Nov. 19, 2011Vol. 6, Num. 5
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Kalimba Magic NEWS |
The New AMI Box Marimbas and Bass Bars
Compact, Convenient, and Economical
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Kalimba Magic is pleased to announce we will be carrying the new AMI box marimbas and bass marimba bars.
The most exciting aspect of these marimbas is their amazing portability. I am able to fit all three marimbas in the video into my Honda Fit, with enough extra room for a guitar and amplifier. In other words, I can fit an entire marimba band (OK, sans marimba players) in my compact car. Pretty amazing, isn't it? How can this be? The AMI box marimbas have a body that doubles as a latching box case. The legs detatch. The bars come off easily. Legs, bars, and mallets can be stored and transported in the box case.
The very best marimbas in the world have three essential features: brilliant and responsive tone wood; bars that have not just the fundamental tone tuned, but also several overtones tuned; and standing wave resonator tubes to further amplify the fundamental tone.
OK, the AMI box marimbas are not the very best marimbas in the world - they lack tuned resonators on each bar. The body acts as a general resonator, though it is not tuned to each individual bar. But the tonewood - kiaat, the same African hardwood used on the Hugh Tracey kalimbas - is excellent. And the bars have the fundamental and the first overtone notes tuned.
I would say that the AMI box marimbas are pretty good, and I am having a blast playing on them in my new band Baba Marimba. They are very reasonably priced. And, most importantly, they are easily transported. This also means that they can be economically shipped. All in all, the AMI box marimbas are a great value.
The AMI bass bars are pretty incredible. Most bass marimbas have standing wave tube resonators to reinforce the fundamental pitch, and the tube resonators are so long that the player must stand on a chair to reach the bars! The AMI bass bars are each mounted on a relatively small box with a hole in the top, right under the bar, that acts as a Helmholtz resonator to emphasize the fundamental note. The Helmholtz resonator is much shorter than the tube resonator commonly used. The genius of the AMI bass bars is that the Helmholtz resonator also serves as the frame and support mechanism for the bar. Hence, you can take three, five, or all nine bars to your gig - however many you need for that day's particular musical application. These are powerful notes and great for working with kids. But taken together, they are also a great bass marimba instrument. This is an absolutely incredible advance in bass marimba technology, and it makes the bass marimba accessible to so many more people. Each bass bar plus its attached Helmholtz resonator body weighs between 11 and 15 pounds, so virtually anyone can take these out of their car and into the gig, one bass bar at a time.
Range of AMI Marimbas and Hugh Tracey Kalimbas
Kalimba Magic is not going to stock the AMI box marimbas or AMI bass bars, as we don't have the space to do so at this time. If you order one of these marimbas, we will convey the order to African Musical Instruments in Grahamstown, South Africa, they will make the marimba and ship it to me as part of my next order, and I'll send it off to you in the USA or Canada. Unfortunately other international destinations will be too costly to ship to. From your order to delivery will take 1-3 months. By working it this way, I am willing to take a relatively small profit on these big ticket items, and make these marimbas available to you for less than it would cost you to purchase them at AMI's door and ship them yourself back to the USA. Kalimba Magic will not accept any discounts or coupon codes on these marimbas, speaking to the low markup on these items.
AMI's Marimba Logo is a Helmholtz Resonator
Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase an AMI Box Soprano Marimba.
Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase an AMI Box Tenor Marimba.
Visit the Kalimba Magic Shop to purchase a set of nine AMI Bass Bars.
Helmholtz resonators are very different from the typical standing wave tube resonators. When you half fill a bottle with water and blow over the top, you have made a Helmholtz resonator. Instead of a standing wave, you have a "plug" of air in the neck that is vibrating in and out of the bottle; the "mass" of the air is related to the width and the length of the neck, and the strength of the "spring" is related to the dimensions of the air in the rest of the bottle. The air in the bottle can resonate at a surprisingly low frequency - much lower than a standing wave tube resonator of the same length.
Africans have been using Helmoholtz resonators for thousands of years: the West African djembe drum and the North African udu drum are Helmholtz resonators. Gourd resonators with small holes in them that are placed under marimba bars are also Helmholtz resonators. To recognize this ancient African understanding, the AMI marimba logo is a gourd with a hole in it underneath a marimba bar. This underscores a story that repeats over and over in African music: Africans had a working knowledge of physical principles thousands of years before Europeans developed the scientific understanding of those physical principles, pointing to the genius that existed in indiginous African culture.
Learn more about Helmholtz resonators in Wikipedia.
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