The Melodica Piano is a fun-to-learn wind instrument with piano like keys. It can also be used by students for getting introduced to Keyboards. These are free-reed music instruments (like accordions and harmonicas). Melodica is a popular instrument among several music students. Here’s a complete guide to the key-flute and reviews of the best brands available.
Introduction
Melodica is a polyphonic wind instrument that’s played like a piano, and perfect for music students who have a fascination for wind instruments.
A melodica is a reed instrument much like a harmonica and the accordion, when you press a key it makes a sound. When you press the key down it opens a hole allowing the air to pass over a reed. You hold the melodica in your left hand and play the keys with your right hand.
It is useful for students as well. It is inexpensive, easy to carry around – compared to keyboards, synthesizers, accordions, or pianos. You can start your music education with the Melodica wind piano and it can be great for introducing yourself to the world of keyboards/piano.
Melodica Buying Guide
What is Melodica?
The Melodica is similar to the harmonica but comes with a musical keyboard on top. The keyboard is usually two or three octaves long.
These are smaller in size, much lighter, and quite popular in music education, especially in Asian countries.
This instrument is also known as: Pianica, Blow-organ, key-flute.
The Melodica wind piano is an instrument similar to a flute, except for the fact that you have piano-like keys to play the various notes. It sounds more like a harmonica or an accordion. It was originally created by the German company called Hohner, which is very famous for producing wind instruments.
How Does the Melodica Work?
You play it the same way – by pressing the keys and – by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole towards the side of the instrument.
When you press a key, it opens a hole allowing the air to flow through vibrating reeds, which produces the sound.
People like Melodica for many reasons.
Its popularity and charm is because of the fact that it is compact and quite expressive. So next time you are out on vacation or on a week-end drive, you can take it along with you. Another reason is that it has piano-like keys. So if you know the basics of keyboards/piano, you can easily play this instrument.
Here are some advantages of this musical instrument:
- It’s easy to learn, that is why several teachers use it for teaching the rudiments of theory, harmony, chord formation. It’s a great instrument for teaching beginners the basics of music.
- If you can play the piano, you can also play this (you need to learn breath control though)
- It’s compact and very portable, perfect for travel
- It can produce single notes, chords, sharps and flats (in most other wind instruments, like the flute or clarinet, you can only play one note at a time).
- It’s a solo as well as an orchestral instrument
- The sound blends beautifully with other musical instruments
- You can play it in the traditional manner, or play the keyboard horizontally on a table using a flexible tube.
- The melodica can play chords, just like on a piano. You can hold like an accordion, or put down on a table and played like an organ or keyboard.
Variants Of Melodicas
You can choose from the several different types of Melodicas (classified based on the number of keys)::
- 37-keys: Melodica with full three octaves, great for performances. One octave has 12 notes – 5 black + 7 white
- 44-keys: Hammond makes a 44-key melodica, adding another 7 beyond the standard 37 keys on a professional instrument.
- 32-keys: Perfect for students who’re learning music.
- 24-keys: Bass melodica with only 24 keys (Doesn’t have the range of the soprano or tenor melodica)
Melodicas could also be classified by their range – Soprano, alto, tenor, bass and the accordina, although the most common types are the soprano, alto and tenor melodicas.
- Soprano and Alto: Smaller sized, highest pitched models. These play the higher end of the piano scale. Usually played with two hands on the keys.
- Tenor: The tenor is lower pitched, and normally played with one hand on the keyboard and the other hand holding the melodica.
- Bass: These are less common, larger in size and bit expensive. They typically have only 24 keys, playing the lower octaves (bass notes).
- Some players play the tenor and bass melodicas by keeping it on a table or stand with an air tube, so the player can use two hands on the keyboard.
- The accordina has buttons to play notes, instead of a keyboard. They are often called melodicas as well.
Reviews
Hohner Melodicas (Airboards)
Hohner is a German musical instrument manufacturer and has a good reputation among musicians and users. The good thing about German reeds is that they’re nice and responsive; you don’t have to blow too hard to produce decent volume.
Here are the top melodica’s available from Hohner:
Hohner S37 Performer 37 Key Melodica
The Hohner S37 is a three octave professional sounding instrument suitable for students as well as advanced players.
