Hose or mouthpiece?
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What do you prefer? As a keyboard player I find that when using a mouthpiece I struggle to see the keys, and as a wind player I find the notes are upside down to say clarinet or recorder. So I prefer the tube, helps me hit the right notes. Especially as the keys are a lot smaller than those of the piano! Also using the tube I can play chords in the left hand if I need to (though I usually play it as a single line instrument)
My only other musical background is in Viola, and I like the extra ease of breath control that comes with the mouthpiece as well as much easier cleaning. I do use both on everything other than my Andes 25f, where I prefer to blow directly into the instrument without a mouthpiece because of how important precise breath control is. Also some of my melodicas are mouthpiece only (Clavietta, Organmonica, Clarina 12).
I love the portability of playing with the mouthpiece – you can walk around! It also forces you to get used to knowing where the keys are without using your eyes, which is very handy
Personally I only play with the hose since it lets me play with two hands. Some folks do manage to play two handed trumpet-style, with one hand playing upside down, but even at best it’s very difficult to get the full flexibility of piano-style playing. The most significant drawback of playing piano-style is that you usually have to be sitting to do so, which makes stage presence more difficult.
I use the mouthpiece exclusively. I’ve tried it wo the mouthpiece, but so far it hasn’t felt comfortable. I play it like a horn – breath control is very important, as well as using mouth, tongue, throat and lungs as a resonance chamber to try and shape the tone. Like a horn, I have just one note at a time. From the start I’ve been training myself to play wo looking at the keyboard at all. It takes time, but by careful thought and planning I haven’t failed at progressing.
As a complete newcomer to the instrument I have no preference as yet, but I expect to move increasingly to using the mouthpiece as I become more familiar with the keyboard.
One problem I am finding is that the hose on the cheap melodica I have is a little short, more suited to a child, so I end up slightly hunched over the instrument which is clearly not helpful for breath control.
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