Tunings:  Alternative Kalimba

I'll show some alternative tunings for the Alto Hugh Tracey Kalimba. You can figure out similar tunings for the Treble.

I'll give you three quick reasons you might want to retune your kalimba:

• So you can play a certain song with other instruments in the key they play it in.
• So you can sing a certain song with your kalimba -- your voice probably doesn't have the range to sing everything in the key of G.
• Here is a trick you can do: take a riff that you play with the kalimba tuned to G, and then retune the kalimba and try playing the same riff on the same tines, some of them now retuned. If you are ever lacking inspiration, this is a good way to go someplace new.

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Mostly, I use the key of G.

This is the tuning that the Hugh Tracey Kalimba comes in:

I invent most of my own music, so in some ways it doesn't matter what key I am playing in. This is my home tuning, the thing I am most familiar with. Of course, you have all of the modes relative to G major as well: E minor, D mixolydian, A dorian, C lydian, B middle-eastern, as well as the plain of G major.

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Next most common tuning for me is the key of C.

It is one step along the circle of fifths away from G. and you just tune the two F# notes down to F natural. The G, or 5th, is in the bass. Sometimes I tune to C so I can sing (like in Woodstock, which I do in D dorian, which has the same notes as C major).

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This tuning is the key of D.

It is one step the other direction through the circle of fifths and you need to raise the two C notes to C#. A lot of folk and Celtic tunes are in D. For many of them, you want the flat 7th or C natural to give them the mixolydian feel. However, if you need that leading tone, retune!

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This tuning is the key of B mid-eastern / E minor.

This tuning is non-modal, in that the distance from the minor 2nd, or C, and the major 3rd, or D#, is a step and a half; and inconsistent, in that the lower octave uses a D# while the uppor octave uses a D natural, which is the minor 3rd. You can play some lovely middle-eastern pieces with this tuning. The B minor thing also turns into a nice E minor scale with a major 7th (the D#) and a minor 6 (the C natural).

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This tuning is the key of G half-mixolydian.

This tuning is also inconsistent in that it has an F natural in one octave and an F# in the other octave. You can choose to put the F natural in either high or low octave. If you tune this way, you need to be careful not to play the F at the same time as the F#, or at least only do it with your eyes wide open.

Why would you want to tune the kalimba this way? It is both the glory of the kalimba and its bane that you have just the notes it is tuned to to play with. Some songs require some notes other than the standard "do-re-mi" or the relative modes. Some songs modulate or change key. Blues is a fine example. Lets say we are doing a blues in G. When you play the 1 or 4 chords (ie, G7 or C7), you'd really like to have the flat 7th, which is an F natural. However, when you get to the 5 chord, or D7, it turns out that you often would like to play the major third in that D7 chord, which is an F#. This is a really cool sort of meta-tip -- you can use this philosophy to help you play ever more complex music on the kalimba.

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There are many other tunings you can do along these lines. You are limited mainly in the highest note your kalimba will support, the lowest note that the kalimba will resonate at, and the lowest note you can push your low G tine down to without it falling out. A chromatic tuner helps quite a bit, but is not required. Also, be aware that retuning the tines may bring out a buzz that had been hidden. Check out the kalimba tips from the Treble Fundamentals book for fixing the buzzes.

You can do a chromatic scale, but you probably want to tune up to D so when you get to the shortest tines they aren't falling out. (The chromatic scale doesn't appeal to me on the kalimba.)

Of course, there is also an entire world of non-western tunings out there -- who says you need to use the tempered scale? AMI makes an instrument called a karimba sort of a cousin to the mbira with two rows of tines. They come tuned to an African scale, with a 3rd between the minor and major. You can get one at the Kalimba Shop. The book for the karimba will be available sometime in 2006.

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