Description
A fun and easy way to introduce children to music at home or in the classroom! Mel-O-Dee Balls™ are an accurately tuned, C to C, 8 ball set, individually colored and note marked, so that virtually anyone can learn to play. Each set contains sound-to-color music, with songs familiar to everyone. Mel-O-Dee Balls™ come packaged in a colorful display carton. Rated for 3+.
Repairing Mel-O-Dee Balls
The Mel-O-Dee Balls create a sound by activating a simple metal reed (similar to a harmonica reed) by squeezing a hollow ball to send air down a controlled chamber. Each individual pitch may require a different amount of air pressure to create the optimal sound for that note, so practice using varying amounts of hand pressure and speed to determine the best tone for each note.
If a ball is not creating a sound at all, it is likely the reed may have shifted with use or over time. To repair this:
-1. Remove the white cylinder containing the reed plate from the ball. This is easily done by using both thumbs to press on the note name and pushing the cylinder out of the flattened ball. The cylinder is not glued into place and should pop out easily.
-2. Remove metal reed plate from the white cylinder at the open end. The reed plate was initially glued in place but may have shifted out of alignment with the air chamber. Use needle-nose pliers to gently move the reed plate from side to side to loosen the glue bond and remove from the cylinder. Be careful not to crack or break the white plastic cylinder.
-3. Re-insert the reed plate back into the white cylinder. The metal reed plate should be inserted with the reed’s attached end first. The curved parts of both ends of the reed plate should match the internal contour of the cylinder. The unattached reed end tine should be facing the open end of the cylinder.
-4. Confirm reed is held snugly in place. This should be held in place solely with friction (no glue required).
-5. Insert white cylinder back into ball until it pops back into place and test
Alphonse Buclay, General Music Educator (verified owner) –
These are great to supplement any lessons with boom whackers and provide differentiated materials. My only gripe with these is quality control. At least 1 of the balls from each set did not work. It appears that the metal “reed” will not make noise if it is not completely flush to the plastic. I bought 6 sets and about 8 of the balls simply don’t make noise. I will be attempting to fix these myself.