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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

Playing unmatched kalimbas in succession can make beautiful and unusual music The D Treble kalimba, the Bb Treble kalimba, and the G Treble kalimba Why do people acquire kalimbas in different keys? To be able to support specific songs they or others sing, or to be able to play with other musicians with flexibility. Sometimes people buy a kalimba in some particular key just because they really love its sound. But can you use kalimbas in different keys together? By creating a simple song that uses different-keyed kalimbas, not played together but in succession, yes you can!    Listen to the music that plays automatically when you load this page. The

Have you ever wanted to get clear on the differences between the various treble kalimbas? Blue dots are roots of the major scale, purple are roots of the relative minor scale One of my best contributions to the kalimba world (in my humble opinion) is the concept of the Bb and D Treble kalimbas. These are alternative ways of structuring the standard G Treble to make it more like the Alto kalimba, but pitched higher. Making a Treble kalimba more like an Alto makes the Treble easier to play and simpler to understand. The Alto’s note layout is more logical, and any song that you can play on the Alto

We provide free tablature, for all three Treble Kalimba setups, of both simple and advanced versions of the famous song Edelweiss, blossom of snow The song Edelweiss from “The Sound of Music” is a perfect little melody for the Treble kalimba. The first three notes of the song soar up beyond the root note to the 9th. You could play this song on an Alto, and you would have to do it in the lower octave of the instrument. You shouldn’t, though, because it sounds so beautiful when played higher up, on the Treble. The standard G Treble and the Bb Treble both have a few notes above the top

Becoming conversant with octave pairs is an important part of learning your instrument The 8-note kalimba only has one octave pair Do you know where the octave pairs are on your kalimba? The octave is the most fundamental interval in essentially any music. Octave harmonies are not rich, but they are powerful. If your kalimba has eight notes or more, you likely have one or maybe even several octave pairs. Learning which note pairs are an octave apart, as well as how to use the octaves in playing, are essential to becoming a good kalimba player. In the simplest of terms, an octave is the interval between two notes at

A great kalimba, 30 years of my kalimba playing experience, and considerable love Every time I ship a kalimba, I play it to make sure it is all just right.  And as I play it, I make a little prayer, that the person who gets this kalimba will come to love and understand their little instrument.  But I do much more than just pray.  I send out as many keys to the doors of understanding as I can.  We stack the odds in favor of success. When you receive your kalimba, you get some important things along with the instrument. Take a look at the numbered items in the accompanying photo:

Shifting the emphasis by one note gives your music a new emotional color Can you play the major scale on your kalimba?  “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do?” Your tuning might not permit this scale – the pentatonic scales and the Lotus tuning are both missing some notes.  Many kalimbas can play the major scale.  Find that scale on your kalimba now if you can. Just by shifting the starting point of the scale by one note, we are going to show you how to create a totally different scale on your kalimba.  Instead of G major on the Alto, we will play a type of A minor

Stylizing this archetypical mbira music makes it simple to play on Alto Kalimba For the first 15 years I played kalimba, something about it confused me.  Even though my Hugh Tracey Alto kalimba came in a box that said it was an African instrument, when I played the kalimba, the music that naturally came out was more like folk and rock and classical music.  My kalimba played the music that I knew and loved and understood. Americans get very little exposure to African music. For the last ten years, I have been slowly moving toward getting to know, and understanding, African music, with the goal of being able to (someday) play