February 5, 2021

The Olive-9 is a very interesting kalimba. It fits beautifully in your hands. The wood body has a resonant sound chamber routed into it, providing an expressive wah. The pentatonic tuning is very liberating – it plays in A minor, C major, and a neutral D (neither major nor minor – see the video tab to experience this one). This tuning is great for jamming! Perhaps the best part of the Olive-9 is its price tag. This one will take you to different places than your typical kalimba, and the journey is definitely worth your time and effort. The Olive-9, in the A minor pentatonic scale, is great for jamming.

    The PDF Version of the Best Ever Book on 8-Note Kalimba Music is now available. I wrote this book in 2006 when I was teaching 8-note kalimba to early elementary school children on Tuesdays, to inner city middle school kids on Wednesdays, and to high school aged youth in the downtown library on Thursdays. I had to create some very simple materials so the beginners could get it. And I found that they did get it. Even the 6 and 7-year-olds I worked with could readily follow the tablature up the page, even though it is not the direction the rest of the world reads musical notation. The