Inspiration for the Musically Inclined

I wrote this piece in January for The Packet, but I wanted to share it here. Mr. Vardy has been playing music and tinkering his whole life. Watching how sharp he is, and how seeing how music colors every aspect of his life, further encourages me to work on #8 on the list (learn to play the ukelele). 

Oliver Vardy, 75, has invented a new musical instrument.

“I’m at odds to put a name to it,” Vardy said. “People tell me I should use my name, so I’m thinking of calling it Oliver’s Melody Chord Machine.”

Oliver’s Melody Chord Machine is a large wooden box made of Birch, Mahogany, and Oak, with 21 strings attached to the face of the box by harp pegs, and eleven sound holes placed under the strings. The strings are grouped into five chords, made up of four strings each, which can be strummed in three different keys. There is a single string on edge of the box that Vardy plays melody on using a pick or a slide. This instrument is open to many possibilities.

“It’s the ideal instrument for someone who wants to play the guitar with one hand,” Vardy said. “It is perfect for Hawaiian music. Great for nice slow melodies, but not really designed for fast tunes.”

Vardy regularly plays at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Hickman’s Harbour and the Clarenville Retirement Centre, but he has not played his Melody Chord Machine in front of an audience yet.

“I’m learning to play it as I go,” Vardy said.

His Melody Chord Machine has inspired him to write a new song. Vardy has written close to 50 hymns and Newfoundland songs. The song he is currently writing for the Melody Chord Machine is called “Picking Flowers Along the Hillside.”

“It is a beautiful tune about gathering flowers to put on my mother’s grave,” Vardy said.

Vardy credits his mother, who died when he was a boy, with introducing him to music.

“She was a beautiful singer. She would play the piano and I would play the spoons beside her,” Vardy said. “Then I played piano, and moved on to one instrument after another. I play 18 instruments. I found them easy to pick up.”

Oliver’s Melody Chord Machine is electric, but the new version he is currently working on and another version he previously built are acoustic.

He anticipates finishing the new version of his machine in two to three weeks.

When asked if he plans on patenting his Melody Chord Machine, Vardy said he’d look into the process, but he fears the expense.

For now, Vardy is content to continue tinkering with these machines in his studio workshop.

These Melody Chord Machines are just a three of the many wonders in Vardy’s studio workshop. In addition to homemade Karaoke machines, an electric infrared heater (Vardy said he invented it years before they came on the market), and a contraption that allows him to play a keyboard with his feet so his hands are free to play another instrument simultaneously, Vardy’s little workshop is a testament to his profound love of music. The walls are strewn with homemade Gospel, Newfoundland, Irish and country CDs, as well as guitars, button accordions, a mandolin, banjos, thirteen harmonicas, and newspaper clippings celebrating his musical career.

“Age is coming on,” Vardy said. “I’ll go on playing a bit, but I won’t be going to Nashville anytime soon.”

Two years ago, Vardy was declared legally blind. He keeps magnifying glasses around his studio to help him read. He prefers to play music by ear instead of reading it from the sheet, so his vision does not prevent him from continuing to play. Still, it does get a bit annoying.

“I can’t do as much as I could, but I certainly do what I can. I’m not sure how I designed that outfit,” Vardy said, gesturing to his Melody Chord Machine. “The Lord was with me.”