Great News: The Chromatic Alto Download Sound Files are Up

People who bought the Chromatic Kalimba Download have been waiting for months for all the sound recordings to appear. They are there now, and the links in your PDF will magically work now!

The Chromatic Kalimba is a bit of a bear. You see, the front side notes are the same as the Alto Kalimba notes, and the back side are the chromatic notes that are usually skipped on most kalimbas.  It is hard to use those back side notes, because you cannot see them.

BUT – the front side is just exactly like the Alto kalimba – you can totally avoid the confusion of the back side notes just by ignoring them.

Or: you could start on the front side diatonic notes (ie, DO RE ME FA SO LA TI DO), and gradually add the back side chromatic notes as they are required. That is exactly the approach in the “Crash Course in Playing the Alto Chromatic Kalimba” download, which comes for free when you purchase any Chromatic Kalilmba from Kalimba Magic.

This chromatic instructional download was written just for the Alto Chromatic… but the tablature also works for the Treble Chromatic.

Hey – if you have already got the Chromatic Download, you may have noticed that most of the sound file links did not work. I know some where disappointed. But Merry Christmas! All (or actually, almost all) of those links will magically work now. I have recorded the sound files, and they are uploaded.

BTW, some of the recordings are me playing my chromatic kalimba. Many are recordings of the KTabS kalimba tablature software playing the songs and exercises. It seems like a cop-out, recording the program instead of me – but I know I make mistakes and I certainly get carried away and I improvise… so the KTabS recordings are “exactly right”. Admittedly, they don’t exacty sound like a human played them.

Here are two of the sound recordings for in the 96-page chromatic ebook. The tablature that fills the book will be a graphical aid showing you which tines to play. Each song and exercise will have both the tablature… and now, live links to the sound files.

Perfect example of chromatic music, going around the circle of 5ths on ii – V – I progressions.

Arabesque – Middle Eastern style music on the Chromatic Alto

And here are some important details about Chromatic Kalimba Tablature

Here is an example of tablature for the first four measures of the “Arabesque” song (the sound recording above).

It looks like regular kalimba tablature – a map of the kalimba, with the notes plopped down on the columns representing the different tines.

But check it out – the back side tines are represented by shaded columns on the far left and the far right. Why did I choose to shade them in the tabs, even though the back side notes are not painted? Because they are the “black” notes.

Look at the footer of this tablature: the central tines form a flattened “V” shape. These are the front tines. To the left of them, the tines again start out longer, and have notes like “Ab, Eb, Bb, Db, and F”, and underneath the note names it says “Back Left”, meaning back side tines. (Why F? Because it is the flat of F#, which is on the front side of the Alto kalimba in G.) The flats are immediately behind their non-flatted front side counterparts. For example, find the F# tine in the mid left side of the tablature, or the far left/front side of the kalimba. On the tabs, it has a DOT above “F#”. This DOT means that this F# tine has a flat right behind it on the back side… which is F, the left-most back side tine, represented by the “F” column on the far left side of the tablature.

Ah – but there is more. Look at the first notes here at measure 1. You play low B on the front left, and low Gb (which is also known as F#) on the back side (near the center). If you are already very familiar with where all the notes are, both diatonic and chromatic, you would have no problem following the tablature. But to assist people who don’t look at the green parentheses at the first beat of measure 1. The green symbol () indicates to play the tine that is immediately behind this tine, the low central G. Gb is precisely behind the G on the front.

Also note: there should be no green paranthese on any tine that doesn’t have a DOT on it in the footer. Not all notes have a flat on the back – the flat of C is B. The flat of G is F#. All of those notes are on the front. So C and G do not have dots above them in the footer. They do not have tines right behind them (rather, on the back, is a space in between other tines.) And they should never have green parentheses instructing you to play the tine right behind this one… because the notes C and G  don’t have flats on the back side.

(By the way, if you always play the wrong backside tine, consider shifting the back side tines around until your fingers know exactly where they are. For example, the image at the top of this article shows the front side and back side of my Alto Chromatic Kalimba. On the front the tines are parallel. On the back side, the tines are splayed, pushed further to the outside. This puts them in a position so that when I look at “A” on the front and try to play “Ab” (A flat) right behind it on the back, my fingers tend to go to the correct tine to actually play “Ab”.)

The Hugh Tracey Chromatic Alto Kalimba – mounted on the resonant Alto box.

The Hugh Tracey Celeste Chromatic Alto Kallimba

How to Play the Chromatic Kalimba

How to Play the Alto Kalimba

Christmas Carols for Alto and Chromatic Alto Kalimbas