A new piano and melodica video
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This is an original recorded using my Bluthner grand and Yamaha melodica, about 2 weeks after I got the melodica.
Playing is far from perfect, but as it was intended for a Jewish holiday of costumes, I didn’t care much 🙂For comparison, this is how it’s usually played, recorded in Warsaw International Jazz Festival 2014 with my trio.
Nice playing Ofir. Jazz is one of my favorite genres of music to listen to. I often wish I could play it. Lowboy
Thank you Daren.
Well, I have mixed feelings about it.On the positive side:
* Terrific build quality, extremely easy to open and maintain.
* Tight air chamber with responsive reeds.
(Having that said, the beginner’s Swan I own is more responsive than the Yamaha. However, its sound is less rich)
* Light weight.On the negative side
* Sound is not as rich as I would expect. There may be an inherent tradeoff between responsiveness and richness.
* Flat sound (less rich) on loud playing. I still owe you a recording, and I’ll get to that soon.
* Moisture released inside the instrument. I really prefer taking it out at the time of my choice, rather than keeping it inside and then it partly vaporize and partly go out when it chooses to.So all in all, I don’t see myself do serious recordings or concerts using the Yamaha.
No doubt that It’s a nice instrument which probably worth the 100$ I paid. But it does not provide the sound richness of my demand.This is why I have great expectations for my “new” Pro36..
Ofir, as I have mentioned here on many posts, not all melodicas are going to sound and perform good on all types of music. I have the Pro 36 and the Solist and I have only used them on recording a few times simply because I have not found the piece I want to use them on that I felt the tone was right. I have heard the Yamaha on many recording and videos and they all sound different based on the PLAYER not the melodica. I recently used my Clavietta for a new recording for the Monsters of Melodica which I had not ever used before simply because it was the best fit for the piece we were recording. I did not even use my Vibrandoneon because it did not fit the tone we were looking for.
on another note:
I am still wondering what you mean by a Flat sound (less rich) when playing loud? and the difference between responsiveness and richness? can you elaborate on that a bit if you can.Melodica-Me
Melodica-Me, from my point of view, I must disagree with you on several things.
First, I’m a big believer of 1-size-fit-all when it comes to acoustic instruments.
Although every instrument has its inner soul, a good instrument must comply with the musician’s needs in a reasonable sound-range.
Same way as I won’t require a different piano for each piece on my concerts (the festival owner would kick me as far as I can imagine..), I would expect the same melodica to fully serve me for whichever piece I want a melodica in.
However, If I want a distorted electric guitar then I will neither expect any piano nor melodica to fit. But a reasonable range must exist, and it must be large enough.Second, I’m not sure that your impression of the Yamaha is accurate, as you only heard it on recordings.
You know very well that the recording and mixing process has a major role in delivering the sound of an instrument, and I’m sure that attending in front all of these players, you would get a much smaller variety.
I’m well aware of the ability of the musician to control the sound of his instrument. I do it very well on my piano, and I think that I’m doing it pretty well on the melodica, trying to check its inherent variety. However, I believe that the Yamaha P37D’s sound range is yet not as rich as I would expect my instrument to be for professional usage. Not enough harmonies, sound it too ‘small’.As for being flat when loud – I wrote that to Daren on a different post:
As for responsiveness vs richness – my experience with melodicas is yet very limited, but my understanding in physics and acoustics is not. I was referring to my modest experience with the Yamaha vs Swan, and extended that with what Lowboy wrote on the difference between the P37D and the Piano 36 (on the same post I linked here).
You may add to that your experience with the difference between thin and thick reeds, and I believe that it will match my description.I was hoping this kind of conversation was about to break out. As always, I’m inclined to defer to the professional musicians on such questions. But doesn’t it depend somewhat on the kind of music and its demands? Lowboy, for example, is playing blues and wants to bend notes and manipulate sound in other ways (acoustically, not just electronically), which is easier with some melodicas than with others. It’s easier, in my limited experience, with less stable reeds (reeds for which it’s hard to get stable readings in tuning). Ofir and M-M both play jazz, but in very different styles, M-M’s requiring more facility in manipulating sounds. In my experience, two melodicas that sound very similar in just playing a scale or chord or even a melody straight up may sound very different from each other when you start trying to bend notes or otherwise manipulate the sound. Ofir’s piano (and melodica) playing strikes me as more classically oriented than the playing of most of the good players on this site. It’s much more common to see a Jazz guitar player changing guitars during a performance, isn’t it, than to see a classical guitarist doing that? And it’s common to see (some, though of course not all) Jazz keyboard players switching between different keyboards, though not between different pianos.
I seem to agree with both MM and Ofir here. Like Ofir, I’ve been searching for a melodica which I can say I’m happy with, that I can use in any genre. Ideally I’d have one instrument which i could develop a relationship with and get to know intimately, over many years. I hope there’s no psychotherapists reading this!
But I’ve found myself picking different melodicas for different styles and moods. A clavietta with a vintage ribbon mic and specific eq sounds lovely with a string orchestra. A Yamaha Pianica sounds great for Irish music, and I find the uniformity of a Vibrandoneon suits classical music.
Having said this, perhaps like Ofir, I firmly believe that there is the potential for a high quality melodica out there which will fulfil all my musical needs. I just don’t think anyones made it yet!
Alan, your post is pretty much spot on. If you play one type of music and your music style is relatively and consistently the same over and over, then I agree with Ofir that it is possible to find a “One Size Fits All” melodica. I play many different types of Jazz not just one, so No I personally could never use a single Melodica to work with everything I do, as I would not be able to use one specific piano to record Jazz then country and then blues it just does not work with the people I work with, pianos are not all the same. I think Lowboy can shed some light on his experience with different types of Harmonicas, I don’t think he only plays one. My Brother in-law has been a union musician for over 56 years here in Los Angeles. When he gets the call for a session, his first question is “what kind of sound are you looking for” so he can make sure to take the right tenor, alto or baritone saxophone for recording. If you think I have a lot of Melodica’s his collection of woodwind instruments is amazing.
Melodica-MeDaren, I think the only time the psychotherapist comes is when you start talking to your Melodica. 🙂
Many of you described my ‘one-size-fit-all’ term in a better way than I did. For MY purpose, obviously, not for everyone’s. But it’s neither that small set of needs as one (who heard just one of my pieces..) may think.
Melodica-Me, I think that you may underestimate the ability of a good pianist to get different results from the same good piano. This is why most of my concerts are played on a Steinway concert grand, as this is by far the most versatile piano. This is why it’s the most requested piano among professional technical riders. It’s an instrument that a good pianist can shape for his needs by the tip of his fingers. So yes – obviously not all the pianos are equal. But the good ones make the musician out of them, not the instrument.
Alan, When referring to different guitars, it’s mostly no longer acoustic. Almost every guitar player that I know works with some chain of effects, and here we quit the discussion of acoustic qualities. Furthermore, keyboards (which I also use for some projects) won’t qualify for this discussion at all..
That said, I know some guitar players which are very focused in their chain of effects, and do whatever they can into master the chain for each piece. However, I’m a big believer of developing an intimate relationship with the instrument ([4688] Banarse at al.), and getting everything acoustically.Daren, you may be right about your last claim, as you are well in this field. However, if the ‘Steinway’ of melodicas hasn’t been produced yet, I really doubt it that we’re facing a melodica renaissance which allows this new guys to pop up. Perhaps bringing the best candidate available these days to top stages can change that, I’ll try. Or your 3D printer..
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