More info on melodicas!!

First of all, could you guys what melodica(s) I used for the youtube video song I posted last week? Here is the answer:

I used the wood melodica on the left for the upper voices, and the red bass melodica for the bass line.
If you got them right, congratulations!!! *BIG HUG*

I would now introduce these three melodicas, let me post the picture one more time here.

The wood one on the left is the standard melodica, or some people called "alto melodica". It has a superior sound that most of the melodicas out there because it is made by wood. The resonance you get from the wood is unrivalled. The red one is a bass melodica, the whole range of the instrument is the extension of the lowest note of the standard melodica. The green one is a keyboard recorder, basically it is a recorder but just in keyboard structure.

In fact, the mechanism of the green one is not the same as the other two. The other two I would call them a "free-reed" instrument, which means there are a bunch of reeds inside, you blow the air through the reed to get the sound (which is the same mechanism as harmonica and accordion). The green one has a bunch of pipes inside the instrument, you can simply imagine there are a bunch of recorders inside the instrument, and each note has different pipe length. So basically the green one is not really a "melodica" as the technique of playing it would be different too.

If you are interested in how it sounds, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pxYNkQpvGs

I personally called these three instruments I have as: accordion melodica, saxophone melodica, recorder melodica. You would know why I called them that way later :)

P.S. My cousin says my dragon ball Z battle theme arrangement sounds very "French", I don't know if you guys agree or not LOL. Anyway here I post one of my favorite melodica players, listen to him then you may know why the melodica itself sounds very "French", or I should say it sounds very accordion style.

What is a melodica?

First of all, many people don’t even know what a melodica is.

The melodica is a wind instrument that was invented in 1945 in Germany, it was first in button shape until the Japanese changed it into piano keyboard shape in 1960’s and made it famous.

Most of them are made by plastic hence very cheap in prices. Hence it is mainly used for music education for children in Japan and in some other Asian countries. Having such a short history for a musical instrument, this is why it is unknown in America, no classical music pieces were written for melodica, and the best melodica players in the world are all in Japan.

Here is one of my recordings playing a Dragon Ball Z battle theme using melodica. You can hear how it sounds like. To me, it sounds somewhere between an accordion and a harmonica.

And here are my collection of melodicas, they look awesome and SOUND awesome aren't they?

 

Here is your homework this time: which melodica(s) I used for my recording above? I would tell you guys next time :)