Underappreciated Instruments - Melodica

Let's go!  Under appreciated instruments time.  This time I was going to cover the harmonica but that's boring.  Let's go with an instrument you're unlikely to have even heard of.  Therefore, this post is on the melodica, an instrument that my spell check is saying might not even be a word.  For clarity's sake, the melodica is also sometimes called the pianica.

Why the melodica?  Well I was recently at a concert hosted by my University's performing arts and technology department and they used one.  Aptly, one of my friends that came with me asked what the hell that instrument was.  As an instrument, the melodica looks very much like a keyboard but...with a tube sticking out.  The idea of it is quite similar to an accordion actually.  You provide an airflow, with accordions this is done with the bellows, and play the keys to form pitches.  Unlike the accordion however, since you are the one providing the airflow by means of blowing air into a tube, the accordion is sometimes classified as a woodwind instrument.

The thing about the melodica is that pretty much no one uses it.  The sound is similar to the accordion and is actually a rather simple instrument to play that can be played in multiple different ways while still being mobile.  It's actually quite common to play the melodica with a hose attached, which frees up the location of where the instrument is without sacrificing sound.  To be honest, it looks a bit strange but let's be completely frank, most instruments look kinda weird when you first encounter them.

Onto the stuff I imagine you're waiting for, examples.  The first time I saw a melodica wasn't even in person.  In actuality the first time I saw a melodica was when I saw this.  While looking at stuff for this post I came across a band that I think is awesome, Steam Powered Giraffe.  They're kind of a strange band.  As a genre they'd be in the relatively new genre known as steampunk with a good bit of folk in there.  With some really amazing three part voice harmonies and quirky lyrics I find their music quite different and interesting to listen to.  Even more awesome however, and more relevant to this post, one of the members plays both melodica AND accordion, ain't that just an awesome coincidence?  Anyways, here's their song, Me and My Baby.  Check out one of their other songs, Automatonic Electronic Harmonics for more of what a melodica can sound like with funky electronic effects.  Also, the melodica is used in a couple of songs from Kirby's Epic Yarn, namely Green Greens.

That's all for this post, I hope you found a new band like I did and I hope you learned about a sweet instrument that's horribly under appreciated.  I enjoyed doing this post just to learn more about this relatively unknown instrument.  I hope you enjoyed it too and until next time.

--CsMiREK