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Learning tablature, and a new book, opened up the exciting and beautiful world of traditional African songs. By leslee morrison “Bungu Utete” was the first Karimba song Leslee learned For me, learning the African tuned karimba with its repertoire of ancient African music is an  infusion of new excitement and inspiration in my playing. I call it “Vitamin K”. The instructions that came along with my new Hugh Tracey 17-note karimba said that it is a beginner’s instrument; but with 17 tines instead of the 11 that I was familiar with, and with the additional “buzzers,” I discovered that a lot of new and exciting sound can come out of

A karimba song that echoes more complex mbira music structure Click to download karimba tablature for the song “Kukaiwa” “Kukaiwa” is one of my favorite songs in our recently published “About 30 Traditional Karimba Songs” book and instructional download.  This arrangement comes to us from kalimba maven Ivodne Galatea, who mentions that CD liner notes indicate that “Kukaiwa” may be traditional, or it may be original to Dumisani Maraire. Mariaire brought the marimba band movement to the western United States in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He may also be the man who first brought the karimba, which he called mbira nyunga nyunga, to the USA.   This arrangement of

Following the lead of traditional mbira music works great on modern day kalimbas too! Click to download the tablature for the song you’re hearing, “Pfumvu Paruzevha” How do you play two kalimbas together?  There is no particular tradition for doing that, but there is a deep, wide, and wild tradition of playing two mbira dzavadzimu together – one plays the kushaura part (the leading part) and the other plays the kutsinhira part (the following part).  Often the same high notes are played in the two parts, but the kutsinhira part’s high notes will echo the kushaura part’s high notes.  If a particular high note is repeated in the first part,

Two Great Kalimbas that go Great Together! Click to visit the Alto / Pentatonic Package product page One of my favorite things to do is to play kalimba duets with a close friend. The Hugh Tracey Alto kalimba is one of the most popular and most capable of all kalimbas.  In many ways, it is the gold standard by which all other kalimbas are measured.  I have written more books and music for the Alto Kalimba than for any other, and very often it is still one of my Altos (I have them in G, C, and F now) that I grab when I walk out the door. The Hugh Tracey

Please study this application of mindfulness to the process of learning to play specific music on kalimba Photo by Glen Davis. Kalimba by Andrew Masters Have you ever struggled to learn a piece of music on the kalimba, really studied in detail the exact notes you need to play?  It seems that the kalimba is a simple instrument – there are only a few tines for your left thumb and a few tines for the right thumb.  Surely this is simple.  You should be able to master this instrument after a week of playing it, right? But as soon as you approach a challenging song on the kalimba (and “challenging”

The tremendous assistance that kalimba tablature can provide in arranging and learning songs. Click to download the Greensleeves tablature in PDF   I have a symbiotic relationship with kalimba tablature:  I work really hard to notate really wonderful music in tablature.  Through working on this tablature, I come to be able to play music that is more difficult and more polished than I would otherwise be able to perform. I make kalimba tablature better, and kalimba tablature makes me better. To get your free Greensleeves tablature PDF, which will work for 8-Note, Alto, or Bb Treble kalimbas, click the image above. What is the best idea you have ever come

These two similar parts, one delayed by an eighth note, lean against each other and create something fundamentally new Mbira music is designed to be played on two dueling mbiras The kalimba, as most of us know it, is a new adaptation of the family of African lamellophones that includes the mbira and the karimba.  As such, the kalimba doesn’t really have a tradition in Africa.  This is the very reason I am attracted to the instrument. Without a specific African tradition, we are free to create our own new and evolving kalimba styles. On the extreme opposite end of the “tradition” spectrum from the modern kalimba is the mbira

What’s a young professional musician to do when her body fails her? Klara is learning mbira and karimba, to play especially when her body doesn’t want to play violin. An introduction from Mark: High level musicians dedicate their body, their time, their soul, and years to their art. They are driven by the dreams of the greatness they have touched in their musical experiences, and they invest their very lives to this god of music. But what happens when their body fails them? When pain and debility make their work and ambitions look like one of God’s great jokes? Many musical instruments are quite physically demanding: guitar, upright bass, piano,

Conscious attention can bring many benefits to you and your music Photo by Glen Davis. Kalimba by Andrew Masters What is mindfulness?  For me, mindfulness is being as present as I can be to the moment that is unfolding.   Consider music as a sort of plow that is able to cut a furrow through the present moment.  Good music invites the listener to become entrained in that furrow as the musical plowshare cuts through the unfolding succession of present moments .  Good music, happy, sad, or otherwise, can be a great comfort as it can largely take us from whatever pathway we were wandering down, and instead directs our