How to Play the MelodicaWelcome to an amazing adventure in music, where you will learn how to play this wonderful instrument called a Melodica.

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Why is this such a great instrument you may ask? Well, let me tell you all the reasons I love the melodica, and why you should too:

It is small and portable, it is 100% acoustic so you can play it anywhere, it has a huge range of 3 full octaves with all chromatic notes, it plays from soft to loud dynamics, and it has incredible emotional and expressive playing abilities such as vibrato, crescendos, diminuendos, and much more.

You can play any melody and tune on the melodica, but what makes it even more versatile than many other acoustic wind instruments, is that you can play harmonies and even full chords with it. That means that you can use it both for leading melodies, or for backing parts.

I hope you feel excited, now that you have learned how amazing the melodica really is. How versatile and wonderful of an instrument it is. Let’s start your learning journey and adventure where you will learn how to play the melodica, right now!

Melodica – Quick Introduction

Let’s start by having a quick look at this instrument. With the melodica, you get a piano-like keyboard, but you also get a hose and mouthpiece, plus in most cases a shorter mouthpiece without a hose. This is what you blow air into, to create the notes you want to play.

When you don’t use your melodica, I recommend that you disconnect the hose and mouthpiece, and blow hard into it to get rid of excess moisture. Most melodicas also have a button on the backside, which you can press, and the blow into it without holding down any key. This way you can get rid of some of that moisture inside the melodica as well. Because moisture will build up inside it as you play.

Now, one great thing about the melodica compared to for example a guitar, is that you never have to tune it before playing. You can simply pick it up, connect the hose, and start playing. I recommend that when you start learning, try out both the hose and the shorter mouthpiece, and see which one you prefer.

In most cases, beginners will use the hose, since you can then put down the melodica on a desk in front of you and clearly see all keys. If you prefer holding the instrument in your hand while playing, there is usually a strap on the back. But even if there is not, you can still easily hold it with your thumb on the bottom, and fingers on top. So that is the quick overview of the melodica. Let’s continue learning now.

The Keys and Range

Let’s first have a look at the keys and layout of the melodica. I recommend that you get the standard 37 key version, which is the one I have here. There are of course different brands and models to choose from. If you want to know what model this is that I am playing, it is called the Hohner Performer Melodica 37 Black.

So, the layout of the keys is like a piano keyboard, and the standard range is from this lowest note, which is F3. To this highest F, which his F6. That means you have a full 3 octave range.

If you play the lowest C on your melodica, that is the same C as the middle C on a piano. This is great, because that means the range of your melodica is similar to a female soprano vocalist in range, and therefore perfect for playing melodies to any music and song you can imagine.

How to Play Notes

The Melodica may look like a keyboard instrument, but it is in fact a wind instrument. Just like for example a flute or trumpet, you need to blow air into it in order to make a note. Pressing the keys down does not make a sound by itself.

You can also think of this similar to playing a guitar. On a guitar you have one hand that chooses what frets and strings to press down, which is essentially choosing what notes to play. And then you have your other hand, where you use your fingers or a pick to pluck a string, or several strings, in order to make the sounds.

So to play notes on the melodica, you simply press down a key, then blow into the tube or the mouthpiece. Also, if you release the keys, you can no longer blow air into the melodica. It will feel stuck, because the air stream is blocked inside the melodica if no key is pressed. This means that in order to play the melodica, you need to both blow and press keys, and practice your skills in timing them both together.

Another important lesson to learn is that you will need different blowing pressure for each note of your melodica. The lower notes require more force to vibrate and make a sound, compared to the highest notes. Try this out for yourself, try playing the lowest F, hold a long note. And then compare to the highest note. Getting full volume on the high note is much easier as you can feel for yourself. This becomes even more clear if you play 2 or more notes at the same time. The more notes you add, the more air pressure you need. Try it out and feel the difference yourself.

When you feel ready, let’s learn about how you can shape each note when you play, in the next lesson.

Shaping the Notes

There are two main ways to play a note on your melodica, legato vs staccato. Legato means connecting the notes with no gap in between. And staccato means playing the notes with clear separation between them. If you are playing one note and want to go to another, you can keep blowing air, and then simply change keys. This will change notes without any interruption between them, which is called “legato” in music terms. It will make the performance of feel smoother, which works great on some parts depending on the song you play.

And when you want a clear separation between the notes, you need to stop your air flow and then start it again, when you play the next note. You can think of a note start as saying for example “tu” or “hu”. Since “tu” has a strong consonant, it will make the start of the note more pronounced, compared to “hu” which is softer. Try playing fast repetitions with your air flow while holding the same key. Start by doing “tu, tu, tu”, then try “hu, hu, hu” so you can clearly hear and feel the difference.

Then compare this to playing legato, meaning connected notes, where you can simply hold the air-stream almost like you are holding a vowel like “uuuuu”. But of course you don’t actually need to hum the note with your vocal cords. Simply hold a consistent air-stream. 

