What looks like a piano and sounds like a harmonica? A melodica!
A melodica is a free-reed wind instrument, which means that the sound is made by air vibrating a reed against a frame. It’s played by blowing into a tube and pressing down keys.
Unlike most wind instruments, melodicas have a keyboard that is similar to a piano keyboard and is usually from two to three octaves long. This allows several notes to be played at once. It can be played with one hand or two hands. It has a sort of short spout that can be blown into. However, if you attach a longer air tube and place the melodica on a table, you can play it like a regular piano.
There are soprano, alto, tenor, and bass melodicas, the soprano ones being the most common and bass ones rarer. Melodicas are usually made of plastic or wood.
There is also an instrument called the accordina. It has the same mechanism as a melodica, but it’s made of metal and it has buttons like an accordion.
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