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Copyright © 2005-2009 Mark Holdaway |
 The Kalimba Klub in Tucson, Arizona explores how the kalimba can work as a simple social instrument. Many of us have only been playing kalimba for short time. Usually when we get together, we do a lot of group wandering (check out our Meeting Blog), but for the 2006 Tucson Folk Festival, each performing member took the time to work out a duet that they played with me. This was a great step forward for all, as this exercise taught much about structure in music. You can listen to samples from this concert by clicking on the member links below. Everyone's piece was unique, representing where each person was coming from. Kalimba Klub MembersClick the member name below to view his/her blurb on the Kalimba Musicians page: Kalimba Klub Meeting BlogHere's what we did over the course of seven meetings:
Meeting 1: Sailing through Space on a SofaThis lesson actually predates the existence of the Kalimba Klub, but it was part of the motivation for the Kalimba Klub. It was September 2005, and I had just gotten back from my first Kalimba sales trip, lugging a hundred kalimbas, a hundred CD's, and about 60 books through New Mexico and Colorado. However, back in Tucson, nobody really knew what I was up to, and I wasn't selling kalimbas. Enter Robert and Donna. For a long time, everyone I played music with, I met directly or indirectly through Robert. Robert invited Deb and me for dinner, and wanted to buy a kalimba. After a great dinner, we all sat on the couch and played together. All four of us had kalimbas, though between two and three of us didn't know what to do. But no worry, we each played a bit sparsely and listened carefully to what we were all doing, and after a time, it felt as if we were starting to fly -- I was imagining that we were on a magic sofa-spaceship speeding through the cosmos, powered by the kalimba. Hey, I want my money back, this isn't a lesson! Cool it, dude, and learn. The first lesson is this: Donna didn't have a Hugh Tracey kalimba. The Hugh Tracey kalimbas have painted certain tines blue or red to help you navigate, and Donna's tines were not painted. She had a 12-note kalimba, and it actually started on the low G, the same note as Robert's brand new Alto. However, that G was on the Left side and not the Right. And finally, Donna's kalimba was tuned to the key of C with an F natural while Robert's was tuned to the key of G with an F#. So, to bring Donna into our little trip, we had to do a kalimba makeover on her instrument. First, we tuned the two F's into F# using a chromatic electric guitar tuner to tell us if we were flat or sharp. Second, we decided to change the handedness of Donna's kalimba, and retuned all the tines up or down a note so that the low G would be on the Right side to match Robert's. Third, we should have painted the appropriate tines with some blue nail polish (I figure it will come off if you don't like it). If you paint the tines the same way as the Hugh Tracey kalimbas, then you will be able to read the music right off of the Kalimba Tablature, even if you don't have a Hugh Tracey kalimba. I have now done this makover to three kalimbas. If you already know what you are doing on your non-Hugh Tracey kalimba, you should probably just keep it as it is. But if you need some help learning how to play, come on over to our team! But the most important lesson I learned that night was that a bunch of people who know a bit about music but next to nothing about the kalimba can spontaneously make cool, exciting, and joyful music basically right out of the box. This is partly because of the simplicity of the instrument and partly because I know how to lead a herd of roving kalimba players into nice country. So, I realized that if I am going to sell kalimbas, I'm going to need to teach people how to enjoy them too! While we've since gone on to greater treasures in our Kalimba Klub meetings, this first ever kalimba klub will always live on fondly in my heart. Meeting 2: The Good Music Didn't Start til the Beginners ArrivedThe second kalimba klub taught me an important lesson. My neighbor Geo came over, and at first it looked as if it was just going to be him and me. I guess this made Geo a bit nervous. Geo is a pretty good musician on guitar and bass and keyboards, and I've heard him play some very nice things on the kalimba too -- he was one of the first in Tucson to buy a kalimba from me, and he got one with a pickup on it (if you want one with a pickup, check out the Kalimba Magic Shop). So, I don't know what was wrong with the energy that night, but Geo and I weren't connecting. After a few failed attempts at music, Geo picked up his kalimba to go, but at the door were Carolyn and Kim. Carolyn and Kim were kalimba beginners. Kim didn't even own a kalimba, but Carolyn had brought her old kalimba (which we DID paint with blue fingernail polish and retuned to match her Hugh Tracey Alto). That kalimba seemd to have a song built into it already, we eventually we found something in D. As the kalimbas were tuned to the key of "G", you don't get the regular "do-re-mi" scale from playing it in "D" -- rather, you get a scale called the "mixolydian scale". It is funky, sort of like Jerry Garcia playing "Dark Star", "Fire on the Mountain", or "Roll Away the Dew". So, we played something like this:
