06/21/06: Chords for the Alto and Treble Kalimbas
06/28/06: Using Both Thumbs to Play Chords
07/05/06: Arpeggios: Skeletal Chords
07/12/06: Chords in Action
07/19/06: Chords in Collision
07/26/06: Chords in Collision II
08/02/06: Fixing a Buzz
08/09/06: Don't Think Twice, It's Alright: First Line
08/16/06: Don't Think Twice, It's Alright: Second Line
08/23/06: Kalimba Tuning Contest Winner: Eric Zang
08/30/06: Kalimba Tuning Contest Winner: Jim Gates
09/06/06: One More Kalimba Tuning
____________________________________________
D MINOR TUNING
09/13/06: Starry Night on Treble in D Minor Tuning
09/20/06: More Starry Night on the Treble Kalimba in D Minor Tuning
09/27/06: Starry Night: Part 3
10/04/06: The Virtues of the D Minor Tuned Kalimba (or, What's a Mode?)
10/11/06: The Virtues of the D Minor Tuned Kalimba: Playing in B Flat Lydian Mode
10/18/06: The Virtues of the D Minor Tuned Kalimba: Playing in C Mixolydian Mode
10/25/06: Some KTabs Tips
11/01/06: Turning the World on to the Kalimba One Person At a Time
11/08/06: Advanced 1-4-5 Progression on the Kalimba
11/15/06: The Positive Side of Mark's Rule of Thumb
11/22/06: More Intervals for Harmony
11/29/06: Fix Your Nails When They Break
12/06/06: Using KTabS to Write Music for Multiple Kalimbas
12/13/06: Carol of the Bells on Alto and Treble Kalimba
12/20/06: The Best Kalimba for Advanced Players
12/27/06: Pre-Guess When Tuning--This Will Improve Your Ear
01/03/07: You'll Never Lose Your Kalimba With this Kalimba Necklace
01/10/07: Changing Octaves on the Pentatonic and Diatonic Kalimbas
01/17/07: Structuring Music in Groups of Four
01/24/07: Don't Tame Your Instrument--Let It Tame You!
01/31/07: Knowing the Note or Taking the Ride
02/07/07: Relating Notes on the Alto Kalimba to Notes on the Treble Kalimba
02/14/07: Playing in Other Keys Without Retuning
02/21/07: A Few Notes on Out-of-the-Box Karimba Tuning and Fiddling With Buzzy Notes
02/28/07: How High Can You Tune a Kalimba?
03/21/07: 2 Against 3 (again!!!)
03/28/07: Building a More Complex Riff From Yesterday's Riff
04/04/07: Playing Expressively
04/11/07: The Karimba-tuned 8-Note Kalimba: a Fancy Frill
04/18/07: The Ake Bono Japanese Pentatonic Scale on the 8-Note Kalimba
04/25/07: Here is What the Hugh Tracey Celeste Diatonic Junior Can Do in the Celtic Tuning
05/02/07: What If You Are Seeing Impaired?
05/09/07: Try a Different Tuning
05/16/07: On Playing Different Kalimbas
05/23/07: Alaska Pic Instructions
RECORDING YOUR KALIMBA
05/30/07: Recording Your Kalimba: Set a Time Grid, or do a Free Form Recording?
06/06/07: Recording the Kalimba: Free Form Recording
06/13/07: Recording the Kalimba: Get in the Groove - Recording to a Time Grid
06/20/07: Recording the Kalimba: What's Important in a Groove Track? Tempo!
06/27/07: Recording the Kalimba: What's Important in a Groove Track? Swing!
07/04/07: Recording the Kalimba: What's Important in a Groove Track? Subtlety!
07/11/07: Recording the Kalimba: Get Audacity for Free
07/18/07: Recording the Kalimba: After You Install Audacity, You Need a Microphone
07/25/07: Recording the Kalimba: Making MP3 Files
08/01/07: Recording the Kalimba: I use Stereo Miking in the Studio
08/08/07: Recording the Kalimba: Try Routing the Signal Through an Effects Processor
08/15/07: Recording the Kalimba: Mixing Down
08/22/07: Recording the Kalimba: What About Burning a CD?
08/29/07: Recording the Kalimba: File Compression
09/05/07: Recording the Kalimba: Converting from WAV to MP3 Format
PERFORMING ON THE KALIMBA
09/19/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Live Performances
09/26/07: Performing on the Kalimba: The Energy of an Observer
10/03/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Get Used to Being Distracted
10/10/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Should You Look at What You Are Doing?
10/1707: Performing on the Kalimba: But are they paying attention to you?
10/24/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Getting the Audience's Attention
10/31/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Your Kalimba Moment
11/07/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Improvisation
11/14/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Performing a Prepared Piece
11/21/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Prepared Piece With Breathing Room
11/28/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Solo or Accompanied?
12/05/07: Performing on the Kalimba: Kalimba as Supportive Instrument
OLIVER MTUKUDZI'S NDAKUVARA
12/12/07: Oliver Mtukudzi's Ndakuvara: Kalimba and Key?
