For everyone who’s seen me play with Thornfield, there’s an inevitable recurring question after each show:
“What in the world is that thing?”
<— (me)
<— (that thing)
The somewhat anticlimactic answer is that it’s a Melodica. It’s not exactly the most common instrument in the world, though a few rock, pop, and avant-garde musicians have been fond of it. Envision a strange hybrid of a piano and a harmonica. (Coincidentally, those are two of the other instruments I play for Thornfield.) The most famous Melodica solo? Probably the title theme from The Office. So now you know.
There’s not too much literature written on the subject of Melodica playing. But good news! Today I chanced upon the most detailed set of instructions I’ve ever seen for it. You’ll find them enlightening about the techniques and usage of this unique instrument. At least, you would… if they hadn’t been very poorly translated from the Chinese.
All your bass are belong to us.
Tip-o’-the-hat: Engrish.com.
wow. just… wow.
wow.
Oh my gosh. I once played one of those…i think my mum might still have it.
Enjoyed the translation. Especially cleaning your slabver off of it after you play it. 🙂
Probably my most fun Christmas surprise for one of my kids as the year I bought my sound engineer son a melodica. I had watched a documentary on the Beatles and when I saw Lennon playing one, I had to find out what it was and get one for Ben. It was such a great and unexpected surprise and he loved it; such a cool sound…..
Carrie didn’t think my melodica was cool until she found out that Lennon played one!
Not true! I didn’t think your melodica was cool until I found out Jon Guerra has one! 😛 But, yeah, Lennon’s pretty cool.
Do you perform do uble? or together again?
I’m sitting at the front desk at Moody right now, and I had such a hard time containing my laughter at this. Anybody walking by would have thought I was off my rocker…
I’m slightly slow on the uptake today and didn’t recognize that as a reference…. Maybe I should keep mouth mun!
Bwahaha! I do hope you get rid of slabver as recommended. (And extra points for the musical twist on the “All your base” line I heard no less than 40,000,000,000,000 times at my geeky university in the early 2000s!