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Mark Holdaway

“Forgiveness” – A Song for You To Learn on Kalimba

Free Tablature for Alto Kalimba and 17-Note Kalimba in C Download the free tablature for the 17-Note Kalimba in C I write this blog post as a gift to the five people who have asked for the tablature. I made a video of this song a few months ago to demo the 17-Note Heart Kalimba in C, but I wrote the song about 15 years ago. Originally, it was called “Chorale,” and I wrote it originally on piano, as a love song for my sweetie, Deb. The first 16 measures were included in my first kalimba book “Kalimba Fundamentals for the Alto Kalimba” under the name “Chorale.” A longer version

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Mark Holdaway

Easy Christmas Music: 17-Note Kalimba in C

All your holiday favorites, arranged just for your kalimba Click to Purchase the Easy Christmas PDF Download This collection of Christmas favorites has been arranged specifically for the 17-Note kalimba in C. I have been playing Christmas Carols on the kalimba for 20 years. Not only is it a fine way to learn your kalimba, working on songs you already know. It is also a fantastic way to cultivate feelings of joy and gratitude during the lead-up to the holiday season. It is also a great way to share joy with other people in your life. This 59-page PDF download with clickable links to MP3 files has tablature for 32 different

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Mark Holdaway

Dajari-F B11 Tuning

This tuning was invented to play with an F major hand pan B11 in Dajari-F Tuning I should have known better than to post a video of a kalimba in a strange new tuning, and then not also make that tuning available to everyone. Several folks have requested the Dajari-F B11 tuning, so here it is. The initial plan for this year was to make instructional downloads for each of six exotic B11 tunings, to demonstrate the breadth of music that is possible on this otherwise unassuming but beautiful kalimba… but then Christmas came knocking, and with it came the creation of four new books of Easy Christmas Carols… to

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Mark Holdaway

Buying Kalimbas for Kids: One Tine per Year of Age

Of course, this is just a rule of thumb Shop for Kalimbas for Kids I often get asked “Hey, what kalimba should I get for my kids?”  My response is to say that it depends on how old they are. And the rule of thumb above is a good one. People love to think of their kids as more advanced than they actually are. Maybe what we parents do is to see our child’s potential rather than their actuality. I know for a fact that I was sometimes disadvantaged by my own parents’ excessive belief in my abilities, and I did get a lot of gifts that were, frankly, a

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Mark Holdaway

Where can I find African or African-style songs for the Kalimba?

We actually have a lot of African music for kalimbas A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba Last week, someone emailed me asking: “I’ve looked at a lot of your music, and I cannot find the African music! Is there any actual African music for the kalimba?” The answer is YES! Although admittedly, I do provide a lot of other types of music – Sansula music, folk tunes, Christmas songs, Elvis songs, nursery rhymes, New Age music… and it is easy to get lost. But there is plenty of African stuff here! ‘Way back around 10 years ago, I was embarrassed about how little I knew about African music, and how

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Mark Holdaway

Learn to Play “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” on Kalimba

Get Free Tablature for 17-Note Kalimba in C Click for free 4-page PDF tablature download for this song You may very well know that right now, the most popular kalimba video in the world is by Acoustic Trench, playing “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” (made most famous by Elvis Presley in 1961) on an alternatively-tuned 17-Note kalimba. Trench’s tuning made a bass scale, going from the center to the far left – and a treble scale, going from the center to the far right. He played melody on the right and accompaniment on the left. Well now – let’s just say that right now you are sitting

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Mark Holdaway

Learn to Play the Elvis Presley hit “Love Me Tender” on Kalimba

Get Free Tablature, Learn from the Video A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba A Kalimba Magic customer recently expressed the desire to play the eternally popular “Love Me Tender” on their 17-Note Kalimba in C, and the result is this blog post and free tablature for everyone to learn it. The 17-Note C Kalimba tablature is also usable with a 15-Note ALTO kalimba, and if you have Alto kalimba tablature, you can use it for your 17-Note in C – just be aware that the note names will be shifted by a 4th. What’s cool about this post is that we break the music down into three versions (on

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Blog
Mark Holdaway

Exotic B11 Tunings Overview

We have four tunings out now – let’s pause and consider A Box Lotus and a Regular Lotus Karimba The B11 is a really cool kalimba concept. Even though it has only two more notes than the Sansula on which it was modeled, it can go to many, many more places, musically, emotionally, and vibrationally. Just as the Sansula does, the B11 naturally leads you down pleasing avenues of discovery. The lower notes work together one way, the upper notes work together another way, and the upper and lower notes can dance together in many ways. But the arrangement of those notes – the exact order in which they are laid

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Mark Holdaway

The Secret Origins of the Mbira, I

Legends help us truly feel the origins of instruments and music Where do the Mbira and the Karimba come from? It’s easy to say – Zimbabwe. It’s even easier to follow up with – somewhere in Africa. The Zambezi valley. Or, maybe – who knows? Versions of striking metal on wood could perhaps be found anywhere, really. People always find a good excuse and a good way of making music. Why is the history so important? Maybe it isn’t, true. But the legends are very significant, because they tell us about the self-understanding of the people who made them: no musical instrument comes to us without reason, purpose, and style,

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