What's the Buzz at Kalimba Magic?

Happy Mark

40% OFF All Instructional Books/Downloads,
August 23 - August 30, 2010

Kalimba Magic is offering 40% off all Kalimba Books and Instructional Downloads. Just use the coupon code CheapBooks when you check out at the Kalimba Magic Shop.This code will be valid August 23 through August 30, 2010 only.

The mission of Kalimba Magic is to educate the world about the wonderful possibilities of the kalimba. A large part of this work is in the form of educational books and instructional downloads, written by myself, Sharon Eaton, and now others. We are celebrating this great collection of kalimba books with this fantastic 40% off sale. For one week only, you will be able to pay wholesale prices on all our books and downloads.

If you aren't familiar with our inventory, this list might be helpful:

Alto Books and Downloads Treble Books and Downloads Bb Treble Books and Downloads Karimba Books and Downloads 8-Note Books and Downloads Pentatonic 11-Note Books and Downloads Catania 12-Note Books and Downloads Sansula Books and Downloads Diatonic 11-Note (= HotShot-11) Books and Downloads General
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Click to read more about and/or purchase this download in the Kalimba Magic Shop.
Click to read more about and/or to purchase
this download in the Kalimba Magic Shop.

New Download: 10 Traditional Pieces for 15-Note F Karimba

The African-tuned karimba, aka the Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, is near the center of kalimba history. For a few years we have been selling the download of 10 traditional African pieces for the 17-note Hugh Tracey variety of the karimba. Outside the Hugh Tracey world, the more common configuration of this instrument is the 15-note karimba, usually in F. This is the version of the instrument which Kwonangoma Music College started to produce in the 1960s, and it is the instrument that Dumisari played when he brought this music to Washington state in the 1970s.

Kalimba Magic is happy to announce that even though we don't sell any 15-note karimbas, we do provide the download 10 Traditional African Pieces for 15-Note F Karimba.

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Educational Resources for "2B" Kalimbas

Do you have a 2B 14-Note or 9-Note kalimba? I've heard back from a lot of the people who got these, and they just love them. However, there is the issue of educational resources - there aren't any! Part of the beauty of the 2B kalimbas is their uniqueness - essentially each one has its own tuning, so I can't exactly write a book that explains how to play, because each instrument needs its own book.

Ah, but there are two people on this planet that could help. Steve Luke is a musician and engineer who sold kalimbas on eBay a few years back. He has written a computer program where he enters the kalimbas notes and out comes a complete chord dictionary - i.e., a graphical illustration of every chord you can make on your kalimba. This is very useful information - for an illustration of how you might use the chords, read the Sansula article this month, which addresses how to use chords on a very similar kalimba. Steve can provide you with a PDF "chord book" for any kalimba in any tuning for $5 - if this sounds like a great deal, it is because it IS a great deal. Contact Steve at sluke("at")cox.net - do be smart about replacing the ("at") with @.

The other person who can help is me. I contract out my time as a kalimba compositional consultant - i.e., if you want me to write some music for you and your unique kalimba (I even write things out for your common kalimbas), I am very fast and somewhat reasonable - I charge $35 an hour, and most of the time I can get something very useful (three or four short pieces) for my clients in 30 or 40 minutes. If you would like to commission me to create some music for YOUR kalimba, please contact me and let me know what you are interested in.

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Kalimba Magic Catalog
Kalimba Magic 2010 Catalog (Click to download PDF)

What's Wrong with the Kalimba Magic 2010 Catalog CONTEST

If you've purchased a kalimba from me in the last four months, you have a Kalimba Magic 2010 Catalog in your hands, if not in your recycling bin... Actually, these catalogs come with a CD with sound samples of each kalimba, instructional material, and a song from each of my artistic CDs! Who in their right mind would throw that away?!

But there is a major blunder in the catalog, along with several other minor errors.

Which brings us to our CONTEST IDEA: If you can find the major blunder in my catalog and if you are the first person to inform me, I will give you $100 of Kalimba Magic Shop credit. That could be two Catania 8-Note Kalimbas, the 8-Note Book, and shipping. Or it could be a Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba shipped to your house, for only $40. Or 84 ft of kalimba tine material.

By the way, the major blunder is an inconsistency - two ways of presenting information which are in massive conflict. However, this inconsistency will not be obvious to the casual reader. You will be able to find this inconsistency in the catalog even if you don't have the CD.

AND if someone finds a second (or third?) error - one that I haven't seen - just as large as my "major blunder," I will honor that with a prize as well. Good hunting!

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Kalimba Ian
Kalimba Ian

Coming Soon! Ian Clothier's Tips

Ian Clothier is a kalimba player, kalimba builder, electronics and tools fiddler - just the right kind of person to be writing tips for Kalimba Magic. In September, we will start running Ian's tips on Friday (replacing the terminally vacationing "Physics of the Kalimba" series).

Ian is an intrepid experimentalist who figures out what he needs to know. His tips will offer a refreshing take on the kalimba, filling in gaps that I have left in my wake with his own great ideas. I hope you'll agree that Ian's writings are a great addition to Kalimba Magic. Ian's tips should begin to appear in the Friday's tips slot one Friday next month. If you don't remember to check, I'll remind you in the next newsletter.

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Coming Soon! Aaron Chavez, Chromatic Kalimba Expert

Aaron Chavez, recent graduate of Cal Arts, may be the best player of the Hugh Tracey Chromatic kalimba in the world. He has made this his main instrument. You can see him playing the Chromatic kalimba and other percussion instruments in his Cal Arts Masters Recital.

Kalimba Magic will be featuring Aaron's Chromatic kalimba music and technique in the near future,so WATCH THIS SPACE, as they say.

I know some other people have been really drawn to the Chromatic kalimba and have been making great progress on the instrument. More that one person (OK, it was two people) told me that their introduction to the Chromatic kalimba was "life changing." If this is you - if you have spent hundreds or thousands of hours exploring the Chromatic kalimba - drop me a line and let me know about it!

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Two One-of-a-Kind Chromatic Kalimbas for Sale

I have exactly one new Hugh Tracey Celeste Chromatic kalimba, WITHOUT PICKUP, available CHEAP - $75. Contact me if you want this.

I also have exactly one new Treble Chromatic kalimba WITH Pickup, in C, i.e., laid out like the Bb Treble, painted like the Alto, but the low note and the root note are C. 17 notes are on the front in C, 17 notes are on the back in B, this covers every note there is between B3 = B below middle C up to D6, just over an octave above high C. Given the 17 notes on front and 17 notes on back, there are a few redundancies (B and E are both on front and back). This is a new design we are testing out. I am selling this instrument for $150. Contact me if you want this.

 

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