Janko Melodica

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #11335
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    After almost a decade of research, design and work, I am pleased to announce with the help of the amazing artist/designer Patricia Sichmanova, the completion of the 3d printed Janko Melodica. With thirty seven digitally designed janko keys, you can turn any Hohner Performer 37 or Airboard 37 into a portable, loud and extremely playable Janko keyboard.
    Now with a fraction of the cost of other hard to come by janko keyboards, you can have a janko keyboard instrument that fits right in your hand and goes wherever you go!

    I love this instrument.

    Janko Melodica in Action!

    #11336
    Pál Krammer
    Participant

    A few questions:

    – What is the cost?

    – Can there be a light/dark pattern made which is typical of Janko keyboards?

    – Will keyboards be available for other 37-key melodicas, such as Yamaha or Suzuki?

    #11349
    Kevin
    Participant

    Yes, I am also interested. Are you in fact manufacturing and marketing these?

    #11384
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    Hi everybody!

    Info and prices here:

    Janko Melodica Information

    I am making and marketing these, thus far they are only for the Hohner Performer 37 and Hohner Airboard 37 Melodicas. If you get a set you can color them anyway you like but they will come white.

    Basically it’s $350 for a melodica with keys installed or $175 for the keys. See link for more detail!

    #11401
    Daren
    Keymaster

    How about a video 🙂

    #11403
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant
    #11405
    Daren
    Keymaster

    I love it! Is it a big adaption from playing standard keys? Would possibly be worth it just for the look 🙂

    #11649
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    Hey Daren,

    Sorry for the long reply, I got a hungry newborn and a wife who needs the sleep. I will be posting a proper reply with a video on Friday to answer all of your question!

    #11662
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    Hey Daren

    To answer your question, no I don’t think it’s a big adaptation as it’s far easier to play than the normal piano layout.

    The Janko layout, invented by Paul Von Janko in the late 1800s was (at the time) made to be a replacement for the standard 7 on 5 piano but never really took off as piano was a well established institution at that point in history. It’s a isomorphic layout that allows uniform fingerings and shapes for all material played on the keyboard. It’s like every key is as easy to play as “C”.

    You have two rows:

    C D E F#/Gb G#/Ab A#/Bb

    and

    C#/Db D#/Eb F G A B

    These two rows make the two wholetone scales and when you stack them on top of each other you have a symmetrical layout.

    Basically once you learn something, be it a scale, chord, interval or melody in one key, it’s played the same in all other 11 keys. This effect of uniformity and moving of shape is exactly the same as guitar, bass or any other stringed instrument. Couple this logical and streamlined layout with the punch and portability of the melodica and you’ve got yourself a very powerful musical tool. I came across this layout in grad school after attending a Dr. Barry Harris lecture which lead me to research alternative musical tools, myself being a bassist and dyslexic this layout was a natural and logical conclusion to harmony and something I wish I had in my undergrad piano and theory classes. If you are familier with how Dr. Barry Harris talks about harmony and theory, then this layout will make perfect sense because it’s basically just that.

    I’ve put together a short video to demonstrate this simple and powerful layout.

    #11664
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    Here is the video I made demonstrating the layout.

    Janko Layout

    #11668
    Daren
    Keymaster

    Good work Steve. If I was learning from scratch again, I’d probably consider this system

    #13716
    David Colpitts
    Participant

    Hello, Steve. I have been busy with other projects, and not checking here for a year….I am happy to see you have finished and are bringing to market your elegant keyboard options. As a hacker who glues shirt buttons onto craft sticks and then to the melodica keys, I appreciate your attention to detail and precision. Are you shipping now, if you get a keys-only order?

    Regards,

    David

    #13717
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    Hey David.

    Let me get a hold of my partner who fabricates the keys.

    Is there an email I can reach you at?

    Steve.

    #13718
    David Colpitts
    Participant

    Is there no personal messaging on this site? I am not completely comfortable posting emails on public forum sites. If you are, I’ll gladly email you directly. Or, the squeeze-box sites, maybe?

    Thanks.

    David

    #13719
    Steve Giedosh
    Participant

    No worries David,email me at

    jazzstick@gmail.com and we’ll

    Take it from there.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Back to top button