Melodica
Encyclopedia
The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument
similar to the melodeon
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 octave
s long. Melodicas are small, light, and portable. They are popular in music education, especially in Asia.
The modern form of the instrument was invented by Hohner
in the 1950s or 1960s, though some claim the Brooklyn
musician Joseph Lederfine invented it to teach music fundamentals to children, and similar instruments have been known in Italy since the 19th century.
The melodica started being used as a serious musical instrument in the 1960s, by composers such as Steve Reich
, in his piece titled Melodica (1966) and jazz
musician Phil Moore Jr, on his 1969 Atlantic Records
album Right On. It is associated with Jamaica
n dub
and reggae
musician Augustus Pablo
who popularized it in the 1970s. Melodicas have been used in indie folk
music by artists such as Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost
and Emmanuel Del Real of Café Tacvba
.
, Italy
, produces a range of wooden melodicas and accordinas they market under the name Vibrandoneon.
), Melodika (Apollo), Melodia (Diana), Pianica (Yamaha
), Melodihorn (Samick
) and Clavietta are just some of the variants. This can lead to some confusion, as many people will use different names as a blanket term to describe all of these instruments. AKA "The Hooter," from which the Philadelphia band
got its name.
, the melodica is polyphonic
.
Additionally, for a beginner, a melodica can play accidentals
more easily than a woodwind, which may require extra keys or cross-fingering to reach any notes outside of its key.
These two factors give the melodica an unusual degree of flexibility and contribute to its wide usage in music education.
Free reed aerophone
A free reed aerophone is a musical instrument where sound is produced as air flows past a vibrating reed in a frame. Air pressure is typically generated by breath or with a bellows.- Operation :...
similar to the melodeon
Melodeon (organ)
A melodeon is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. It differs from the related harmonium, which uses a pressure bellows. Melodeons were manufactured in the United States sometime after 1812 until the Civil War era...
and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. It has a musical keyboard
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
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 octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s long. Melodicas are small, light, and portable. They are popular in music education, especially in Asia.
The modern form of the instrument was invented by Hohner
Hohner
Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. Founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner , Hohner is identified especially with harmonicas and accordions. The Hohner company has invented and produced many different styles, and most of the...
in the 1950s or 1960s, though some claim the Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
musician Joseph Lederfine invented it to teach music fundamentals to children, and similar instruments have been known in Italy since the 19th century.
The melodica started being used as a serious musical instrument in the 1960s, by composers such as Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, in his piece titled Melodica (1966) and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician Phil Moore Jr, on his 1969 Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
album Right On. It is associated with Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musician Augustus Pablo
Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...
who popularized it in the 1970s. Melodicas have been used in indie folk
Indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s from singer/songwriters in the indie rock community showing heavy influences from folk music scenes of the 50s, 60s and early 70s, country music, and indie rock. A few early artists included Lou Barlow, Beck, Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith...
music by artists such as Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost is an American alternative music group based on the multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan who specializes in eclectic sounds from a variety of music genres and who has a background is sound design. Duncan teamed with Oliver Chapoy and records music under the moniker Warm Ghost in 2011...
and Emmanuel Del Real of Café Tacvba
Café Tacvba
Café Tacuba is a band from Naucalpan, Mexico. The group is widely credited with being a pioneering group of the Rock en Español movement, which gained popularity in the early 1990s...
.
Types of melodicas
Melodicas are classified primarily by the range of the instrument. Melodicas with different ranges have slightly different shapes.- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Wooden melodicas
Although the majority of melodicas are made of plastic, some are made primarily of wood. The Sound Electra corporation makes the MyLodica, a wooden melodica designed "to produce a warmer richer sound than that of its plastic relatives". The Victoria Accordion company, based in CastelfidardoCastelfidardo
Castelfidardo is a town and comune in the province of Ancona, in the Marche region of central-eastern Italy.It is particularly remembered for the Italian victory over a "volunteer" army defending the Papal States, on September 18, 1860...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, produces a range of wooden melodicas and accordinas they market under the name Vibrandoneon.
Alternate names
The melodica is known by various names, often at the whim of the manufacturer. Melodion (SuzukiSuzuki Musical Instrument Corporation
is a Japanese company that produces a range of musical instruments.-History:Suzuki was founded in 1953, as a harmonica manufacturer.Suzuki's western U.S...
), Melodika (Apollo), Melodia (Diana), Pianica (Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
), Melodihorn (Samick
Samick
Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Musical Instruments, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments. The company started as 'Samick Pianos' in 1958, manufacturing...
) and Clavietta are just some of the variants. This can lead to some confusion, as many people will use different names as a blanket term to describe all of these instruments. AKA "The Hooter," from which the Philadelphia band
The Hooters
The Hooters is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By combining a mix of rock and roll, reggae, ska and folk music, The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid 1980s due to heavy radio and MTV airplay of several songs including "All You...
got its name.
Comparison with traditional woodwind instruments
Melodicas are unusual because unlike most conventional woodwind instruments, they make use of a piano keyboard rather than a specialized fingering system using holes and/or buttons. This allows the player to use a single finger to play any one note of the instrument's range, rather than requiring several fingers to play individual notes, as is the case with most other woodwinds. The player can then play chords by using his remaining fingers to press additional keys, and thus, sound additional notes. In other words, whereas the many woodwind instruments (such as saxophones or clarinets) are monophonicMonophony
In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...
, the melodica is polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
.
Additionally, for a beginner, a melodica can play accidentals
Accidental (music)
In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps , flats , and naturals , may also be called accidentals...
more easily than a woodwind, which may require extra keys or cross-fingering to reach any notes outside of its key.
These two factors give the melodica an unusual degree of flexibility and contribute to its wide usage in music education.