Mark Holdaway

Of course, Kalimba Magic ships to virtually every country. But do you live in USA, Canada, Spain, England, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, or Japan? If so, when you buy one of the Kalimba Magic books from Amazon, it will be printed in your country, and shipped within your country. When you buy directly from Kalimba Magic, you will find international shipping is rather more expensive. But to a great many people, buying my books on Amazon will be an economically friendly option.   As I transfer more of the Kalimba Magic library to Amazon, I’ll keep you posted! It just means more options will be available to you. And please:

The Intermediate Songs have been available as a digital download since 2019. Now, this collection of classical, African, American, Spirituals, and more is available as a hard copy book… from Amazon! You can purchase the “33 Intermediate Songs” book from Amazon for $12. The advantage of the digital download? The 80-page PDF contains live links to the sound files and other resources for your 17-Note Kalimba in C. But some people just want to have a physical book in front of them. The book comes with a QR code and a URL that will take you to a support page for this book… which includes the sound recordings for each

The glissando is best accomplished if you have some thumb nail, or are wearing Alaska Piks. Tilt your thumb nail slightly so it can sail over the tines as it moves outward, plucking them gently on the trailing side. Three adjacent tines make a triad. Four adjacent tines make a 7th chord. Five adjacent tines make a 9th chord. The tricky part is knowing which tine to stop on.   My Personal Experience Using Alaska Piks Chords on the 17-Note Kalimba in C  

If you haven’t tried Kalimba Magic books or ebooks, I invite you to try one or more, right now, for free. Kalimba Books Using Kalimba Tablature I invented a wonderfully expressive and visually simple Kalimba Tablature in 2004, and I’ve been writing books with this tablature for 17 years now! So, while the books are mostly tablature for different songs or exercises, there are also photos and other graphical explanations. Each of my books or downloads come with a simple means of hearing what the music is supposed to sound like. The books either have a QR code to take you to a support page with the sound recordings… or

An unnamed customer asks:  “Am I right that I have to turn all of your books sideways to read the tablature?” Well… if I had intended you to read it that way, I probably would have printed the books that way! No, no no… the tablature runs UP the page, not left to right across the page as standard staff notation. OK… why does the tablature run up the page? I suppose the answer is that I had the courage to buck the trend of western civilization and western music notation. I struggled with this for months. In 2004 when I invented kalimba tablature, I resisted making this decision. Playing

Here is my tip for you: a 7-note pentatonic kalimba, such as the Small Mini-7, is a great instrument for a child to learn on. And if you get the Large Mini-7, you and your little one can duet together. @kalimbamagicMini-7 Kalimba, big or small, comes with great new booklet. ##kalimbatabs ##kalimbatutorial ##mini7kalimba♬ original sound – kalimbamagic The Big one is a good size for adult thumbs, while the Small one is perfect for children (lets just say: 5 yrs and up). They are tuned to the same notes, and can follow the same tablature in the book… but the Large one is tuned an octave lower than the Small

Kalimba Tablature can Express Essentially Any Music, and it isn’t that hard Learn More About Tablature   I get a lot of requests for numbers-based instruction from people who cannot read music. While I have created numbers-based materials, they are very limiting. The world of possibilities is huge, deep and broad, and the numbers-based instructional materials can only touch the surface. In order to achieve kalimba greatness, I suggest you move over to the graphical Kalimba Tablature. To see some of the advantages to this approach, read on, dear reader!   Many people believe they cannot handle reading music. I understand this. But they tend to also believe they need

The Mini-7 Pentatonic Kalimba, made by Magadi, is a great little kalimba for small hands. I have just finished a very thoughtful 32-page booklet to help you unlock the music of this kalimba. If you have a Mini-7 Kalimba, you might want to get our booklet! If you are outside the USA, you might want to get the ebook version to avoid slow and costly shipping. @kalimbamagicMini-7 Kalimba, big or small, comes with great new booklet. ##kalimbatabs ##kalimbatutorial ##mini7kalimba ♬ original sound – kalimbamagic To give you an idea of what the Mini-7 Kalimba book is about, take a look at these pages from it:   Each song or lesson