December 7, 2006
Retuning Your Pentatonic Kalimba in KTabS

More about the pentatonic kalimba/pentatonic scale.

A cool thing to do is to experiment with different kalimba tunings. This is what every single group of Africans did when they were first exposed to the kalimba centuries ago. They adapted the kalimba to the scales that fit their own music. So, why not you too?

Back then in Africa, there was no such thing as MIDI or the TEMPERED SCALE, so people could tune the tines to any pitch they wanted. You have that option too, though if you are using KTabS, you are restricted to just the notes of the western tempered scale (i.e., all the notes a piano has).

I am suggesting that instead of retuning your kalimba and experimenting, that you retune KTabS and experiment. It's fun, fast, and easy.

Almost half of the pentatonic kalimbas I sell are tuned to the G minor pentatonic scale; they are tuned to G major pentatonic when they get shippd from Africa. So, when I wrote my book, I devoted half of it to the G major pentatonic, and half to the G minor pentatonic.

Now, here is a really cool thing to do: find a pattern that sounds good on the pentatonic kalimba (either the real one in your hands or the virtual one in the computer). Just a 4-8 beat pattern will do. Write it down in KTabS (see YESTERDAY'S Tip if you don't know how to add notes). Now save this file. Then click on the configuration button on the upper toolbar, and VIRTUALLY retune your kalimba.

At first, just retune the tines by a half step or a whole step - i.e., keep the notes pretty close to what they started out as. And then PLAY your composition with the new tuning. Not what you wanted? OK, figure out which notes (tines) don't sound good, and retune them. At this point, I would recommend just going up or down by a half step (i.e., the very next note on the piano keyboard, black or white). Usually if a note sounds bad, you can make it sound right by switching to the very next note up or down.

When you get something that sounds good, SAVE AS a new file. Now you have two different songs that are played exactly the same but sound different because the tuning is different. If you like it enough, go and change the tuning of your pentatonic kalimba to match the virtual tuning. Remember, an electronic tuner can be very helpful with retuning. The Korg CA-30 sells now for $20 through the big music chain stores.

Good luck!