Mark Holdaway

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Mark Holdaway

Learn 17-Note and 10-Note Kalimbas: Live Facebook Event Friday Sep 23, 3-4 MST

Hi! I am doing another Facebook Live event this Friday, September 23 2022 at 3pm MST = 6pm EDT. Huh? Arizona gets so much sun, we never go on Daylight Savings Time. Yes, we would go onto Daylight WASTING Time if it meant the sun would leave the sky sooner. So, in the summer, we are the same as PDT, and in the winter, we are the same as MST. Just one of life’s little complications. On the other hand, if you live in Arizona, you never have to change your clocks – which sounds simple to me. Enough on time zones. Here is the plan for the (approximately) one

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Learning to Play 17-Note Kalimba in C

I write kalimba books for fun and for my living. I write tablature-based books. Kalimba tablature might look complex, compared to the numbers-based system. But really, the tablature method is not difficult to use. I have always had success with using the visual kalimba tablature with children as young as 6 and 7… so I am sure you can do it too! But the real strength of tablature is that it is flexible and capable of notating essentially anything you can do on the kalimba. And I can tell you, I can do a lot on the kalimba! And I can notate my accomplishments in tablature. Which means, if you

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Magadi Kalimbas – Really Good, and Really Affordable!

Are you in a kalimba rut? Let one of these exotic kalimbas free you into a new land of music!   The Magadi line of kalimbas are all high quality instruments, generally with exotic tunings and innovative designs. Each Magadi kalimba we sell comes with a free booklet that I wrote – the implication being that these are insightful guides that will help you get the most out of these kalimbas. I should note that these booklets are not available anywhere except Kalimba Magic. To popularize the Magadi Kalimbas, we are offering a 30% off coupon code: Magadi30 Here are the words of Peter Oxland, one happy Kalimba Magic customer:

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Hokema B11 Kalimba – Alternative Tuning Strategies

A common theme: the more notes you have, the more musical possibilities you have. The flip side: if you are overwhelmed by the possibilities, get a simpler kalimba with fewer tines. And yet another theme: kalimbas with restricted numbers of notes and restricted possibilities can explore new spaces of possible music simply by changing the tuning. That is the main reason why I explore new tunings. Here are two fundamentally different ways of approaching kalimba tunings: Three different B11 Tunings Above Video, Left: Standard B11 Tuning (G Major) The standard tuning has just over a two octave range. If you were to have every note in the scale, that would

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