July 25, 2006
Using KtabS

If you get my e-NEWSLETTER, then you already know that something wonderful is happening in the kalimba world RIGHT NOW! Please check out this great new software for playing and creating Kalimba Tablature.

To show you how useful this software is, we'll walk you through how to use it. You can download a 15 day trial version of KtabS, then download the KtabS song Folktune , which is shown in the image below:

After you install KtabS, when you download FolkTune your computer launches the KtabS software. Up pops KtabS displaying the tablature you see above, only NOW it's ALIVE!

• Hit "play" (the green arrow button).
• Would you like that to repeat more times so you can practice it? Right-click at the ending repeat sign and select "repeat count", try for 4 repeats.
• Would you like to slow it down so it is easier to follow? Go to the bottom of the song by clicking the green "down" arrow button, then hover over the "Insert" menu item. Select "Temp". How slow? It was at 140 beats per minute. Lets try slowing down to 100 beats per minute. As you learn the piece and can play along with it, try speeding up the music until you have it as fast as sounds right to YOU.
• Would you like to change some of the notes? Add notes by first selecting the spot on the Tablature where you want to put (or remove) a note. The written note will play. If you then left click on the written note, it disappears. If you then click on another note, it appears.

Have fun!

Oh, the above song was written on the 8-note kalimba, which is in the key of C. I just cut and paste the exact same song onto a 15-note Alto kalimba template, and transposed down 5 semitones, and NOW I've got the same song, but it is in the key of G and you can play it on the ALTO kalimba!

Download the KtabS song Folktune for the Alto,which is shown in the image below:

Playing around with KtabS is a really good way to learn to play any kalimba. And since KtabS is reconfigurable, it will work with any tuning or note layout your kalimba has.