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The melodica is a free-reed instrument similar to the accordion and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole, allowing air to flow through a reed. The keyboard is usually two or three octaves long.

The instrument was invented by Hohner in the 1950s or 1960s, ^[1] although it is also claimed that it was invented by the Brooklyn musician Joseph Lederfine in order to teach music fundamentals to children.^{[citation needed]} The melodica was probably first used as a serious musical instrument by jazz musician Phil Moore Jr. on his 1969 Atlantic Records album Right On. ^[2]. It is most often associated with Jamaican dub and reggae musicians in the 1970s, most notably Augustus Pablo. ^[3] Henry Slaughter (of The Imperials) played a melodica solo on "I'll Remember You," which was recorded by Elvis Presley on June 10, 1966 and appeared on the album "Spinout."

Types of melodicas

Melodicas are classified primarily by the range of the instrument. Melodicas with different ranges have slightly different shapes.

Tenor melodicas are a lower-pitched type of melodica. The left hand holds a handle on the bottom, and the right hand plays the keyboard. Tenor melodicas can be played with two hands by inserting a tube into the mouthpiece hole and placing the melodica on a flat surface.

Soprano and alto melodicas are higher-pitched and thinner sounding than tenors. Some are designed to be played with both hands at once; the left hand plays the black keys, and the right hand plays the white keys. Others are played like the tenor melodica.

Bass melodicas (lower-pitched than the tenor type) also exist, but are less common than other types.

The accordina uses the same mechanism, but with accordion-like buttons instead of keys.

Italian accordion manufacturer Victoria Accordions manufactures a number of different models of vibrandoneon, which are similar to the melodica in general construction and playing technique. Victoria's vibrandoneons are made with various keyboard and button arrangements.

Popular melodica manufacturers include Sound Electra, Angel, Hohner, Suzuki, Yamaha and Samick. It is also known by various names such as melodion (Suzuki), melodia (Diana), pianica (Yamaha), mylodica (Sound Electra), "melodihorn", or clavietta.

Melodicas are portable enough to be carried around. They have been very popular in music education, especially in Asia.

Comparison with traditional woodwind instruments

Melodicas are somewhat unique because they are handheld woodwind instruments that can be used to play a large variety of chords. This is accomplished by depressing multiple keys simultaneously.

Additionally, a melodica can play accidentals more easily than a traditional woodwind, which requires a partial hole coverage to reach any notes outside of its key.

These two factors give the melodica an unusual degree of flexibility and contribute to the fact that it's used so widely in music education.

Notable players

2D (Gorillaz)
Augustus Pablo
Hermeto Pascoal
Damon Albarn of Blur and The Good, the Bad and the Queen
Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs while with Oasis
Christina Bergmark of The Wannadies
Cedric Bixler-Zavala while in At the Drive-In
Rachel Blumberg of The Decemberists
D.J.Booth of Dubshack
Bobby Caldwell
Aleksandra Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!
Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists
Ian Curtis of Joy Division
Rick Davies of Supertramp
D.J. Edwards of Thursday Dress
Garth Hudson of The Band
Donald Fagen of Steely Dan
Ben Folds
Asya of Smoosh
Richard Frazier of the Rich Frazier Blues Band
Alison Goldfrapp of Goldfrapp
Martin Gore of Depeche Mode
Johnny Goudie
Brian Haas of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
Artie Barnes of Barnes & Barnes
Albert Hammond, Jr.
Joe Iconis
Alfred Darlington of Daedelus
Scotty Neon
Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion
Mark Hart of Crowded House
Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay
John Helliwell of Supertramp
Kyle Hollingsworth of the String Cheese Incident
The Hooters take their name from "the hooter," a nickname for the melodica that is present in many of their songs.
Joe Jackson
Stevie Jackson of Belle and Sebastian
Jon King of Gang of Four
Adam Marcinkowski of The Donuts
Paul McCartney
Oh No! Oh My!
Ollie McGill of The Cat Empire
David McWane of Big D and the Kids Table
John Medeski of Medeski, Martin, and Wood
Jessica Merliss
John Moen of The Decemberists
Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo was the only member of the Ohio musician's union to list his primary instrument as the melodica.
A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens & Jeremy Michael Ward of De Facto
Mike Patton
Billy Preston
Heather Robb of Old Springs Pike
Wesley Rigsby of Poor AJ and the Most Likely To's
Henry Slaughter formerly of The Imperials
Stars
Sufjan Stevens
Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order
Yann Tiersen
Jonathan Batiste
Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Stevie Wonder
Kem (singer)
Bernie Worrell of Parliament/Funkadelic
Jason Kallicragas of Men as Trees
Jimmy The Robot of The Aquabats
DJ Product of (hed) p.e.
Jahred Shane of (hed) p.e.
Shehan Nattar of The Heavenly Oceans
Andrew Sisk of Share
Shiina Ringo
Itch Fox of The King Blues
Evan Mast of Ratatat
Kaori Tsuchida of The Go! Team
Brendan Kelly of Pat and Brendan
Oscar Cash of Metronomy
Chang Wang, of Man Man
Julia Nunes
Chris Hardwick of Hard 'n Phirm
Peter Murphy of Bauhaus (on the song She's in Parties)
Jonathan Contreras
Oli Heffernan of Idiot Savant
Tim Convy of Ludo on acoustic shows
Roger Woodward
Richard Archer of Hard Fi
Mark Oliver Everett of "E" and Eels
Laila K of Sonic Boom Six, BabyBoom and Suicide Bid
Chris Richards of Q and Not U
Stephen Mansell
Roque Lazarus
Emmanuel del Real of [Cafe Tacuba]]
Tony Roe of Room Eleven
Michael Tapper previously of We Are Scientists whilst touring with Bishop Allen
Yeongene of Linus' Blanket
Yozoh of Sogyumo Acacia Band

