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This minor retuning can breathe new life and emotion into your Alto Kalimba Click to purchase the instructional download for the G minor Alto The Hugh Tracey Alto in standard G major tuning has become the standard kalimba in many ways. For 12 years, it has been the best selling kalimba at Kalimba Magic. I have written more instructional books and downloads for this kalimba than for any other kalimba. I know more songs on my Alto than on any other kalimba. And the Alto kalimba was the blueprint for other models such as the Bb Treble and D Treble kalimbas. But what if the world of G major sounds

An exotic tuning on this otherwise vanilla kalimba makes for new and interestng music Click to purchase this instructional download The 8-Note kalimba is a great instrument on which to learn, and is usually tuned to one octave of the C major scale. As such, it is a pretty modest kalimba, playing songs such as “London Bridge is Falling Down” and “Joy to the World” (and NOT the “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” version). If you are willing to retune your 8-Note kalimba, you can greatly increase the amount of music accessible to the 8-Note kalimba.  The standard A minor Sansula tuning is one of the least ordinary tunings you can put

Two electric kalimbas, plugged in, hard panned L and R This is the very first Bb Treble kalimba I made about 10 years ago This unique recording technique results in lots of separation between the L and R notes in your recording, and you can be very creative when processing their individual sound. I invite you to hear what it sounds like – headphones would make the separation effect complete, but I think it actually sounds better through stereo speakers. To listen, just continue reading.   I have taken two identical kalimbas – both are Hugh Tracey Alto kalimbas – and have plugged them into two different channels of my computer

How do you feel when you pick up a kalimba? Warning: Joyful kalimba can be habbit forming Playing kalimba can effect each person in a unique way.  The interaction asks us to commit both to our instrument, and to the song that we are trying to help emerge into the world.  We have listened as players describe what the playing of a kalimba does for them physically, emotionally and spiritually.  The act of making music develops the relationship between a kalimba player and his or her instrument.  And it leaves something behind as well. Just listen to some of our customers.   “Getting ready to play kalimba makes me feel

Quincy Nichols Shares How the Karimba Has Become His Spiritual Companion This is the very first Bb Treble kalimba I made about 10 years ago [Editor’s note: Quincy is a student of the African karimba, and he writes poetically and eloquently here, celebrating his experience playing the instrument.] The karimba is my friend… a patient, patient friend. There is wisdom in the karimba – it’s an old friend helping to lead me back to myself. It is a layered instrument, helping me to uncover and express thoughts, feelings, emotions, and dreams I’ve hidden from myself. As an aspiring musician and creative person, the African karimba has helped me to find

A “Just So” Story, with thanks to Rudyard Kipling This is the very first Bb Treble kalimba I made about 10 years ago My very first kalimba was a Treble. I had actually just come from a friend’s house who had an Alto, and we’d all played the Alto and loved it – but when I went to the drum shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts back in 1986, they only had the Treble, with the 3rd note of the scale in the lowest tine (and not the root note, as in Altos). I bought it, but somehow I never really bonded with the instrument. A few years later, I got an

Chill, Listen to the playlist that matches your kalimba key, and jam along! Click a playlist below and jam along! My life changed when I lost my record turntable 20 years ago – I basically stopped listening to music. For me, this turned out to be a good thing, because the music-generating radio station “KMRK” started broadcasting 24 hours a day inside my head. I am always creating new music, or recycling and recomposing Katy Perry. But that isn’t the point of this post. Rather, I have discovered Spotify (maybe late to the party, but better late than never!) And I have rediscovered my love of listening to recorded music