Music Therapy with the Kalimba

Using the Kalimba with the Blind

Using Only Music to Communicate Gets Dror Amazing Results

I am not an official therapist, but this is one of my main activities with disabled people. I work with the really hard cases, using only music to communicate. The results are amazing. I have a recording of me and an old blind man who does not speak, but he sings amazingly with the kalimba. I will try to put it on the computer. The kalimba doesn't make vibrations like the dijeridoo or Tibetan bowls, but it soothes the ears of everybody, and makes them smile. I also let them play, even if I have to move their fingers.

—Dror, Israel (drormat("at")gmail.com)

Kalimba is Kathleen's Secret to Being Prolific Poet

I recently purchased an alto kalimba from you. I wasn't sure it would work for me. I have a broad background in classical music and play several instruments. Six years ago I lost my vision entirely. I have longed for an instrument I could easily play with no vision and one on which I could *invent* music since I can no longer read music.

The kalimba was the perfect choice in spite of the fact that I have never seen one and never had one in my hands before now. My seven-year-old grandson is thrilled with it and plays it beautifully and quite instinctively - and I will be purchasing one for him for his birthday in three weeks.

You might be interested to know that I find my own "unplanned wanderings" on the kalimba to be very conducive to concentrating on the poetry I write. Since my blindness I have had three volumes of poetry published and am working on a fourth. I should have had this kalimba all along!

Thank you for helping to bring my own music back into my life.

—Kathleen O'Donnell (okathleenmarie ("at") aol.com)

Kalimba Touches Those Avoiding Physical Touch

I work with blind people and deaf-blind people who are also physically and mentally disabled/challenged in other ways. I use the Sansula/Kalimba especially with those who have little communication skills. It's my way to reach out and touch those who do not appreciate physical touch, or when they are upset one way or another.

—s.vandermeijde("at") orange.nl

Using the Kalimba with the Deaf

Mark Makes Contact Using the Kalimba

The first time I played music at a daycare place for young adults who were not able to care for themselves - but lived at home with their families overnight - I thought I heard a radio that was on while I was playing the first song. I asked that it be turned off, and someone explained that it was the iPod earbuds of the young deaf woman sitting right in front of me. First, I asked, through her interpreter, if she would please turn off the music, as it was interfering with my performance. Second, I asked if I could play kalimba in physical contact with her body, so she could "hear" the music in the same way she was "hearing" her iPod's music. She agreed, and by non-verbal communication determined that I could play with the kalimba touching the back of her neck.

The vibrations must have tickled, and her face showed surprise and sheer delight! She was laughing as I strummed gently on the kalimba. Of course, the cat was out of the bag, and now most of the people in the room also wanted some special music played on their body. I asked one young man wearing a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. car racing cap what kind of music he wanted, and where. He wanted some really fast music, which I played with the kalimba in contact with the top of his head. A woman in a wheelchair who could vocalize sounds but could not speak, indicated she also wanted music. I played a soothing "Ode to Joy" on her shoulder. A young woman asked for something peaceful, so I imagined a fawn, butterflies, and flowers in a meadow, and played music reflecting that image, on the back of her neck.

Whenever I return to this daycare place, I always start with a song of my own, but the second thing I do is to ask each person if they would like their own personal music. One girl never wants to be touched, but she does let me play music a few feet from her. When I play music like this, I try to be totally tuned into the music of that person.

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com

Using the Kalimba Spiritually

Art Inspired Music Draws God's Presence

I played in an art teachers forum, responding to one of the artworks made by a participant. He was deeply moved, and one of the other people in the group noted afterwards that they felt healed/restored through the music. I felt as though God's unadulterated presence was in the room during the playing—deeply humbling, sobering and potent all at the same time.

—Anonymous

Quakers Enjoy Mark's Moving Musical Ministry

I am a Quaker, and our Meetings for Worship are mostly silent, but usually between one and ten people stand up and give ministry—some spiritual sharing out of their own experience. Sometimes one of us will stand and sing. Several times each year, I will have one of my kalimbas at Quaker Meeting, and a few times a year, I will be moved to play some short piece—usually extemporaneously. My musical ministry seems to move my other Friends more than any other ministry I share in the Meeting!

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com

Special Kalimba Stories

Playing Kalimba Together Brings Joy

I work with a couple of women in their 20s who live in a group home because of their level of ability to care for themselves. We all play kalimba together, and the sense of accomplishment that these women get from their music is just wonderful to experience. Other people who work with them have commented to me that our playing kalimba together has given them more confidence in other areas of interacting with people. But I think the best thing that these two women get out of the music we play is a great sense of joy. One of them said to me recently "When we play music together, I just feel so happy in my heart!"