Now go ahead and practice each variation: uuuu for legato, hu for soft accented notes, and tu for the most clear separation in rhythms. A lot of the expression when you play the melodica, will come from the variation you create, in the way you shape each note of your performance like this. Alright, let’s continue in the next lesson now.

Playing Rhythm

Now there are two main ways to play rhythmic notes on your melodica. The first is when you keep holding the air flow, and then simply use the keys to play rhythm on. This will create a smooth sounding rhythm with the notes very connected to each other. The other way is to use your air flow to stop and re-trigger the air flow, in order to create the rhythm. Again, you can think of this as saying “tu” or “hu” depending on how accented you want the notes to be. 

Now if you want to play really fast, I have a tip for you. Instead of doing only “tu, tu, tu”. Try out “tu-ku, tu-ku” is it will feel easier to play very fast rhythms that way.

Finally, I want you to practice changing it up as you play the notes in your performance. Going between hard accents, soft accents, legato connected notes, rapid rhythmic notes and all in between. Because how you shape the rhythm of your notes will also make a huge difference in how musical your performance feels. You need that variation to create an interesting sound that changes in the performance.

Accenting Notes

There are two main ways to accent a note on your melodica. The first is with the dynamics, meaning simply playing the note louder. The other is to play it slightly longer than the surrounding notes. Often they are used in combination, meaning an accented note will be louder and a bit longer.

Accenting notes is really important both in melodic playing, where you often have some notes in the melody that have the most overall impact in the melody. But even more important in rhythmic playing, where you can create a groove by picking how strong the accents should be, as well as which notes should be accented.

Practice shaping the accents by holding down one single key and play a rhythmic riff, where you try out changing the rhythmic feel by choosing and shaping your accents.

Next try this practice routine, but with harmonies and chords instead of a single key. And also change between 2 or more chords or harmonies, to get a musical performance.

Finally try to practice accenting specific notes in a melody, by forcing more air pressure on that specific note, either only at the start, or during the whole note.

Once you feel ready, let’s move on to the next lesson on your melodica.

Playing Chords and Harmonies

The melodica is great as a melodic instrument, since you can shape the notes, the dynamics and and expression over time to create your own musical performance. But what is even better, is that at any time you can choose to press down more than one key, and by doing so play a harmony, or even a full chord.

You can start by practicing playing in octaves, just to get a feel for this. The first thing you will notice is that as soon as you press down more than one key, you will need to push more air into your melodica. And the lower you go, the more air you need.

This is also true when you add more than 2 notes, to create chords. Try out playing any simple major or minor triad. For example C Major: C, E and G. Practice playing a few chords, and get a feel for how much air you need to push to play those chords.

Once you start to get a feeling for playing harmonies and chords, I want you to start practicing playing rhythms with those harmonies or chords. This way you can actually use your melodica as a backing rhythm and harmony instrument, instead of a solo melody instrument.

You can even play it in a similar way you would an acoustic guitar that you strum chords on. But of course, instead of strumming, you use your tongue and air flow to create the rhythm of your chords. Try it out, practice playing a chord progression, or harmonic progression, with rhythmic interest. And make sure to practice the different note attack aspects, such as “tu”, “hu” and “uu”.

When you feel ready to proceed, let’s continue in the next lesson.

Master the Dynamics

Now it is finally time for one of the greatest things about the melodica. And that is that you can change the dynamics, meaning the volume and tone when you play, over the duration of any note. You can play from very soft, to very loud. And the way to do this is to blow air softly, and then blow harder as you hold down any key.

I want you to practice this over the whole range of your melodica. You will feel that all notes, especially the lower notes, has a kind of a resistance shelf you need to pass over first, before you start to hear the note clearly. After that little bump, you can start to blow harder and harder, and hear how the dynamics is getting louder and louder. And how the tone changes as you do so.

Do this for notes in the low, to mid, to high range of your melodica. You want to develop a good feeling for the dynamic range of all notes on your melodica.

Then practice doing the opposite, which is to start blowing hard at the beginning of the note, and then gradually decreasing the pressure to make the note softer and softer. Congratulations, you have now learned how to make crescendos and diminuendos on your melodica. Which are fancy music theory terms that mean to gradually increase the loudness, or gradually decrease the loudness.

Finally, try first increasing the dynamics, and during the same note you then decrease the dynamics. This is often called a dynamic swell in music. You can think of this as creating a slow wave of changing loudness for the note. And just like a curve in real life, a dynamic curve in music can be performed and shaped in infinite ways.

All of these dynamic changes: crescendo (louder and louder), diminuendo (softer and softer) and swells (louder, then back to softer again), are some of the greatest ways to add emotion and expression into music. It is like breathing soul into each note, and makes a huge difference in how musical your performance will sound.

Add Emotions with Vibrato

How can you add your soul, and your emotions, into the notes of your melodica playing? Well, one of the key elements of emotion in music performances is vibrato. Vibrato essentially means to add a pulsing wave to the notes. There are two dimension you can change here: the first being how fast the pulse is, from slow to fast. The other how deep the curve of the pulse is, from light to strong.

