[Daren]

I think Toots sounds like he’s playing a Clavietta!

There’s a sexy symmetry when you see a great harmonica player. Look at Toots here:

It sort of gets lost when you increase the size of the instrument:

It’s rare indeed to find good images of melodica players, though there’s one or two out there, like this one of Francis, also several by Melodica Me, with his own Diamante or Vibrandoneon

One has to consider that even instruments like Oboe, Bassoon or the Barritone which are professional instrument and used in many types of music, are not a popular instrument to the non musician and even some professional musicians that never played in an orchestra.

I’d forgotten about that – there’s many instruments most people aren’t particularly interested in hearing, and often don’t even know about. I’d say the melodica already has more appeal than many established, serious instruments, for instance a trombone or a contrabassoon. But I’m talking about mass appeal, say to a Youtube audience, where people are making spontaneous choices about what they like or dislike, compared to a conservative classical audience, who might be more influenced by what they’ve learnt. This is one of the appeals of the melodica to me – it’s new, and free from any history. It’s ready to make history!