Melodica Facts for Kids

A Hohner Melodica

The melodica is a cool musical instrument. It's a type of wind instrument, which means you blow air into it to make sound. It has a keyboard on top, just like a piano! You blow into a mouthpiece on the side, and the air makes sounds when you press the keys.

Melodicas are often called "blow-organs" or "key-flutes." Their keyboards usually have two or three octaves. An octave is a series of eight notes, like from one C to the next C on a piano. Melodicas are small, light, and easy to carry around. They are very popular for music lessons, especially in places like Asia.

Types of Melodicas
- Wooden Melodicas
Other Names for Melodica
Playing with Two Hands
How Melodicas are Different from Other Wind Instruments
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Types of Melodicas

Layout of a melodica keyboard with three octaves (36 keys)

Hohner Melodica Soprano: right side, keyboard and bottom views

Melodicas come in different types, mainly based on how high or low their sound is. Melodicas with different sound ranges often look a bit different too.

Soprano and Alto Melodicas: These melodicas play higher notes and have a thinner sound. Some are made so you can play them with both hands at once. Your left hand plays the black keys, and your right hand plays the white keys. Others are played like the tenor melodica.
Tenor Melodicas: These play lower notes. Usually, your left hand holds a handle on the bottom, and your right hand plays the keyboard. You can also play tenor melodicas with two hands. To do this, you attach a long tube to the mouthpiece hole and place the melodica on a flat surface.
Bass Melodicas: These play the lowest notes, but they are not as common as soprano, alto, or tenor melodicas.
The Accordina: This instrument is usually made of metal. It works like a regular melodica, but instead of a piano-style keyboard, it has buttons. These buttons are set up like the keyboard on a chromatic button accordion.

Wooden Melodicas

Most melodicas are made of plastic. However, some are made mostly of wood. For example, the Sound Electra company makes a wooden melodica called the MyLodica. It's designed to make a warmer, richer sound than plastic ones. The Victoria Accordion company in Castelfidardo, Italy, also makes wooden melodicas and accordinas. They call their wooden instruments Vibrandoneon.

Other Names for Melodica

The melodica is known by many different names, often depending on who made it. Some common names include:

Melodion (by Suzuki)
Triola (by Seydel)
Melodika (by Apollo)
Melodia (by Diana)
Pianica (by Yamaha)
Melodihorn (by Samick)
Pianetta
Clavietta

Once, a recording technician didn't know what a melodica was and called it a "hooter." This actually inspired the band The Hooters to choose their name!

Playing with Two Hands

Played horizontally, with two hands and an air tube

You can play the melodica with two hands by using a special air tube. This tube lets you place the melodica on a surface while you blow into the tube and use both hands on the keyboard. Sometimes, a foot pump can even be used to blow air into the instrument!

How Melodicas are Different from Other Wind Instruments

Melodicas are unique because they have a piano keyboard. Most other wind instruments, like saxophones or clarinets, use a special system of holes or buttons for playing notes.

With a melodica, you can play any note with just one finger. This is different from most other wind instruments, where you might need several fingers to play a single note. Because of this, you can also play chords on a melodica by pressing several keys at once. This means a melodica can play more than one note at a time, which is called polyphonic playing. Most other wind instruments usually play only one note at a time, which is called monophonic.

Also, for someone just starting out, a melodica makes it easier to play accidentals (notes that are sharpened or flattened) than many other wind instruments.