Melodica

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Two Hohner Melodicas

The melodica is a handy harmonica instrument that is made to sound by blowing into it and is played via a keyboard.

Surname

The name Melodica comes from the instrument manufacturer Hohner , who spread the instrument and made it popular. It has established itself as a general name ( generic name ) for this type of instrument. Other manufacturers marketed identical or similar instruments with the names Mélodion , Pianica or Clavietta .

Historical musical instruments with similar names ( Melodion von Dietz and Melodika von Riffelsen ) have no functional relationship with the modern melodica.

The similar name melodeon is also used for the diatonic accordion and for the harmonium .

function

Children at a melodica concert

With a melodica, the air flow is only passed in one direction, namely by blowing into the instrument with breathable air through the mouthpiece or through an air hose that is attached instead of the mouthpiece. Pressing the button opens a valve to the clay chamber . The air flow stimulates the reed seated there to vibrate and the respective tone is generated.

Most of the time the keys are arranged like the piano , unless it is a diatonic tuned instrument for children. Often, as with most keyboard instruments, they are designed as a keyboard with white and black keys. The instruments have a handle on the underside to hold them. Next to it is the so-called water key. This is a valve that allows any condensation that may have formed in the air to be drained .

Due to its simple playing technique, the instrument is also suitable as a beginner's instrument for children.

Use in popular music

Musician of the band Leak with a Hohner Melodica Soprano on Rock im Park 2016
  • The British reggae group UB40 uses a melodica in their famous piece Kingston Town .
  • The German band AnnenMayKantereit also uses the melodica in several of their songs.
  • Augustus Pablo played the melodica in his most famous pieces, including Java from 1972.
  • The Dutch folk rock group bots used several melodicas in Zeven dagen lang .
  • The American rock band The Hooters named themselves after their trademark, the Hohner Melodica.
  • In the piece What should we dream of by Frida Gold , a passage with the melodica is repeated after the chorus.
  • The British pop group Depeche Mode uses a melodica in the final passage of their piece Everything Counts .
  • The British musician Joe Jackson occasionally uses a melodica, for example on Thugs' R Us from the album Vol. 4 .
  • Canadian group Walk off the Earth used a melodica in their 2012 song Summer Vibe
  • The jazz musicians Don Cherry , Monty Alexander and Michail Alperin use the melodica quite often and have secured it a place in jazz alongside Hermeto Pascoal .
  • In the piece Champagne Supernova by the British pop group Oasis from 1995 a melodica is used and can be seen in the accompanying video clip.
  • It is used in several pieces of the Gorillaz .
  • The Australian band The Cat Empire used in some of their songs, such as B. The Lost Song and The Sun , a melodica.
  • The keyboardist John Medeski can often be heard on the melodica (or the 44-key melodion).
  • Udo Jürgens played the melodica in his interpretation of Cottonfields .
  • On their Christmas album from 2015, the band Erdmöbel parodied the instrument in the song of the same name.
  • The US musician Billy Preston played the melodica live on stage in the 1970s.
  • In the American Late Show with Stephen Colbert , the band leader Jon Batiste plays a melodica during the intro.

Similar instruments

An accordina with 44 buttons made in France

There are a number of modern and historical instruments that are more or less similar to the melodica.

  • The accordina instead of the keyboard with buttons like the button accordion equipped.
  • The triola is a simple toy and beginner's instrument, tuned diatonic (i.e. without the complete semitone range of the melodica).
  • The historic Harmonetta by Hohner, an instrument with hexagonal buttons ( "Honeycomb keyboard") and breakdown tongues recalls, located on the melodica.
  • The historic Couesnophone looks like a saxophone , but has a similar mechanism to a key melodica and a similar sound.

gallery

literature

  • Tillo Schlunck: Melodica primer for all piano melodica instruments . Berlin, Apollo-Verlag, 1973
  • A. Rosenstengel: What others sing: for all glockenspiels and xylophones, without semitones, in a range of 1 1/2 octaves as well as for all other melodic instruments (melodica, harmonica, recorder) . Berlin, Apollo-Verlag, 1977
  • Gerhard Eckle : The Melodica in music lessons at grammar school: An attempt at a justification and experience report . Trossingen, hbz union catalog
  • Wolfgang Jehn : "Bordun" - old tunes and dances for brass harmonica. Authors' publishing house Worpsweder Musikwerkstatt, 2015
  • Wolfgang Jehn : "Schalmoy" - old Christmas music for brass harmonica. Authors' publishing house Worpsweder Musikwerkstatt, 2015

Web links

Commons : Melodicas  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Melodica  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Music on melodicas

Individual evidence

  1. a b The manufacturer Hohner has the Melodica together with recorders in the “ Music Entry ” section when it presents its range .
  2. Keyboard . GPI Publications, 2000, p. 58 (accessed November 17, 2014).
  3. Melodica compared to similar instruments such as the accordina. Website of the Freiburg accordion workshop of Martin Maurer. Retrieved April 9, 2018.