After watching Don Cherry on Melodica here: (around the 1:00 mark) and here: (around the 4;20 mark, after a Peter Apfelbaum intro on piano), I am thinking I might want to try one. Anyone here play one? Words of wisdom about them? Selling one cheap?
I acquired one in the sixties and still have it somewhere. It was a Honer. It is alright. Just a piano keyboard and you blow. It takes a lot of wind. Kind of boring to me. You can't put a whole lot of emotion or soul into it.
Jack DeJohnette is an amazing melodica player. He plays one on a couple of tracks on his first album as a leader: The DeJohnette Complex and on his new album Music We Are (w/ Danilo Perez & John Pattitucci.)
I would pay any price for a saxophone with a piano keyboard. I think that would be a fantastic instrument for many people.
And yes I do know about Jim Schmidt and the "C Contralto" thing.
go for it! I played one too, a Yamaha P-37D (red) is a cheap yet nice melodica (or, as yamaha called it, pianica). Melodica is even cooler with some guitar effects, like chorus, flanger, etc.. just keep the low EQ down.
Hi guys! I'm new here, but not on melodica - i'm just an amateur saxophonist, but a professional jazz melodica player.
I would like to ask you, whether you met the professional textbooks for melodica , because I wrote
a book with a slant towards blues and jazz, and I think that it is a good professional level. It can do for someone interested?
You can look in my topic here: http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=45675&highlight=Мелодика
By the way, the best jazz performance on melodica in youtube:
Sorry for my English - has never been a mother tongue...
I got my Melodica yesterday. It's a lot of fun to play it with the tube mouthpiece, holding it up in my left hand and keyboarding with my right. It's great for those mournful tunes and slow ballads, the kind of thing that you hear a french accordion on in old movies. Ms. MMM said she was getting weary of the Godfather theme, so I switched to standards she likes -- Mona Lisa, My Funny Valentine, Blue Skies. Then I thought of La Vie En Rose -- perfect. Old Everly brothers ballads, some Cajun acordeon, jazzy scales, minor blues. You can play chords, but the more notes you play, the more air you have to blow and the weaker the melody note gets. It works best to play single note lines with 2-note chords here and there, maybe some triads at the beginnings and ends of phrases. But it's a ball. I'm traveling with it tomorrow. The case fits right along the inside of my carryon.
I assure you: after you read my The amazing MELODICA! book,Your instrument sound will much better. You will learn about the melodica that you've never heard or read .
Where would I find this amazing Melodica book? I can't locate it on the internet. I read your posts in the swingin' on Melodica thread on the All About Jazz forum. I didn't see anything there that will make my Melodica sound much better.
Here is a small quote from The amazing MELODICA! book. However, the warning - translation into English is not mine, but professional. As the contents of the book ...
OK, now I understand. A little advice: if the funk quote was translated by a professional, consider either a) having a native speaker of English do the final edit or b) hiring a different translation professional.
I recently got a melodica (inexpesive 32-key model), and it's pretty fun. I'm currently teaching an Introduction to Improvisation class to college students. Big class with about 35 people in it, and it's basically a learn-to-play-tunes-by-ear experience. There are about 10 vocalists in the class, so I require them to bring a small keyboard to class, and I suggest they get a melodica for that purpose.
When the class plays folk songs all together, it sounds like a huge, twisted Polka/Ranchero band. Awesome!
I know something about these. The best ones are not Hohner or Yamaha. They are made by Suzuki (Melodion). You can get the Suzuki 32 model easily, but if you are really serious you can order the professional model from Japan. I have both as well as a bass melodica. I mainly play the 32 because the professional is pretty heavy. However, it has the best tone and keywork.
thats Fully Fullwood on Bass. He is a great guy. He was one of the original studio one session bass players back in the day in Jamaca. He lives in Socal now and I have done some session work for him in his home studio.
Another great melodica player is Jovino Santos Neto. Check him out if you are in Seattle, I think that's where he's based now. He does jazz and Brazilian music and is a pianist/flutist and all-round fantastic musician. I have an album of him called Live at Caramoor where Joe Lovano makes a guest appearance on soprano - awesome stuff.
He was Hermeto´s pianist from 1978 to 1993 , he is a wonderful musician, a real master.
You can see here, avery young Jovino playing electric piano with Hermeto and the great Heraldo do Monte on guitar:
Makes sense. One reason I got mine was to take it on a vacation trip to Hawaii so I'd have something to play. It packs neatly into my carry-on and I also put a couple of tin whistles in the case. Last Saturday, I took it to an acoustic jam and sing-along for Christmas. Fun and easy to carry. And people ask "What IS that?"
I just jammed with an accordian player and guitarist/singer tonight. I played the melodica that was there, a Suzuki Melodion. I play flute 1st, sax second and keys 3rd. I was able to use woodwind techniques like double tonguing, sforzando and diaphram vibrato. As long as I didn't play too many notes at once breath wasn't a problem. I know the instrument cost $300.00 but it was very fun and in tune. The tone was really good and clean. I only tried Hohners before this and the intonation was terrible on every one.
I played the melodica that was there, a Suzuki Melodion. ... it was very fun and in tune. ... I only tried Hohners before this and the intonation was terrible on every one.
Yeah, my bottom-of-the-line Hohner has pretty wonky intonation. And I think it's gotten worse. But I kinda like it some of the time. It sounds more folksy or more like a cajun or French accordion. There's no such thing as perfect intonation anyway, at least on an instrument where you can't modify the pitch. But when the octaves aren't in tune, it starts to sound a little weird. Maybe I'll check out a Suzuki.
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