I am prepping a piano+violin piece that I'll be playing at a party in May. So for my lesson last week, my teacher brought his melodica to play the violin part. Just in case anyone doesn't know what that is:

If you've ever heard one, you might know that it sounds kind of like an overgrown kazoo

I have to say, it was hysterical.

The piano part plays for 8 measures, and then the violin comes in, so I was playing my part, blissfully, when the kazoo, I mean, melodica started, and it was all I could do to not burst out laughing! I was not expecting how funny it sounded! 🤣🤣🤣

I don't know if a more proficient melodica-ist could do dynamics, but my teacher certainly couldn't! So he was just puffing along, and I was playing mostly forte through the entire piece to hear myself over him while he played also at one dynamic (i.e., as loud as he was able).
Still, as a pianist (not a woodwind or brass player) he should be commended just for managing to play through all 12 pages of the piece!

Anyway, joking aside, since I haven't had the opportunity to play with others regularly since before covid, it was really good practice just to be able to hear the other part, listening to that while playing my own part. Very helpful!

But not an instrument I would choose to listen to otherwise! 😆

    ShiroKuro
    That's funny! 😆

    To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that your teacher doesn't have a digital keyboard for accompanying. Even a cheap keyboard would probably work better than this toy.

        BartK I take lessons at a community music school and it has multiple rooms, but I think there's only one room that has two pianos, and we never get assigned to that room. ETA and most of the time, we don't need it.

          It actually has an interesting harmonica-like sound. Just listening to a sound recording, someone unfamiliar with a melodica would think the playing was done with a harmonica. Try to play the early Beatles tune "Love Me Do" like John Lennon's harmonica solo with a melodica.

          It's not an instrument that has a big octave range. More like a recorder to mimic people singing. You can play it like mini keyboard on the table by using an extension tube for blowing. Compared to a violin you can overlap notes to form chords but has a smaller note range. People playing violin need to have good ears to play in tune. Any keyboard instrument you just press the keys and assume they're in tune.

          Hope you enjoy the music which every way it comes out...

          First of all, it says a lot of positive things about your teacher, that he came up with a way to bring in the violin part for working on this piece. Is this the same teacher you wrote about who will be leaving soon? He sounds amazing.

          I'm somewhat familiar with melodica because when it was mentioned somewhere, I looked it up then. I did a search now out of curiosity of whether there are also some serious performances with the instrument. I'm thinking about the humble descant recorder which are handed out to school kids as plastic versions, and they come home home emitting these awful squeaky sounds, but it can be something else. I just discovered this amazing musician. Listen to what he does with breath and nuance as the music goes on. It's enhanced by the miking and reverb in the room, of course. There is another video in an ordinary outdoor setting where he explains the kinds of sounds he can create, and the melodica doesn't have the kind of resonance of sophisticated instruments.

          If anyone is as interested as I was, in this video he discusses the types of sounds he can produce. He played it everywhere while waiting to get into Juilliard.

            BartK To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that your teacher doesn't have a digital keyboard for accompanying. Even a cheap keyboard would probably work better than this toy.

            I'm thinking that the melodica is better for imitating the sustained sound of a violin. Is it in fact a "toy"?

              Haha yeah, when I was fussing and diddle dawdling about which keyboard to buy, rsl12 recommended getting a melodica instead. I didn't know exactly what to expect from that, so I ended up with a keyboard in the end. It was only after I received his ultra adorable performance that I realized what I am missing out on. I definitely would like to add that to the list of instruments I'd love to learn to play someday 😁

              Then of course, for the more erudite among us, there's this:

              keystring it says a lot of positive things about your teacher, that he came up with a way to bring in the violin part for working on this piece. Is this the same teacher you wrote about who will be leaving soon? He sounds amazing.

              yep, he's amazing!

              BTW @keystring I have been a fan of Jon Batiste for a long time, he's wonderful!

                  Just for the record, y'all, I wrote this for fun. No shade to the use of a melodica as a musical instrument. As @keystring suggests, a melodica is not just a toy. And during my lesson, it was also a very effective pedagogical tool.

                  I just wasn't expecting it, after playing along with a recording of piano and violin and hearing the violin in my head, it was a bit surprising! 😃

                    ShiroKuro I just wasn't expecting it, after playing along with a recording of piano and violin and hearing the violin in my head, it was a bit surprising!

                    I'm picturing your eyebrows shooting up as your piano teacher pulled out his melodica. 😃 An amazing solution.

                    ShiroKuro BTW @keystring I have been a fan of Jon Batiste for a long time, he's wonderful!

                    For me a happy discovery. I went on a JB binge. I also watched snippets of interviews: he has some healthy philosophies to share, bits of wisdom that are invaluable.

                    twocats I feel like I should point you to Sophia and rsl12's last recital submission (listen to the whole thing)

                    Super cool! And well done.

                            I have two of them. My wife and I play funny stuff on them. Tomorrow for a piano group - "Baby Elephant Walk" by Henry Mancini!

                            Sam

                            keystring I'm picturing your eyebrows shooting up as your piano teacher pulled out his melodica

                            🤣🤣🤣

                              pianoloverus some examples of what a genius pianist and melodica player can do

                              That was incredible and very enjoyable, thank you for sharing that! It's so wonderful to see talented people do the impossible... and I'm so very very very impressed with him mastering TWO instruments at once. Loved it!

                              Slightly off topic (but still sorta not), people say the same about the harmonica, that it's not a "real" instrument etc. Here's my late father performing the same many years ago (it's the performance with which he became the world champion when he was only 20 years old).

                                  Sophia Besides the technical brilliance of the playing the tone is particularly beautiful

                                    Sophia Here's my late father performing the same many years ago (it's the performance with which he became the world champion when he was only 20 years old).

                                    Wow!! Is he performing with a melodica and a harmonica at the same time?

                                    Btw if you want to be impressed by a musician who can play multiple instruments at the same time, check out the ridiculously talented Gunhild Carling who can not only play everything but can famously play three trumpets at the same time!!

                                        twocats Wow!! Is he performing with a melodica and a harmonica at the same time?

                                        No melodica there 🙂 Well I DID say I was derailing the thread a little, haha. Sorry Shiro 😃
                                        He performed that with two buddies, one playing the bass harmonica, the other one a vineta (chords).

                                            Sophia that makes sense, it didn't seem possible that he was making all those sounds on his own 🙂