Hi all
I have tried a few instruments over the years but never really clicked with any. I started with classical guitar and had a few lessons but then got into ukulele so finished with guitar. I played my ukulele for many years and bought a decent one. I bought a melodica also in this time but didn’t play it much. I also bought a cornet which I had a few lessons on but gave up with that trying to reach those high notes. It was such a commitment to practice and I didn’t think it was fair on the neighbours. Through all this time I did advance with my ukulele, I wanted to play finger style jazz. It would take me months to learn a song then if I didn’t play it every day I would forget it. Then it got me thinking back to the melodica it has a fairly good range and it sounds expressive to my ear. I am thinking it would be a good instrument for me to use for the IFR program.
Has anybody else gone through lots of instruments and found your one.
Phil
Quite a few @Philrab66 
I feel that the Chapman Stick is ‘my’ instrument, but that doesn’t mean I ignore the others, they just aren’t “play every day if at all possible” (I have a lot of catching up to do with Stick proficiency - it may be ‘my’ instrument but it’s also the one I am most beginner with).
Personally I like tinkering with multiple instruments. Especially so with improvisation since I find that each wants to make music differently. Not just timbre. Each brings out different sequences, combinations, note lengths, rhythms, and more…
So, my take is that I’d rather be adequate with several instruments than master of only one.
Getting back to the topic title, no I haven’t tried the melodica. It looks as though a reasonable one can be had for less than the price of a decent diatonic harmonica (e.g. a Special 20). However I have lots on already so a melodica is not high on my try out list at present, especially since I also note that they can’t be played quietly…
I had a melodica as a child, but treated it more as a toy. We had someone play a melodica in our small trad music group, but it was a bit loud and over powered some of our other instruments. As it is fully chromatic and visually like a piano, I think it would be a good choice for practicing IFR stuff.
My instrument is flute, mainly a simple system, but I also play a concert style flute, being fully chromatic it’s better for IFR practice. I also like to dabble with piano and guitar and drum.
I got a Suzuki melodica for Christmas, so I could have an instrument that I could take to the park. Happy with it so far. It has a piano keyboard, so I think it’s a good fit for IFR. The sound is ok, but obviously not as rich as a saxophone, and has a decent dynamic range. But it’s much easier to learn. Since I have some piano experience, it took me almost no time to start playing it decently.
Here’s the one I got: Suzuki products | Suzuki Musical Inst. MFG.