References

^ [http://www.patmissin.com/history/melodica.html A Brief History of Mouth-Blown Free Reed Instruments: Melodica Family
^ Phil Moore Jr., Right On, 1969. Atlantic Records (SD-1530)
^ "Augustus Pablo" by Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel

[1] [http://www.patmissin.com/history/melodica.html A Brief History of Mouth-Blown Free Reed Instruments: Melodica Family

[2] Phil Moore Jr., Right On, 1969. Atlantic Records (SD-1530)

[3] "Augustus Pablo" by Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel

[1]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 The '''melodica''' is a [[free-reed instrument]] similar to the [[accordion]] and [[harmonica]]. It has a [[musical keyboard]] on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole, allowing air to flow through a [[reed (music)|reed]]. The keyboard is usually two or three [[octave]]s long.
+The instrument was invented by [[Hohner]] in the 1950s or 1960s,
-The instrument was invented by [[Hohner]] in the 1950s or 1960s,[http://www.harmonicas-direct.co.uk/gifts/gift.html] although it is also claimed that it was invented by the [[Brooklyn]] musician Joseph Lederfine in order to teach music fundamentals to children, the melodica was probably first used as a serious musical instrument by [[jazz]] musician [[Phil Moore Jr]]. on his [[Atlantic Records]] album Right On, 1969 (SD-1530).  It is most often associated with [[Jamaica]]n [[dub music|dub]] and [[reggae]] musicians in the '70s, most notably [[Augustus Pablo]].<ref>[http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=augustus_pablo "Augustus Pablo" by Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel]</ref>  [[Henry Slaughter]] (of [[The Imperials]]) played a melodica solo on "[[I'll Remember You]]," which was recorded by [[Elvis Presley]] on June 10, 1966 and appeared on the album "[[Spinout]]."
+<ref>[http://www.patmissin.com/history/melodica.html A Brief History of Mouth-Blown Free Reed Instruments: Melodica Family</ref>
+although it is also claimed that it was invented by the [[Brooklyn]] musician Joseph Lederfine in order to teach music fundamentals to children.{{fact}} The melodica was probably first used as a serious musical instrument by [[jazz]] musician [[Phil Moore Jr]]. on his 1969 [[Atlantic Records]] album ''Right On''.
+<ref>Phil Moore Jr., ''Right On'', 1969. Atlantic Records (SD-1530)</ref>.
+It is most often associated with [[Jamaica]]n [[dub music|dub]] and [[reggae]] musicians in the [[1970s]], most notably [[Augustus Pablo]].
+<ref>[http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=augustus_pablo "Augustus Pablo" by Bud Kliment and Amy Wachtel]</ref>
+[[Henry Slaughter]] (of [[The Imperials]]) played a melodica solo on "[[I'll Remember You]]," which was recorded by [[Elvis Presley]] on June 10, 1966 and appeared on the album "[[Spinout]]."
-==Types of melodicas==
-*Tenor melodicas are a lower-pitched type of melodica. The left hand holds a handle on the bottom, and the right hand plays the keyboard. Tenor melodicas can be played with two hands by inserting a tube into the mouthpiece hole and placing the melodica on a flat surface.
+==Types of melodicas==
-*Soprano and alto melodicas are higher-pitched and thinner sounding than tenors. Some are designed to be played with both hands at once; the left hand plays the black keys, and the right hand plays the white keys.  Others are played like the tenor melodica.
+Melodicas are classified primarily by the range of the instrument. Melodicas with different ranges have slightly different shapes.
-*Bass melodicas (lower-pitched than the tenor type) also exist, but are less common than other types.
+*Tenor melodicas are a lower-pitched type of melodica. The left hand holds a handle on the bottom, and the right hand plays the keyboard. Tenor melodicas can be played with two hands by inserting a tube into the mouthpiece hole and placing the melodica on a flat surface.
-*The '''accordina''' uses the same mechanism, but with accordion-like buttons instead of keys.
+*Soprano and alto melodicas are higher-pitched and thinner sounding than tenors. Some are designed to be played with both hands at once; the left hand plays the black keys, and the right hand plays the white keys.  Others are played like the tenor melodica.
-*Italian accordion manufacturer Victoria Accordions manufactures a number of different models of [[vibrandoneon]], which are similar to the melodica in general construction and playing technique.  Victoria's vibrandoneons are made with various keyboard and button arrangements.
+*Bass melodicas (lower-pitched than the tenor type) also exist, but are less common than other types.
+*The '''accordina''' uses the same mechanism, but with accordion-like buttons instead of keys.
+*Italian accordion manufacturer Victoria Accordions manufactures a number of different models of [[vibrandoneon]], which are similar to the melodica in general construction and playing technique.  Victoria's vibrandoneons are made with various keyboard and button arrangements.
 Popular melodica manufacturers include [[Sound Electra]], [[Angel]], [[Hohner]], [[Suzuki]], [[Yamaha]] and [[Samick]]. It is also known by various names such as ''melodion'' ([[Suzuki]]), ''melodia'' (Diana), ''pianica'' (Yamaha), ''mylodica'' (Sound Electra), "melodihorn", or ''clavietta''.