February 4, 2009
Kalimba Magic NEWS
Kalimba of the Month
The Hugh Tracey HotShot-11
Never heard of the Hugh Tracey HotShot-11? Probably because I just made up the name. About a year ago, I gave a Hugh Tracey Celeste Diatonic, Jr. to Sharon Eaton, and she loved it so much that she was inspired to arrange a hymnal with 50 hymns for it! But she didn't like the name—Diatonic, Jr.?
This is what Sharon Eaton has to say about the HT HotShot-11:
The HT 8-note kalimba used to be my favorite—until I realized what the 11-note could do. It has the same simple structure of the 8-note that my brain can understand, but having those three extra notes up top means the 11-note can play many more songs than the 8-note. I have nearly every HT model and love each one for its own unique qualities, but the 11-note feels like a nice blend of all the things that are great about the kalimba. The HotShot-11 is not a name I would have thought of, but I like it. It makes me think of the fact that the 11-note makes playing rhythms feel more intuitive and, therefore, lets me be the kalimba player I always wanted to be.
So I renamed it the HotShot—and that's certainly what I feel like when I'm playing it. (Check out the video below.) For sure, you can really fly on this kalimba. It has just enough notes to be harmonically interesting, while retaining most of the intuitive simplicity of the 8-Note kalimba. I believe this kalimba is going to be one of our top sellers.
By the way, this is the first kalimba that John Roff, last month's inverviewee, played.
Is there an instructional book? Kalimba Magic offers books for almost every Hugh Tracey kalimba out there, but we do not have one yet for the HT HotShot-11. That will change soon as I am working on a book for this kalimba right now, and hope to have it available very soon. You can get a sneak preview of the book in an upcoming Thursday tips series in which I will be featuring this kalimba—stay tuned!
The HT HotShot-11 with pickup.
I really started respecting the HT HotShot-11 when I realized that it could play a lot of the music the Hugh Tracey Alto kalimba can play. Its notes are the same as the top 11 notes of the Alto, i.e., the notes you use to play most of the melody. It is lacking the bottom 4 notes of the Alto, which tend to be used more for accompaniment. Its low note is D, the 5th of the key of G—a strong note, and also an important note harmonically for the key of G.
If you are a budding kalimba player and you feel you have outgrown the 8-Note kalimba, but your hands are small, this kalimba could be just the thing for you.
If you usually play the Alto kalimba and you are looking for something familiar but just a bit different, this could be a good choice.
If you play the Alto kalimba and you are looking for a travel instrument, look no further: the HotShot-11 has a solid body, so it is more robust than the Alto (you could even step on it or drop it without messing it up), and it is smaller and lighter than the Alto.
Consider the HT HotShot-11 for that special gift for the youngster in your life!
Available both with and without pickup.
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