Kalimba Magic NEWS

When I started Kalimba Magic back in 2005, you couldn't even find me via Google without looking through over 100 pages of search results. Today, Kalimba Magic is one of the top driving forces in the growing kalimba movement. How did we go from nowhere to where we are today? Of course, these aren't secrets - I'll share these tips that may help you with your business, or with anything else you might like to accomplish.

I grew up listening to more songs than drum jams, so that's what's in my head now. There are plenty of amazing musicians out there with similar ideas on piano, acoustic guitar, or other instruments, so I don't see a reason why the same mood can't be created using percussion of various types. And that's one of the great things about playing percussion - there's melodic, percussive, and even ambient possibilities within the same instrument family, as with many others too.

In addition to the kalimba training for Music Therapists on Cape Cod, I will also be doing two public events:
March 29, I will host a two hour kalimba workshop at Luminosity Studio in Concord Mass.
April 2, I will join Mary Shapiro and Patricia Morrison for a concert at the Community Church of Boston.

MIM, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ opened its doors last year. This is a huge world class museum dedicated to musical instruments from around the world. It hosts a fantastic collection, but it also has special activities such as workshops and concerts, and Kalimba Magic will be doing a special workshop teaching kalimba to kids ages 6-12.

I will be attending Kalani's Developmental Community Music (DCM) workshop in Encino, California, July 25-29. There are a lot of components to Kalani's DCM workshops, and they all center around having fun and practicing working together as a group in innovative and amazing ways. I am also aiming to do my own 4 hour kalimba workshop in the LA area July 30 or July 31 - if you would like to attend, or if you have the pefect venue, send me a message!

We are happy to announce two new instructional downloads. We bring back some of the peace and social justice songs of the 1960s: Peace and Protest Songs for the Alto Kalimba. And for the African Karimba, we present a collaboration between Jurij Konje and Kalimba Magic: 12 original songs in the style of cyclical African tunes.

We have three winners for the Kalimba video contest: "What Do I Feel When I Play Kalimba?" We invite you to watch these three videos. And to anyone who thinks they could have done better, they had better enter next time! Also, we provide some background and tips to help with the contest on the Mbira Cycle.

There are several books available for the Alto and Treble Kalimba. There are a couple of instructional resources for the 11-note Pentatonic Kalimba and the Karimba. But some kalimbas are orphans. Every week I get emails asking if there are any books for this kalimba or that kalimba. Well, this month I got clever and figured out how to make the educational resources that exist work for these orphaned kalimbas:

• 7-Note Kalimbas
• 9-Note Hokema Pentatonic Kalimba
• Hugh Tracey 11-Note Diatonic
• Goshen 11-Note Kalimba
• Hugh Tracey Chromatic Kalimba

• Wood Burn Art on Kalimba
• An Assortment of Kalimba Videos