January 11, 2007
Welcome to the Treblito, a Partner for the Sansula

The Treblito is a Treble Hugh Tracey Kalimba that has had every other tine removed. So, we go from 17 tines to 9 tines. Why do this? This idea came to me through Pat Hickey, and I traced it back to N. Scott Robinson, who believes the treble's tines are too close together to play cleanly or easily. There is some truth to this, though a skilled 17-note Treble player can be quite amazing. No doubt, however, it is easier to start on something like the Treblito, though there is no instructional material for it (yet).

How do you tune the remaining 9 notes of the Treblito? Well, that's half the fun.

Originally, I tuned the Treblito to something that would fit with the other Hugh Tracey G-tuned kalimbas. The bottom part is pentatonic, but the top notes are not.

Then I started playing the Treblito with the Sansula - two beautiful instruments together - and I found I had to retune. This is what I ended up on.

This tuning is in the key of C (as is the Sansula), but it skips one note of the diatonic scale. If you look back to yesterday's tip, instead of 7 unique notes, we've only got 6 unique notes, which means that the octaves will be on the SAME side (vs. what we talked about in yesterday's tip). That's right - look at the pairs of colored tines on the same side - they are octaves. Anyway, I find this tuning to work very well with the sansula. More soon!