Posted a video on youtube, a performance at Bath International Music Festival in 2013. This piece, Three Hungarian folk songs from Csik, by Bartok is included in the first album.
Melodica: Ayumi ToyamaGuitar: Ryusuke Koarashi
5 Sept 2014
13 Jul 2014
Concert at East Finchley Methodist Church
East Finchley Methodist Church
Sunday, 13th July 2014, 19:30-21:30
Performers:
Programme (of us):
Great audiences.
Sunday, 13th July 2014, 19:30-21:30
Performers:
- Viola da Cunha: mezzo soprano
- Yuki Osedo: piano
- Ayumi Toyama: melodica
- Ryusuke Koarashi: guitar
Programme (of us):
- Scarlatti — Se Florindo e Fedele
- Dowland — Come Again, Fine Knacks for Ladies
- Stravinsky — Pastrale
- Monnot — Hymne a’ L’amour
- Monti — Czardas
- Montsalvatge — Cuba Dentro de un Piano, Punto de Habanera
Great audiences.
11 Jul 2014
re-named
Dear people,
Please notice that we have recently changed our name from Pocket Penguin to Duo Penguinistan (or “Duo Penguinistanica”, with Latin suffix), and duo.penguinistan.com is the new URL of our website.
Penguinistanis
Please notice that we have recently changed our name from Pocket Penguin to Duo Penguinistan (or “Duo Penguinistanica”, with Latin suffix), and duo.penguinistan.com is the new URL of our website.
Penguinistanis
24 May 2014
Bath International Music Festival 2014
Date: 16th May (FRI)
Time: 19:40 – 20:10
Venue: Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street Bath, BA2 4DB
Programme:
Performer:
Time: 19:40 – 20:10
Venue: Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street Bath, BA2 4DB
Programme:
- Veysel – Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım
- Koarashi – Çok Güzeller
- Sakata – Oshin
- Koarashi – Crippled Jig
- Bach – BWV147
- Koarashi – A Bird Flying Over Mountains
- Bulgarian Folk – Kopanitsa
Performer:
- Ayumi Toyama: Melodica
- Ryusuke Koarashi: Guitar
25 Mar 2014
Fragments of Dreams 11th April 2013
Melodica: Ayumi Toyama
Guitar: Ryusuke Koarashi
5 Mar 2014
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.)
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.)
25 Feb 2014
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:
Programme:
24 Feb 2014
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)