By The Landlord
“The melodica's haunting, atmospheric, and spiritual sound cuts through heavy basslines.” - Augustus Pablo
“I really like the mobility of being able to step off the piano and bring the music to the audience... I play melodica with trumpet style techniques.” – Jon Batiste
“Every once in a while a small studio moment captures the pure spirit of creativity, that mixture of curiosity, humour and accidental genius that fuels great records. ... What is it? ... The melodica.” – Graham Coxon, Blur
Perhaps, for whatever band, it just happened to be lying around the studio, or at home when, just messing around spontaneously creating a melody, and seemed like a quaint addition to cut through other sounds, an alternative solo textured drone to organ, brass or sax. This portable and usually plastic toy wind-keyboard instrument is a cheap and cheerful lollypop pump organ-accordion-harmonica hybrid. It appears across all kinds of music, from rock to pop, reggae to electronica, classical to ska, Latin to funk to punk, folk to hip hop, jazz to film soundtracks. It works best sparingly, but when it suddenly and surprisingly emerges during a song, there can be a resonant charm – that fragile sound has a strange strength.
So this week it feels like a fun time to highlight this instrument when it appears as a solo or a main sound across any song, piece or genre.
Stuck to think of any examples? You won't for long, as it surprisingly appears across many moments in music's history and styles. Beloved of many artists, from Steve Reich to Damon Albarn, Nicky Hopkins to Alison Goldfrapp, Donald Fagan to Peter Tosh, Augusts Pablo to Alan Price, Herbie Hancock to Ben Folds, Joy Division to Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian to Supertramp, Bernie Worrell to Jon Batiste, Bauhaus to Depeche Mode, there won't be a shortage of options. Here is a demonstration to remind you of the sound:
How does it work? As a reed-free aerophone (unlike the reed sax, clarinet, bassoon or oboe), players blow into the simple mouthpiece, a small pipe or tube leading to into the keyboard, with air passing across the keys which open and close reed-like valves to produce notes. Mostly it's a single note instrument, but chords can be played if given enough air supply.
Models can have anything from just over simple octave of 13 keys to perhaps span more than three, and have up to 45 notes, ranging from soprano to alto, tenor to bass models (such as the Suzuki B-24 Bass Melodion and the Hammond Bass Melodion BB-24) able to produce a low F, then ranging upwards.
The modern melodica, first invented and sold by Hohner, have been commonly and commericially available around since the late 1950s, but equivalents have been used since the late 19th century in Italy with wooden or metal bodies. Too plasticky? A modern wooden model example is the Suzuki Wood Melodion W-37. Depending on the design, players might hold theirs vertically or horizontally, or even on their laps.
Across many Asian countries, from Turkey all the way to Japan, it’s the standard junior school learning instrument, perhaps a little less painful to hear en masse that a choir of western classrooms’ squealing recorders.
Japan’s Pianonymous (or Ms Minamikawa) plays hers sitting down but vertically
Some more sophisticated models, such as the Hammond's Pro-44 contain individual note microphones/ pickups and an electric output, but mostly it works best through its simple analogue and flawed charm.
The melodica also has a variety of international names driven often by manufacturers' brand such as Melodion (Suzuki), Triola (Seydel), Melodika (Apollo), Melodia (Diana), Pianica (Yamaha), Melodihorn (Samick), Melodyhorn (Angel), Diamonica (Bontempi), Pianetta (Guerrini), Clavietta (Borel/Beuscher), and more casually face organ or hooter (inspiring the band The Hooters to their name.
Simple and fun. So that's it from me this week. Now over to you, and your music suggestions in comments boxes below.
As usual with a topic like this, please try to include whereabouts in the song the melodica comes in. Who will ultimately lead this topic with a blow-by-blow account into playlists? ParaMhor plays a hand with perfect timing. Deadline is last orders at 11pm on Monday UK time for playlists published next week. Air your ideas, and let's make it melodious.
Mouthpiece and tube attachments
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