This has a nice balance to it: the first pair of notes goes R then L (an octave), the next two notes are both R (going up a third), then the last two notes are both L (going down a third). Listen to this music while you follow the tablature. The good thing about a simple starting point is that you have plenty of room to grow, and that is exactly what we did. I think we played on that riff for about half an hour and had a lot of fun. Listen to the same music drifting After Carolyn and Kim left, Geo and I talked about what had happened. We agreed that it was an excellent thing that he had not left in failure. And we also saw that the difference between failure and success did not particularly relate to one's intrinsic abilities, but more to one's attitude. Meeting 3: The First Full HouseWe had seven people for this lesson, and the big tunes we did were brought by my student Jordan and my neighbor Geo. Jordan actually played this song in his mother's wedding as the processional!
Geo brought the vamp to Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" -- power chords on the kalimba! These are just the 5th and the root of each chord, and they have a primitiveness about them:
Meeting 4: Around in a CircleWe had another seven people for this one. I finally started to get the swing of things. We started with a rhythm track and added one kalimba at a time, me first, to the circle until we were all playing together. My mistake: I should have started with something that was more space than notes so that other people would get the idea that they could play it simple. Next time! Next, while still in a circle, we went through the 8 note G major scale (7 different notes, repeat the G at the end). After we all knew what the G scale was about, we took turns, two at a time, playing the scales together. Person A started, and 8 beats later person B added their notes while person A was playing a second go through (each person plays two scales). Then 8 beats later person C adds in, person B is still playing, but person A had stopped. Continue around the circle. What made this really cool was the fact that we didn't have to play the same scale, or the same direction. For example, person A could start with the upper octave G major scale, and then person B could join in with a parallel scale, shifted up or down a tine. This exercise teaches us about the scales, but also about harmony, which is easy on kalimba. The harmonizing scale exercise: the line on the left is the G major scale, first in the upper octave and then in the lower octave. The line on the left, to be played at the same time, will harmonize with the line on the left.
Next,
we sort of drifted through about six different songs, including: Are You
Sleeping? Glen Davis showed us his really cool method for hitting the kalimba tines quickly with his fingers, as you would a drum. Jim Gates brought a well thought-out song and even wrote it out using the blank tab available at the kalimba klub. Notice how this song goes back and forth between 4/4 and 5/4 time. Meeting 5: Two Against ThreeWhen a westerner listens to African music, there is something a bit unsettling or uneasy about the music. Upon careful examination, you might realize that what you hoped was a steady beat is actually two or more different beats flying through each other as if they were ghosts. You can't tell which one is more important. The very foundation of the music seems to be called into question. Ah, but this uncertainty becomes the new foundation. And after listening to this music and playing it, you begin to feel at home in the criss-crossing multi-rhythms. The simplest multi-rhythm is called "2 against 3". At the fifth kalimba klub, only Jim Gates arrived. We worked on some pretty cool stuff, though, and this is some of it. View tablature for simple Two Against Three. Listen to the simple Two
Against Three. View tablature for 2 against 3 on the alto kalimba. Listen to this more complex example of Two Against Three. Meeting 6: The Big VibrationThe Big Vibration is a four part kalimba tune that has been in my head for about 2 years. Now, thanks to the modern advances of Kalimba tablature, parts I and II of The Big Vibration can get into YOUR head! Part I of The Big Vibration
Part II of The Big Vibration
Everybody's doin' the big vibration Meeting 7: Rest Stop
Listen to this beautiful and simple duet for two Alto Kalimbas.
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