The physical nature of the kalimba makes success an easy possibility for both of these clients, but for one of them, the kalimba is a physical possibility while most other instruments would not be possible. Playing kalimba gives them something to look forward to and something to give to other people. We are going to videotape a kalimba performance, burn it on CDs and give it as gifts to the girls' respective families - they are so excited!

If a trained music therapist were working with these women, they might or might not join in with playing - but I see my joining in as essential to the process. I usually play guitar or mandola, chording instruments that help with the rhythm and provide chordal support. But I make sure that the kalimbas soar over me!

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com

Barb Uses Kalimba as Tool to Support Therapeutic Intervention

...the kalimba is in a basket with a wide array of instruments and many times clients are drawn to the kalimba. Then interaction ensues. A few times I have planned a specific intervention using the kalimba where it was set up as the underlying drone and rhythmic pattern. Improvisation was layered over it as a client composed a jingle. In all cases the kalimba is a tool to support the client interventions. I work primarily in mental health and with children.

—Barb Else

Sound Therapist Puts Sick and Dying at Ease with Kalimba Music

As a sound therapist, I work with people moving through many different emotional states. One of the areas I focus on is with people moving through long-term illness and those who are dying. I've often used the kalimba in hospitals and nursing homes to play for my clients. As I play and sing, the sweet sound of the kalimba puts them at ease right away. I do believe it carries people back to a time of innocence when they played with music box toys or when their mothers sang them bedtime songs.

—Gary Diggins, gdiggins("at")aol.com

Mark Eases Ethel's Step Through the Door

This reminds me of a time when a social worker called me in to help her with Ethel, a person who had been on her deathbed for over a month. I asked what kind of music Ethel liked, and she replied "Classical" - which was so lucky as I had just been working out the last details of a medley of Classical Music on Kalimba. I came in and I played a very slow version of the medley, starting with the "Going Home" theme. As I played, I moved to Ethel's side, and as I played Jesu and the Jupiter Hymn, I played the kalimba lightly touching her chest, looking over my shoulder to the social worker who nodded her approval. The social worker later told me that she could tell that Ethel had liked the music. Later that day, I received a call from Ethel's social worker telling me that Ethel had passed peacefully a few hours after I left.

My goal had been to give Ethel something so beautiful and peaceful that she might feel that her life was complete, and that it was OK to move to the next stage. While I played, I held this image in my heart: that the angels might sing through my music, calling to Ethel, letting her know that it was alright to step through the door and into their arms. I don't even believe in angels, but I tell you, it sure helped.

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com

Using the Kalimba for Relaxation

Kalimba Music Lulls Partner to Sleep

Having improvised on my two kalimbas for 10 years or more, I have found that when I play at night, according to my partner, their sounds evoke peace. If I play when going to sleep she says she falls into a deeper and better sleep. When I asked her to describe what she meant she responded, "It feels like I listen to the music and I get taken away, I hear the music in my sleep and then I don't remember any thing anymore. I don't remember what you played but I know it was good."

—Simon

Kalimba Vibe a Musical Rush

I remember playing my alto/treble kalimbas and I was in deep rhythms and vibes...the power of the tones and vibrato seemed to turn my chakras...a musical rush...kalimbas are relaxing, great for meditation/reflection...and give me a sense of well being or being in tune with the earth...I wrote a song called Body Sensations in Brooklyn about 1986..it described how I felt from the kalimba vibe...just singing it was great and others always enjoy hearing that piece...that's Kalimba Magic!

—keefandtheweed

Kalimba in Speech and Motor Control

Gait Reinforcement for People Relearning How to Walk

When I play music while walking, I make sure the music beats and the feet beats line up. But its more than that - the details of the swing or the groove can map into the smaller elements of your walking (or dancing) gait. I have always thought the kalimba would be great for gait reinforcement for people relearning how to walk - if they could carry a kalimba while walking.

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com

Two More Respondents Chime In

General fine motor work.
—binksjukebox("at")sbcglobal.net

I have used the kalimba to sing along with as part of speech therapy for stuttering.
—Jim Knott, jimnott45("at")aol.com

Kalimba is Solace for Aging Musicians

"Imagine that your hands shook so badly that you couldn't lift a glass of water. That's what life is like for millions of Americans who suffer from essential tremor disorder." So begins the story heard on NPR on Jan 2 of Richard Crandell, a former professional guitarist who discovered that his disability still permitted him to play the mbira. He has now had two succesful mbira CDs.

One population of people that may be underserved by music therapists is aging musicians. There must be tens of thousands of high level musicians who are no longer able to play their chosen instrument because of an aging-related disability, but I imagine that a lot of them - perhaps even most of them - could do well with a kalimba in their hands. So I work to dispel the myth that the kalimba is a toy, but rather is a real instrument capable of creating uniquely beautiful music.

—Mark Holdaway, mark("at")kalimbamagic.com