12/19/07: Kalimba Part for Main Verse Riff
12/26/07: Retune Your Alto to A Minor
01/02/08: Learn the Second Bit First
01/09/08: Learn the 1A Part with the 2 Part
01/16/08: Learn the 1B Part with the 2 Part
BUILDING A GOURD RESONATOR OR A GOURD KALIMBA
01/23/08: Introduction
01/30/08: Playing Kalimba Inside a Gourd
02/06/08: A Great Place to Purchase Gourds
02/13/08: Cleaning Your Gourd's Skin
02/20/08: Sawing Open Your Gourd
02/27/08: Cleaning Out the Inside of Your Gourd
03/05/08: Sanding the Lip of Your Gourd
03/12/08: How Does the Kalimba Fit in the Resonator Gourd?
03/19/08: Decorating a Resonator Gourd
03/26/08: Buying the Face Wood
04/02/08: Cutting the Face
04/09/08: Making the Bridge
04/16/08: Gluing the Face
04/23/08: Tuning Up
04/30/08: Make One or Purchase One?
05/07/08: Inspiration
THE WAH WAH EFFECT
05/21/08: Intro to the Wah Wah Effect Series
05/28/08: The Wah Wah Varies Across the Tines
06/04/08: The Wah Wah Shifts the Resonant Frequency to a Lower Pitch
06/11/08: The Wah Wah Engage Distance
06/18/08: Wah Wah for People with Small Hands
06/25/08: Using Your Free Thumb to Do the Wah Wah
07/02/08: How to Wah Wah When Your Thumbs are Busy
07/09/08: The Subtle Wah Wah
07/16/08: Minimize Noise by Clipping Your Nails
07/23/08: Explore the Expressive Kalimba
07/30/08: On the Origin of the Wah Wah Sound Hole
BUILDING ON THE SANSULA
08/06/08: Less is More
08/13/08: A Riff Using Four Notes
08/20/08: A Complementary Riff
08/27/08: The Two Riffs Together
09/03/08: Analysis
09/10/08: A Fast Riff
09/17/08: A Complementary Fast Riff
09/24/08: Building in Complexity by Combining the Two Riffs
10/08/08: Square Music--Building Through Powers of Two
LEARNING FIRST LOOK INSIDE
10/15/08: Part 1: Getting Started
10/22/08: Part 2: How I Wrote this Song
10/29/08: Part 3: More About How I Wrote this Song
11/05/08: Part 4: Intro Phrase
11/12/08: Part 5: Buildup
11/19/08: Part 6: Groove 1
11/26/08: Part 7: Groove 2
12/03/08: Part 8: Groove 3
12/10/08: Part 9: Groove 4
12/17/08: Part 10: Groove 5
12/24/08: Part 11: A New Chord Progression
12/31/08: Kalimba Magic's Toast to 2009!
LEARNING FIRST LOOK INSIDE (cont'd)
01/07/09: Part 12: Chord Progression Turnaround
01/14/09: Part 13: Heart of the Song—1st Chord
01/21/09: Part 14: Heart of the Song—2nd Chord
01/28/09: Part 15: Heart of the Song—Chords 1 & 2
02/04/09: Part 16: Heart of the Song—the Turnaround
02/11/09: Part 17: Putting Together the Heart of the Song
02/18/09: Taking a Breath!
02/25/09: Part 18: Jam after the Heart
03/04/09: Part 19: Jam after the Heart, Another Variation
03/11/09: Part 20: The Turnaround at the End of the Jam
03/18/09: Part 21: Reprise of the D - A - B minor Progression
03/25/09: Part 22: Outro
04/01/09: Putting it All Together
LEARNING I'M MOVING TOMORROW
04/08/09: Introduction
04/15/09: Learning the Intro
04/22/09: Measures 16-23
04/29/09: Measures 24-32
05/06/09: Measures 33-40
05/13/09: Measures 41-48
05/20/09: Measure 49-56
05/27/09: Measures 57-60
06/03/09: Measures 61-65
07/08/09: Measures 65-72
07/15/09: Measures 73-80
07/22/09: Measures 81-88
07/29/09: Measures 89-96
08/05/09: Measures 97-112
08/19/09: Conclusion
08/26/09: Yekermo Sew on Video
TECHNIQUES
09/02/09: 1 - Two Note Chords on Adjacent Tines
09/09/09: 2 - Glissando
09/16/09: 3 - Wah Wah & Vibrato
10/07/09: 4 - The Deliberate Glissando
10/14/09: 5 - The Downward Glissando
10/21/09: 6 - Using Your Right Thumb and Index Finger
10/28/09: 7 - Right Thumb and Index Finger Simultaneously
11/04/09: 8 - Both Right and Left Forefingers and Thumbs
11/11/09: 9 - Down Up with Thumb (William Tell)
11/18/09: 10 - Lowest Note Cross Over
11/25/09: 11 - High Note Finger Cross Over
(techniques cont'd below)
HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
12/09/09: First Line - Advanced
12/16/09: Second Line - Advanced
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES (cont'd from above)
01/06/10: 12 - Tine Beating
01/13/10: 13 - Pulloffs
01/20/10: 14 -Doppler Shift by Shaking Your Kalimba
01/27/10: 15 - Sing the Note You Don't Have
02/03/10: 16 - Guess the Technique and Win a CD
02/10/10: 17 - The Way It Is
02/24/10: Right Index Finger over the Thumb
03/03/10: Retrospective
KALIMBA & GUITAR LESSONS
03/10/10: List the Chords That You Know
03/17/10: Go Back and Forth Between All Chord Possibilities
03/24/10: What Chord Combinations Feel Right?