The way you do vibrato on any wind instrument, including a melodica, is to create that pulse with your air flow. Basically, you create the vibrato by going back and forth between a stronger air flow and a softer air flow. Practice this for yourself now, starting with a slow pulse, and then going to a faster pulsing vibrato. Focus only on the tempo of that vibrato pulse, the speed.

The next aspect is the depth of the vibrato, meaning the difference between the lowest part of the curve and the loudest peak of the curve. A stronger vibrato has a bigger difference in dynamics during the note pulse. Go ahead and practice this now too, starting out with a very strong and deep pulse. And then practice doing light vibrato, meaning more light and subtle changes in the vibrato dynamics.

There is also a faster form of vibrato you can do on the melodica, which I call “tremble vibrato”, where you literally tremble your air flow just like you are freezing. Think of saying “huhuhuhu” very fast. It may take some practice to get a consistent tremble vibrato, but it can be a great way to add that unique emotional texture when you want it in your performance.

Add Spice with Grace Notes

Grace notes can be used on any instrument to add some flare and spice in your performances. Because they are not real notes, but rather, light transition notes just before the actual next note. Let me give you an example: if you start playing a G note, then the next real note is C above it. Instead of playing it straight like that, you can add in a quick grace note just before you play the note you are transitioning to. It can be any note, but most often it is a note very close to the final note. So in this case it could for example be a quick touch of the B key before the C.

The thing about grace notes, is that you should only use them sparingly, almost like you sprinkle them around in the complete performances every once in a while. Like adding some berries on your final cake. Don’t over-do it, and try to add them with intention, whenever you truly feel like adding some spice in your performance feels good. Practice playing a few notes, and then adding a quick grace note in between 2 of them to get a feel for this.

When you start playing real tunes, you will soon develop an instinct for adding these grace notes every now and then, even when they are not shown in the music sheet, or whatever form you use for learning your songs. You can think of them like vibrato, dynamic curves, legato vs staccato notes, and all other aspects of expression and emotion you can add in your melodica performances…the artistic freedom you have as a musician.

Practice Session 1 – Rhythm & Timing

One of the most essential skills to develop is your timing and co-ordination when playing your melodica, since you need to synchronise your keys with your air stream. So I have a few practice routines for you to develop your rhythm and timing skills on your melodica:

  • Single Note Rhythms
  • Scale Walks and Turns
  • Octave Jump Scale Walks
  • Melodic Rhythms
  • Chords & Harmony Rhythms

Practice Session 2 – Note Transitions

Variation in the transition between notes is a huge aspect of musicality and expression in your performance. Think of it this way: The space in between the notes, can have almost as much emotional impact, as the actual notes themselves. So your next practice session is to focus on note transitions in your performances.

  • Overlap Legatos
  • Synced Legatos
  • Soft Staccatos
  • Accented Staccatos
  • Grace Notes

Practice Session 3 – Dynamics & Emotion

This is the most creative and inspiring aspect of playing any music instrument. Adding your emotions and expression into your performance. The main way to do this on your melodica is to shape the dynamics of each note, as well as adding emotional aspects such as vibrato.

  • Crescendos, Diminuendos & Swells
  • Accents & FortePiano
  • Static Vibrato
  • Evolving Vibrato
  • Tremble Vibrato

Congratulations

Congratulations my friend! You have learned all the essential techniques you need, in order to play the melodica. Not only play it, but play it beautifully, with soul and emotion. You have learned how to play melodies, harmonies, and even chords on your melodica.

You have learned how you can play anything in a rhythmic style, or a connected legato style, and change it up to add variation in your music. You have learned how to shape the notes and attack parts with tonguing and hard or soft consonants.

You have learned how to shape the dynamics over time, meaning the loudness curve of each note, from crescendos to diminuendos, to swells and everything in between.

You have learned the amazing techniques of vibrato to add emotion to any note. And how to add flare and variation with grace notes. Now it is finally time to put all your work into practice. It’s time to play tunes on your melodica.

Play any Song on Your Melodica

One of the greatest things about the melodica, is that you can play every single note over a span of 3 octaves. That is more than most professional singers. This means you can literally play any song ever created, on your melodica. It also means that you can use any sheet music with a leading melody in the treble clef, and play it back on your melodica.

Of course, this means you need some skills in reading music. But since this is a course for beginners, I want it to be even more accessible for you, so I have created a few short videos with famous songs from pop culture and soundtracks, where I use falling piano notes as your reference, since it is the most visual and easy way to learn tunes for beginners.

These are not complete songs, but at least it will give you some instant gratification and lots of fun getting started with some practical playing on your melodica. After you finish this course, if you want to learn any song in the world, there are plenty of music sheets online, as well as falling piano note videos on YouTube you can use for learning. Now, let’s play some tunes!

  • The Lord of the Rings – The Hobbit Theme
  • Star Wars – The Force Theme
  • The Hobbit – Misty Mountains
  • Indiana Jones – Main Theme
  • Forrest Gump – Feather Theme
  • Pirates of the Caribbean – Main Theme
  • Jurassic Park – Main Theme
  • The Lion King – Circle of Life
  • Aladdin – A Whole New World
  • Braveheart – Theme