The Melodica

[tomEisenbraun]

I feel like I post often at 5:00am for some reason. I think it's sort of the point of no return--the whole do or die of posting. I have a test in the morning, perhaps that's why my procrastination this evening has been so productive? Nevertheless, I now present with my current musical fascination. (I wasn't sure whether to post here or in Other Music, but the Guiro thread made me believe that this might be a bit better of an arena? Please transfer me if you see fit, Señor Baxter...)

I now present you with:

The Melodica


This little beauty has an odd place in the world of musical instruments. The one pictured above is the one I just bought off eBay and which arrived at my doorstep today. It's an odd little gem, somewhere between a harmonica and an accordion in sound. It's a reed instrument, so it employs the same sound-making device that either of the aforementioned make use of, but you get a bit more control over which notes you play, but the wind pushing the notes lies in your lungs, not in the bellows like an accordion or concertina. It's sort of a niche instrument. It's not horribly useful, I don't suppose, as its range is sort of an in-the-middle kind of thing. Not a whole ton of bass, and not too shrill, either. It works beautiful as accompaniment to something (I'm imagining for that guy who can't sing but desperately wants in on the sea shanty...)

Enough of my rambling, though, here's some good media to get you guys pondering its existence.

My first favorite is this finely-beret'd man absolutely killing the Pink Panther theme:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdbvEjwrPsI[/media]



Obviously, an instrument with this sort of timbre lends itself well towards some wonderful renditions of classic video game themes:

The "Song of Storms" from LoZ: Ocarina of Time (shit yes I just used the nerd-abbrev on that one):

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lykvwsEqMgo[/media]


My personal fave on the video game front is this kid on the classic Tetris theme. Terrible fake English accent, but brilliant performance, especially when he starts running out of breath and runs the theme into different tunes!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SjYuNXoGQk[/media]





On to real music, not just interpretations of theme songs...

My favorite, and probably what made me decide to buy one was this haunting performance by Grizzly Bear on their song "Shift" -- Original recording here (sound quality is much much better than YouTube, but I liked the aesthetic of having a bunch of videos here -- http://www.blogotheque.net/article.php3?id_article=2577)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ltvjOj9m-c[/media]


To wrap it up, I came up with some simple shanty-ish thing a few minutes ago. I'll post it when it finishes mixing down.

[tomEisenbraun]

Hey Rines, any idea why the forum's "media" code won't take DailyMotion code, but instead repeats the last media file input? I had to stick with the crappy rip that was put on YouTube because of that glitch...

[tomEisenbraun]

Alright, here's the "Shanty" business. Drew some influence from Devotchka's "Charlotte Mittnacht" I suppose...?

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/551938

Nothing too fancy, and not spotless, but it's fun to find different creative directions in different instruments. This one's turning gears already.

[LEATHER KID]

 Be careful not to blow too hard (I know that's what she said).  Mine's got a couple keys that have gone out of tune slightly because of me trying to go Jerry Lee Lewis on it.  Also I know it's not but the keys on Touch Me Part 1 sound very similiar to the melodica.