[Bill Wolfe]

Thanks for the great info, Melodica-Me. I’ve also been hoping to find a Hohner melodica-model list and chronology like this one for their accordions: http://ebookbrowsee.net/med-00006364-1264085468-hohner-akkordeon-modelle-06-2006-pdf-d59308261 . So far no luck. I did get one of the HM-32s NOS from Hohner USA. Great tone, but seems to take way more air than the Yamaha P-32D. How many keys in the Cassotto?
BW

[Bill Wolfe]

Thanks Troy! I actually emailed Karen last night with some of the same questions! She pasted her answer to you in her response. It will be great if she gets a couple of her old tracks online!

I had tunes the other night with a fiddler friend and played the Rakes for him. He immediately noted the nice breath pulse. It’s funny I hadn’t consciously wroked on that effect, since I use something similar playing PA and flute. I’m more a flute that an accordion player, though I’ve been taking video lessons with Mirella Murray and see some improvement. Would love to see/hear any recordings of your approach to ITM on melodica! Too bad about the volume issue with the clavietta,
BW

[Bill Wolfe]

Thanks for the replies!

Describing tone colors and why some are appealing and some not so much can be a challenge. To my ear the Pro-37 just sounds too far removed from the typical tones of accordions, concertinas, and harmonicas as they’re used in Irish trad to risk taking to a session. Any odd instrument is likely to raise eyebrows, but if it doesn’t sound too weird and if someone can actually play the tunes convincingly, they’ll be okay. I’ve read that piano accordionist Karen Tweed won an All-Ireland title in the “miscellaneous” category on the melodion, but I’ve no idea what kind–I’d be shocked if it was a Pro-37!

Besides the review here, one of the things that got me interested in the clavietta specifically was this recording of Troy playing the old jig Rakes of Kildare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Melodica_rakesofkildare.ogg . To my ear, that’s very sweet, traditional playing with a great lilt and tastefully understated ornamentation. I’d guess there are plenty of Irish harmonica players who would be very happy with a performance like that. I’ll be interested to see how it goes with the clavietta. Troy, when you say the bounce is harder on the clavietta, are you referring to breath pulse or finger response? You get a great rhythmic pulse on the Rakes!

Cheers,

Bill

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