Monday, March 19, 2007
New Tunings Available for 8-Note Kalimbas

While away at a Quaker retreat on spiritual deepening, I had a flash of inspiration. I've reported here before a message which came to me once: "God has given us all the notes, it is our job to take these tools and to do something beautiful with them". Now, that is not exactly true, as the Friday Tips are leading us to understand, but there are deep truths within that statement. One of them is that if we have a kalimba tuned in a particular way, that tuning will lead us in a certain emotional direction, and will inspire certain types of music.

Not everyone is comfortable with retuning kalimbas, but this is a place where a lot of good work is going to be happening in the coming months and years. Gary Diggens has been doing music therapy with folks, using certain tunings of the kalimba to help people express and vocalize different types of emotions. So, the idea came to me: let's explore these different tunings, and make them all available at the Kalimba Shop as an option on the kalimba (just like you can select the size of the Alaska Picks).

The easiest place to start is the 8-Note. The 8-Note kalimbas are a great place to learn about different scales, because there is typically just one octave on this instrument. Its also a good place to start because the 8-Note kalimbas are inexpensive. Great kalimba players could get 2, 3, 4, or 5 8-Note kalimbas in different tunings, just as great harmonica players have many keys of harmonica. OR, therapists could get 3 or 4 different 8-Note kalimbas, each tuned to a different "range of emotions."

Let's start with the Middle Eastern Tuning #3 for the 8-Note:

Read tomorrow's tip to learn more about using this Middle Eastern scale on your 8-Note Kalimba!

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