June 29, 2006
The Upper Row of Karimba Tines

The karimba has two rows of tines: a lower row of nine tines, and an upper row of eight tines.

Place your left and right thumbs on the outermost tines of the upper row and play at the same time. They should be the same note (if not, then get your tuner out!) Now move your thumbs in to the next tines towards the center and play left and right at the same time. Again they should be the same note. And for a third time again, the same note. Now, for the two central tines, you will see right away that they are very different lengths: the left-central tine is the shortest and highest on the karimba, and is the root note two octaves up. The right-central tine is the 4th of the scale.

You probably know that on a piano or a marimba, there is only one way to play each note. On the other hand, you may know that on a guitar, trumpet, or flute, many notes can be played in two or three different ways. These alternative ways to make the notes give you flexibility in playing your instrument.

Here is what you gain from the upper tines of the karimba: the two central tines can be played by either left or right thumb, and the outer three tines on left or right play the same notes. So, there are only five unique notes on the upper row of tines, but you can play those five notes with either left or right thumb. Hence, you can play a melody line on the upper tines with your left thumb while the right thumb plays a backing part on the lower row of tines, and then you can flip to play a different backing part on the lower row of tines with your left thumb, and keep on playing the same melody on the upper row of tines with your right thumb.