmonica than an 
electronic keyboard does -- and it doesn't need batteries. 

(To find bent notes, locate the blow and draw notes on the harmonica and 
find them on the keyboard. Blow 1 is C, Draw 1 is D. The note between them is 
the bend -Db/C#.)

Some people play a tune on the Melodica until they get it in their head -- 
and then play it on the harmonica.

If you want to break down chords -- note by note and then transfer it over 
to the harp.

The danger of course, is that people who use the Melodica as a training 
tool or a bridge to get bent notes or overblows or learn songs might just start 
playing it for its own sake.

Oh, and somebody claims you can get bent notes on a Melodica if depress the 
keys halfway...

Keep on Harpin
Phil