Yamaha P37D 37-Note Pianica Keyboard Wind Instrument

Great instrument, excellent quality, gorgeous full sound. Reasonably well tuned on delivery. Don't spend hundreds on a better one till you try this one. Fully satisfied.

La calidad del sonido y de los materiales es excelente , es una de las mejores melódicas, muy recomendable

As my old piano teacher used to say, if you can slap your finger down you can play music. That's true of the piano, and of the melodica after a fashion. That said I also play the saxophone, so I'm used to being a literal blow-hard. My first note, my dog ran for cover, I'll put it that way! It takes very little breath to sound out a note, especially at the low end, but nice, even tone across volume levels, easy to do vibrato and tonguing. Chording requires more breath support, especially if you're chording and playing the melody, which is where the depth comes in. But just playing with your right hand while holding it with the left, you can get an amazing range of volume. Now all that said, if you're coming from a piano background there is an adjustment. There are no melodicas that I could find (short of a VERY expensive, hard to find, vintage one made in the 50s-60s) with "piano" size keys. If you absolutely can't stand mini key MIDI keyboards you're going to hate this. I've heard the Suzuki meldoicas have a wider key so you might give them a look. If you don't mind some minor mental adjustment though, I think you'll be happy with this over one of the cheaper models. I certainly am - plus now I have another Yamaha instrument alongside my Yamaha saxophone and bass guitar. 🎹🎷🎸

Great quality

I bought this instrument as a fun little supplimentary item for a two-man guitar/vocal group. I was worried it would arrive out-of-tune (other reviewers commented thusly), but it was perfectly in-tune and ready-to-go. Sounds a lot like an accordion, rather than a harmonica. I suppose the highest notes sound harmonica-like. Having mediocre piano skill, I was surprised to find there is still a bit of a learning curve in playing this... especially when playing with the mouthpiece as apposed to the detachable tube. (Playing with the tube does seem to reduce both volume and articulation; though I'm far from an expert, and my observation in this may be unreliable.) I think I'm going to like learning this instrument, and I think that it will allow me to learn breathing and phrasing without having to focus on finger location that much. As such, I would imagine that it may help me as a stepping stone in learning my recorders; that is, to have breathing addressed so I can focus on finger technique later. I don't know. Having tried no other melodica or pianica models, I can't offer any comparisons. I can only say I am pleased that this instrument is worth what I paid for it.