Fragments of Dreams 11th April 2013

Fragments of Dreams 11th April 2013, composed by Ryusuke Koarashi

Melodica: Ayumi Toyama
Guitar: Ryusuke Koarashi

Melodica Comparison, Before and After Repairing

Most of professional melodica players do adjust or repair their instrument for fulfilling their musical requirement, and so we do. Last November, we had repaired about 10 melodicas of students who bought newly for playing in ensemble. With two of those instruments, we made two videos of comparison before and after repairing to check how different they are.

Melodicas used in the video are products by Stagg, a Belgian manufacturer that produces musical instrument at a reasonable price, possibly the cheapest ones we can buy in the UK. The structure of the instrument is same to Hohner’s, so those have similar timbres. Two melodicas (Blue and Black) in the video have identical form, but the material of the reeds is different.

The example of the short piece is “OSHIN’s Theme“. Did you get the differences?

Here we had improved three points by repairing.

1. Response

When melodica needs too much blowing in for making a sound, we say the response is bad/slow. Most of the newly bought melodicas do not respond good usually, some keys need much effort to blow in, since the reeds are not adjusted appropriately. You can hear it in the video that some notes are very much delayed, sometimes even does not come out especially when playing soft sound or chords.

2. Reduction of key noise

There are some causes of making key noises, and some solutions to each of them. Here we mend only a noise which is caused by key touching the bottom. Sometimes we use the key noise for adding an attack to the sound but it depends on how much it is and how the quality is.

3. Reduction of spring noise

Keys of melodica put back in its place by small springs, but it is a cause of noise, do you hear a high, continuous sound like a reverb in the video? that is the spring noise.

These three points are very basic ones where the repair could be easily done for just 30 min to 1hour, but still may be very effective as you can see in the video. (We should adjust the pitch as well, but it takes much more time and cost, so this time did only for a few melodica students really wanted to do.)

3rd Interfaith Festival in SOAS

Pocket Penguin performed in an event, 3rd Interfaith Festival, in SOAS. We performed Ryusuke’s new piece for two melodicas, rather surprisingly, that was the first attempt for us to play two melodicas in public. We really enjoyed playing it and the acoustics in the place.



Performers:

Viola da Cunha (Mezzo Soprano)
Ryusuke Koarashi (Guitar, Melodica)
Ayumi Toyama (Melodica)

Programme:

De Falla: 4 Spanish Popular Songs
Koarashi: Non-title (For 2 Melodicas)
Granados: El Majo Discreto, Amor y Odio
Rodrigo: De Los Alamos Vengo Madre
Folk Song: Sari Gelin
Gershwin: I Got A Rhythm, Summertime

24 Feb 2014

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas,

Pocket Penguin recently organised an ensemble concert with our students. We and the students enjoyed playing violin, flute, piano, guitar, tombak and melodica. That was the first time for most of them both to play melodica and join in an musical ensemble, but we think they did it very well. We made a CD with the recordings of the pieces they played. Here is one of the recordings on the CD, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, which we played with a six years old girl, Komachi Paine, a good melodica player.

Performance at U3A

Pocket Penguin performed at an event of U3A (University of the 3rd Age) with Viola da Cunha.

Performer:

Ayumi Toyama (melodica)
Ryusuke Koarashi (guitar)

Programme:

Novello: My Dearest Dear
Gershwin: Foggy Day
Falla: El Pano Moruno
Falla: Nana
Falla: Cancion
Monti: Czardas
Gershwin: (Medley) Love Walked In – I Got A Rhythm – The Man I Love
Lehar: Vilia
J.S.Bach: BWV 147, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Christmas Carol: First Nowell
Adam: O Holy Night

Music Picnic (Ensemble Concert)

We organised an ensemble concert with our students. Both piano and guitar student usually plays and practices solo piece alone in their process of learning. We think it is better for them to have an opportunity to make music with others, to see/experience music from different view point, and playing in ensemble is absolutely enjoyable!

15 ensembles consisted of mainly melodica, and flute, violin, piano, guitar, and tombak.

Music Picnic

PART 1

German Folk Song: Buzz Little Bee (Melodicas) Arr. R. Koarashi
W.A. Mozart: That Sounds So Beautiful (Melodicas) Arr. Wilhelm Popp
Japanese Song: Mushi no Koe (Melodicas) Arr. R. Koarashi
English Folk Song: Scarborough Fair (Melodicas) Arr. E. Coulthard
Polish Christmas Carol: Lulajże Jezuniu, Moja Perełko (Melodicas, Piano) Arr. R. Koarashi
George R. Poulton: Aura Lea (Melodicas, Piano) Arr. R. Koarashi
Czech Folk Song: Polka of Mountains (Melodicas, Piano) Arr. R. Koarashi
German Folk Song: The Cuckoo (Melodicas, Piano) Arr. M. Matsuda
English Christmas Song: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Melodicas, Guitar) Arr. R. Koarashi

PART 2

Makoto Nomura: Don Yu (All)

PART 3

Iranian Folk Song: Gole Gandom (Piano, Tombak, Guitar) Arr. R. Koarashi
Anooshiravan Rohani: Gole Sangam (Vocal, Tombak, Melodica, Guitar) Arr. R. Koarashi
Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr.: We Three Kings of Orient Are (Flute, Violin, Melodica, Guitar) Arr. R. Koarashi
German Folk Song: Chorus of Frogs (Flute, Violin, Melodicas, Piano) Arr. M. Matsuda
Jo Hisaishi: Path of the Wind (Flute, Melodica, Piano) Arr. R. Koarashi
Christmas Song: Jingle Bells (Melodicas, Piano) Arr. R. Koarashi

Pocket Penguin:

J. S. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring Arr. R. Koarashi
Vittorio Monti: Csárdás Arr. R. Koarashi
English Christmas Carol: The First Noel Arr. R. Koarashi

A Concert at Christ Church Southgate

We had a concert at Christ Church, Southgate in London

Performers:

Viola da Cunha (mezzo soprano)
Yuki Osedo (piano)
Jill Anderson (clarinet)
Ryusuke Koarashi (Guitar)
Ayumi Toyama (Melodica)

Programme:

De Falla: 5 spanish popular songs
Musa Mirzayev: Lyrical Piece & 1st Dance from 6 Pieces (of Azerbaijan Folklore)
Granados: El Majo Discreto, Amor y Odio
Rodrigo: DE Los Alamos Vengo Madre
Folk Song: Sari Gelin
Gershwin: Summertime (together with all performers)