October 9, 2010
Kalimba Magic NEWS
Message from Mark
1,000,000 YouTube Views!
Three years ago, Kalimba Magic started its YouTube channel, with little fanfare and a trickle of about 40 views per day. But in the time since then, we have attracted almost 1000 subscribers and added 74 videos, so that we are now averaging well over 1200 views per day. While most of these videos are not explicitly instructional in nature, we try to shoot videos so you can see exactly what is going on - and some people watch these videos dozens of times to learn songs. Agnes from Poland commented on my YouTube 'hit single' First Look Inside, "I have watched this video every day... Pure genius!" (Thank you, Agnes!)
The Alto Hugh Tracey kalimba that you see in the First Look Inside video is now more than 20 years old, and this kalimba may very well outlast me. When you get a Hugh Tracey kalimba, you get a friend for life. And no matter how many years I play this instrument, no matter how hard I work and how much I know and understand...there is always more. It seems like a finite universe of relatively small size - 15 notes? I should master that in an afternoon or two! But when you step inside, this little instrument's universe extends farther than you can reach or hear or see.
First Look Inside is the first real song I wrote for kalimba—12 years ago. I have played it thousands of times, and worked on it for hundreds of hours. Sometimes it takes that much thought, love and care to instill a song with magic. And yet, I feel I have still not perfected this song. Each time I play it, I go to a new place, and I love this journey. (While the journey is yours to go where you want and learn what you will, Kalimba Magic has a sizable and growing collection of instructional books and downloads that can help you find your unique path deep into the world of your kalimba.)
First Look Inside was just the second video we made, and it has now been viewed over 200,000 times. Thousands of people have been inspired to play the kalimba through this song. If you are one of them, you can download the tablature here for free: PDF or KTabS. But TOTAL Kalimba Magic YouTube views have just exceeded 800,000, and we are expecting to hit the one million mark in about four months. A million views! This prediction feels like an assurance that my 2005 vision of inspiring a million new kalimba players around the world will surely come true.
Wishing you joy and success in your kalimba playing!
—Mark Holdaway, October 9, 2010
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