January 15, 2009

Volume 4, Number 1

Kalimba Magic NEWS

• In This Issue
• What's the Buzz at Kalimba Magic
• How Blowing a Deadline Turned the Lightbulb on
• New Products from Kalimba Magic
• Interview with John Roff
• The KTabS Notebook: Getting Started w/KTabS
• Ask Mark: Answers For Your Kalimba Questions
• Kalimba of the Month: Middle Eastern Tuned Treble
• Kalimba Community

New Products from Kalimba Magic

The Goshen 8-Note Kalimba

The Goshen 8-Note Box Kalimba

We have a very limited supply of the Goshen 8-Note kalimba. These are wonderful, box-mounted, 8-note kalimbas of excellent craftsmanship, made in West Virgina. They look, feel, and sound great. The one drawback is that the tines can get pushed around very easily, so don't just throw it in your gig bag and expect to be able to take it out and start playing again right away. These come in the key of D (i.e., the tablature in the 8-Note book will still work, but the Book's CD will play music that is a whole step lower than this kalimba - we can retune the kalimba to C for $5 more).

The Hokema 5-Note Kalimba

The Hokema 5-Note Kalimba in Choirs!

The Hokema kalimbas have the silkiest tines - smooth and beautiful. The Hokema Sansula is becoming well known for its magical sound. When you play an instrument, you respond to its physical details, and that response colors your playing. I love that feedback loop, and it is especially evident on the Hokema instruments. They feel beautiful to play, which encourages you to play beautiful music.

We are happy to announce the Hokema 5-Note Kalimba. Mounted on the same size solid wooden board as the Pocket Sansula, the 5-Note might not sound like much of a kalimba—what can you do with it? Well, if you want to play Bach, you've come to the wrong kalimba. But if you are a Music Therapist, this kalimba may be just what you are looking for...

The standard tuning for this kalimba is an F minor chord. From low to high the notes are: F3 - C4 - F4 - Ab4 - C5. No matter what you play, it will sound lovely, but in a particular F minor sort of way. But here is where the magic comes in: these instruments don't have to be tuned to the F minor chord. They can be tuned to other keys, such as F minor, Bb minor, and C major. In fact, a set of kalimbas can be tuned to the different chords in a standard chord progression, such as F minor, Bb minor, and C major. Such a choir of three could be played by three different players to create a complex music!

Choirs of 3, 4, or 5 different kalimbas (each tuned to a different chord) now available.

Download Packages Now Include MP3s

Last month we made two sets of downloads available: 20 Advanced Christmas Carols and 10 Traditional African Pieces for Karimba, each consisting of KTabS files and the PDFs showing tablature.

This month, we are pleased to report that we have added MP3 files for each song to these downloads. Note that these are MP3s of KTabS playing the songs - not me, i.e., the songs may lack feeling, but all notes are played as written (which is often not the case when I play!). If you don't have KTabS, this gives you a chance to hear how KTabS sounds!

If you have already purchased one or both of these packages, you can download them again to get the MP3 files.

Introducing Mark Holdaway's Classical Medley

We are pleased to announce our first art music package available for download: Mark Holdaway's Classical Medley. This enchanting 11 minute medley consists of:

• Pachelbel's Canon
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach
• Minuet in G - Bach
• Going Home Theme from the New World Symphony - Dvorak
• Jupiter Hymn from The Planets Suite - Holst
• Water Music - Handel

These songs are performed by Mark Holdaway on the 17-Note Hugh Tracey Bb Treble Kalimba, and the arrangements are based on the arrangements in the KTabS Classical Alto Pack. This beautifully moving music is available for download for $1.50.

I am currently working on translating 10 Traditional African Pieces for Karimba over to the Alto kalimba, which is non-trivial, as some things that are easy for the karimba are difficult for the Alto. Traditional African lamellaphone music arranged for the non-traditional Alto kalimba will be groundbreaking work. So keep a lookout - this download will be available at some point in the future.

Buzzer Installation Service

Several people have asked me if I could install buzzers on new Hugh Tracey Alto or Treble kalimbas. The Alto and Treble kalimbas come tuned to western scales and are buzzer-free, with that pure, smooth sound you get without buzzers. In Africa, however, essentially every kalimba is made with some sort of buzzer. The only Hugh Tracey kalimba that comes with buzzers is the African-tuned karimba.

My wife Deb took the buzzers off her karimba and then she changed her mind and decided she wanted them back but couldn't find the little buzzers. So, I made some for her out of strips of an aluminum can. You can see these kinds of buzzers in the above photo.

I am prepared to offer the buzzer service to you and make a set of buzzers and install them on your kalimba for $10 when you purchase a new kalimba - or send me your old kalimba and $20 gets you a set of aluminum buzzers and return domestic shipping. On the other hand, this is very easy for you to learn how to do yourself. Read how I added buzzers to the Kalimba of the Month.