03/31/10: Adding a Third Chord
EXPLORING THE 12-NOTE KALIMBA
06/09/10: Counterpoint on the 12-Note Kalimba
KALIMBA AMERICANA FOR THE ALTO KALIMBA
06/16/10: Cielito Lindo - Basic
06/23/10: Cielito Lindo - Advanced
07/07/10: Three Ways to Pluck Kalimba Tines
07/14/10: One More River to Cross - Explained
07/21/10: Shortening Note Duration on the Alto
07/28/10: We Shall Overcome
08/11/10: Two Systems for Perceiving Kalimba Music
08/18/10: Simplify Your Playing by Using Subsets of Notes
_________________________________________________
THE I IV V CHORD PROGRESSION
08/25/10: Introducing the I IV V Chords
09/01/10: Introducing Other Voicings for I, IV and V in G
09/08/10: Adventures in Arpeggiation
09/15/10: Advanced Tablature for Arpeggiation
09/22/10: Advanced Arpeggiation Example
09/29/10: I IV V Songs: This Land is Your Land
10/06/10: Rise Up Singing PLUS Chord Chart
10/13/10: Blowin' in the Wind
10/20/10: More on Transposing Songs in Rise Up Singing
GIFTS FROM THE ANCESTORS
11/03/10: Another Gift - "Night Rider"
11/10/10: Tablature for the "Magical Spark"
11/17/10: A Closer Look at the "Magical Spark"
11/24/10: The "Magical Spark" - Exploring Inner Melodies
12/01/10: Another Inner Melody
__________________________________________________
THE MBIRA CYCLE
12/08/10: Introduction to the Mbira Cycle
12/15/10: Sadza Madya Here
12/29/10: The Karimba Cycle Revealed
01/05/11: The Karimba Cycle Mapped into I-IV-I-V
01/12/11: Introducing the Mbira Cycle
01/19/11: Relating the Mbira Cycle to the Karimba Cycle
01/26/11: Examples of the Karimba Cycle and the Mbira Cycle
02/16/11: Understanding the Mbira Cycle as Ascending by 3rds or 4ths
02/23/11: Understanding the Mbira Cycle as State Vectors
03/02/11: Starting at Other Locations -- Em
03/09/11: Starting at Other Locations -- C
03/16/11: Wrapping it all up
_______________________________________________________
DEVELOPING A REPERTOIRE
04/20/11: 1: Why a Repertoire?
04/27/11: 2: Choosing Songs for Your Kalimba
05/04/11: 3: Use Different Kalimbas and Kalimba Tunings
05/11/11: 4: African Music
05/18/11: 5: Original Songs
06/01/11: 6: Keep a Song Notebook
06/08/11: 7: Make a Song List
06/15/11: 8: Making a Set List
06/22/11: 9: Save Your Set Lists
06/29/11: Get Media that Features African Music
________________________________________________________
POINTING TO KALIMBA RESOURCES
07/06/11: The FAQs and the "Ask Mark" Newsletter Column
07/13/11: The Kalimba Magic Catalog
07/20/11: Learn Kalimba Riffs through Video
07/27/11: Kalimba Tuning Info
08/03/11: How to Use Alaska Piks
08/10/11: Thumbnail Care Guide
08/17/11: Kalimba Doctor! The Doctor is [IN]
08/24/11: Books and Downloads for the Alto Kalimba
08/31/11: New Instructional Download: Bob Marley on Kalimba!
09/07/11: Mark Holdaway!
KALIMBA IMPROVISATION
09/28/11: intro
10/05/11: Why It Works So Well
10/12/11: Shaking it Up to Get New Sounds
10/19/11: Tune in to the Kalimba's Voice
10/26/11: Inherent Patterns
11/02/11: More Inherent Patterns
11/09/11: Improvisation and Composition
11/16/11: Geometrical Improvisation
11/23/11: Repetition in Improvisation
11/30/11: Repetition and Evolution in Improvisation
12/07/11: Improvising within a Structure
01/04/12: Improvising around Structure
01/18/12: Don't Say Too Much
01/25/12: Pay Attention to Phrasing
02/08/12: What Ties Your Phrases Together?
BACK to TOP
