[Sbonelo]

A good day to you all. My name is Sbonelo I am new to this instrument called a melodica. I have a background as a semi-skilled soprano recorder player and am now practicing the Mason 37 key Melodica. I started 2 days ago and when I blow the long pipe (air chamber) it does not produce a clear sound that I intend to produce when I want to hear a certain note. It mixes the sound with the sound you would normally get when you blow without punching any key.

Am I missing a certain technique or doing something wrong Please help?

[Daren]

Hi Sbonelo, welcome to Melodica World

There should be no sound when you blow without pressing a key. It should not be possible to blow at all when you’re not pressing a key down. Can you check that this is the case?

If you can blow through, it means there is an air leak somewhere.

Test this with the tube (pipe) and without the tube, and let me know the results.

[Sbonelo]

Hi thanks for your reply. I’ve been testing it out and dont know where to look for that air leak. but the strangest thing is that i mistakenly played the melodica with the pipe when the keys were faced down and it produced the correct sound, i do not know what this means that it plays right when the melodica is turned with the keys facing down. Do you know where i can look for the air leak?

[Alan Brinton]

Sbonelo: It sounds to me like the leak (assuming that there is one) would be somewhere along the bottom of the tube (when you are playing the melodica right side up, probably located at or near the base. By folding or unfolding slightly as the tube bends, a small slit may be opening or closing. However, you didn’t say what happens when you play without the tube, blowing directly into the melodica (preferably without a mouthpiece). But also, you didn’t describe the extra sound. If it’s a whistling sound, it’s probably a break in the tube. If it’s a particular extra note that’s playing, probably at lower volume, then the key that plays that extra note could be sticking slightly. I have had this issue on a couple of melodicas. If it’s that, then turning the keyboard upside down might be enough to loosen the key and release it so it isn’t sounding. If a key is sticking slightly, carefully inserting a thin blade or credit card between keys and prying it gently in one direction or the other might solve the problem by stopping this key from rubbing against one of the adjacent keys. If that’s the problem, then you should notice an unevenness in the spaces between some keys.

When you first get a melodica, it’s worth checking the spacing between keys and adjusting any unevenly spaced keys, which usually can be done as I just described.

[Daren]

Is there any chance you can make a youtube video of the problem? If not, please try removing the pipe, and blowing directly into the melodica. If the problem still persists, then the air leak (if there is one) is in the pipe.

Do this and tell us what happens, so we can help further 🙂

[Author]

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