[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi all,

Being a very enthusiastic melodica player and always looking for new interesting things, I was wondering if someone already thought of combining a melodica with a trumpet. Nowadays there plastic trumpets are available (e.g. pTrumpet) and it would be doable to mount part of it (especially the horn part – some handy-work involved 😉 ) to the sound-outlet of a melodica.

Any comments? 😉

I’m wondering, what would that do with sound?

With regards,
Herman

[Daren]

I’m afraid I know nothing about trumpets Herman! Oscar uses a trumpet mouthpiece on his designs, because he likes the feel of them. I don’t think it changes the sound at all

[Melodica-Me]

Hello Herman, The sound does not change using a Trumpet or French Horn mouthpiece, using a standard trumpet mouthpiece piece requires that you bore out the throat to allow more air to pass through to the backbore. If the hole remains the same, the amount of air will reduce the actual volume produced by the melodica. Once you bore the mouthpiece, it will no longer work as a traditional trumpet mouthpiece and will no longer work on a trumpet. The reason I like a trumpet mouthpiece is that I am able to play staccato with much more ease and faster than if I am to use a straight piece or a duck bill mouthpiece. The first mouthpiece I bored out was a French horn mouth piece for my Vibrandoneon. Note I also changed the reciever to allow for the use of this type of mouthpiece, you can see here https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8d/0f/b3/8d0fb311a53bcbb7df761e3ac0b4b43f.jpg. I kept this design and incorporated it with my Diamante Wind Vox Melodicas https://i.pinimg.com/originals/eb/1f/5b/eb1f5b6dcaacdf91fb767b8e42275311.jpg.
I hope this helps with your question.
Melodica-Me

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Daren, Oscar,

Thank you for your answers. Obviously, I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t talking about using a trumpet-style mouthpiece but actually using the other part of the trompet: the bell part. What about mounting (in some way) the bell (and part of the tube going to it without the velvets) on to the melodion. In that way the sound of the melodica has to pass (go into) the trumpet tube and bell 😉 Despite the looks, I was wondering if such design would enrich or change the sound. And does the pitch change? That would be less useable. In such a design one could also use a trumpet mute (no idea to handle that but the idea is interesting). Would this be the birth of a new instrument? I would be happy to take the leap.

Herman

[Melodica-Me]

Hello Herman, OK, the answer to your question would be yes, the “Bell” or “flare” of the trumpet would contribute a significant change in the tone. The Design of the melodica would require as you stated that the sound be gathered in one section and then pass through a tube and exit through the Bell. The tone of the instrument is created in the body (Tube) and like a Trumpet when the sound exits the bell, there would be a modulation of the tone. If the bell is large the tone would then change to a darker or mellow tone. If the bell is smaller in size the tone would be a brighter sound. Since the actual pitch of a melodica is created by the reed, the only way the pitch would change would be through manipulation of the reed to create a variation in the pitch. The tube would not create a change in pitch as it would in a trumpet via the throat of the mouthpiece and the length of the tube. The question regarding “Mute” can be achieved, but the sound cannot escape the body of the melodica before it exits the bell. At this point the sound would be able to be modified like when a mute is used on a trumpet or in an open/closed motion to create a Wow effect. I guess the last thing would be for me to provide an example of such a creation.

Here you go

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Oscar,

Thank you so much for taking your time to answer all my questions. Your movie shows (sound-wise) exactly what I was hoping the bell would add to the design and sound.

I’ll give it a try myself 😉

Kind regards,
Herman

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