It produces a rich accordion-like tone, and it requires mush less breath to play. Tonal range is F3 to F6.
The melodica comes with a deluxe padded zipper case, mouthpiece and extension hose.
This one feels more like a real instrument compared to some of the 32 key beginner models that are available. It is sturdy, sounds great, and is fun to play, and produces clear & precise sound as you play the notes.
Hohner 32-Key Piano Style Melodica
Hohner 32F is a beginner instrument, perfect for anybody who wants to start playing the melodica. In fact its of a better quality and will suit experienced players as well; it has a great sound & action and the included case is also of very good quality.
This Hohner melodica has a range of over two and one half full octaves (covers soprano or alto notes); the 32 keys start from F” below middle “C”.
This one comes with two mouth pieces. With the short one, you hold the instrument with one hand and play with the other hand. With the long mouth-piece, you can actually keep the melodica on a table and play it just like any small keyboard.
Suzuki Melodicas
Suzuki M-37C Melodion
Designed for the professional musician, the Suzuki M-37C Melodion boasts of excellent craftsmanship. Comes with 3 different mouthpieces, produces far better tone than the cheaper models. Large keys suited for most piano players.
Yamaha Pianicas (Melodicas)
Yamaha Pianicas (basically melodicas) are free-reed instruments similar to accordions and harmonicas. (Suzuki prefers to call its melodicas as the melodion).
Yamaha Pianicas are nicely crafted instruments with piano like keys and come with an excellent mouthpiece, these also produce a loud and stable sound. The keyboard action and the overall tone is really smooth, from one end of the keyboard to the other. They also look attractive.
Yamaha Pianica keyboard wind instruments include the following melodicas’:
- Yamaha P37D: 37-notes. Comes in a tasteful case. The Yamaha P-37 is the top model in the Yamaha pianica series and its mostly preferred by musicians who already know to play some musical instrument. Its easy to play, offers excellent acoustics, produces full resonance and comparatively large volume.
The three full octaves makes it an excellent choice for ensemble or solo performances as well.
- Yamaha P32D: 32-notes. Comes in a plastic case. Yamaha P32 is compact and portable, yet has a sturdy body. With a range of 2-2/3 octaves, it can be used by students for learning, and by advanced players for musical performances. Produces rich tones with decent volume.
- Yamaha P25D: 25 notes. The smallest in size of the three models (almost 2 octaves), the Yamaha P25 is a great choice for beginners who wish to learn music.
Each pianica comes with a shock-resistant, double walled, blow-molded case, along with a mouthpiece and blowing pipe.
The Yamaha P32D is a nice beginner melodica which can be used by learners, whereas experienced musicians can opt for Yamaha P37D.
Playing the Melodica – Holding the Instrument
To play the melodica piano, you play the keys with your right hand. It is a right-handed instrument; you hold it with the left hand and play the piano notes with your right hand.
You place your lips around the mouthpiece, ensuring that all sides are closed, and blow into it and simultaneously play the keys. You need to be careful not to blow it very hard as it may render the instrument out of alignment.
You can also use a tube to play the melodica and not just your mouthpiece. You can use a tube if you want to play with 2 hands or if you’re a beginner and you’re not used to playing the melodica. Before you can get the notes under your fingers, you may hold the tube in your mouth, and hold it further away from you so you can see what notes you’re playing.
As with most wind instruments, the two things that you need to address include Hand technique and Breath Control.
Here you will find a wide range of books – instruction books, song books – that will teach you how to play the melodica. You will also find a variety of books to increase your repertoire of songs.
Wir lernen Blas-Harmonica Band 1: Der spielend leichte Einfuhrungskurs fur Kinder By Hans Enzberg
Wir lernen Blas-Harmonica Band 2: Der spielend leichte Einfuhrungskurs fur Kinder By Hans Enzberg
Easy Classical Melodica Solos (by Javier Marz): For the beginnner and intermediate Melodica player. This collection features a selection of classical pieces by the world’s most renowned composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi and Edward Elgar.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
What I really like about the Melodica is that its much more portable than a piano or a keyboard and it’s an acoustic instrument. However, they all go bad after a while, most of the time its usually one of the reeds that stops working, and the intonation goes bad (this happens with all the Melodicas, and not just the cheaper ones).