Blog

Here is a general history of how people notated kalimba music, roughly 1950 through 2004: @kalimbamagic##Kalimba ##kalimbatutorial ##kalimbatablature ##kalimbahistory ♬ original sound – kalimbamagic Here is a quick guide to the kalimba tablature I invented in 2004: @kalimbamagicIntro to Kalimba Tablature. ##kalimba ##kalimbatutorial ##kalimbatabs ##kalimbamusic ♬ original sound – kalimbamagic I have written like 60 instructional downloads and 30 hard copy books for various kalimbas, mostly based on my kalimba tablature. This little video gives a quick tour of some of the breadth and depth of the kalimba books I have created: @kalimbamagicI’ve written dozens of Kalimba Books for many types of Kalimba.##kalimbatutorial ♬ original sound – kalimbamagic   How

A lot of people in recent years have come to the mistaken conclusion that the kalimba is a Chinese instrument. Until about 2017, the Chinese-made kalimbas were relatively rare. In fact, they are modeled after the African-made Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba. But the kalimba’s African history is much deeper than that! This TikTok video gives you the 59 second story of where the African kalimba comes from. @kalimbamagic##kalimba ##kalimbamusic ##kalimbahistory ##fyp ##africanhistory ##hughtraceykalimba ##mbira ##karimba ##mbiradzavadzimu ##mbiranyunganyunga♬ original sound – kalimbamagic

6-Painted Tine System The 6-painted tine system is our standard. Our tuning insert is set up that way. My personal 17-Note Kalimbas in C are painted that way. The books I write have 6-painted tine tablature. But not every 17-Note Kalimba is painted this way. The Treble Kalimba has Five Painted Tines The Original Hugh Tracey 17-Note Treble Kalimba, I paint the same way that Hugh Tracey painted in 1954. Why? Because it has always been painted that way. When people pick up a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba, and see the middle tine painted, they realize that is the 3rd of the scale. After that lowest tine is paint, as

Do you have a 17-Note Kalimba in the 5-painted tine system? We have just translated our two most popular ebooks to be compatible with the 5-painted tine kalimba. In this article, I am not going to tell you WHY there are two competing tine painting systems for the 17-Note Kalimba. I WILL tell you that until last week, all of the books and ebooks I have created for the 17-Note Kalimba in C have been in the “6-painted tine system” – ie, the red tines in the photo. In this article, and in the new ebooks, the “5-painted tine system” is represented by green tines. Introduction to the 17-Note Kalimba

Yes, that is me dressed in black holding a guitar. Even though I make my living playing kalimba, I probably spend as much time playing guitar as kalimba. And I like that photo! Hey – I started making kalimba videos on TikTok, and I’m having a lot of fun. Here are some of the types of kalimba videos I am creating: Duets with other musicians on TikTok Pop songs on Kalimba Visits to beautiful places around my world with the Kalimba Tips for your Kalimba playing Eventually, I aim to get videos of every single Kalimba type and tuning that I have in my collection Upcoming Kalimba Magic giveaways! Kalimba

Last newsletter, we had a contest to see who could figure out the song that was in the new tablature “logo” image. OK – here is the video: And here is the tablature for the song: On the green kalimba in the video, I have tuned my high C to C#. Why? Because the song goes that way. I could have played this on a chromatic kalimba, but I really liked having Thing hand me the second kalimba. Congratulations to the first three people who told me what the song was: 1: Mary Bragg 2: Lisa Cuthbert 3: Holly Soptick Thank you for playing! But where are the guys? About

A number of people have recently asked me for tablature for Hava Nagila. Like everything I do… it is complicated. For starters, here is a video of a pretty hot performance on a Middle Eastern-tuned Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba. This will surely be set up differently than your kalimba, so enjoy listening, but you probably won’t be playing along with this one: Hava Nagila on a Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba in Middle Eastern Tuning. I have buzzers on this kalimba, and it is being played in a gourd deze, which amplifies and buzzifies the sound. That black thing is a guitar strap that goes over my neck to support the

David Pomatti of Japan has sent a PDF of free tablature for the 17-Note Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba. With David’s consent, I am making this music available to you for free. It is hand written kalimba tablature and hand written staff notation, and also includes the original piano sheet music in the original key. This gives you a clear idea of what is included in this free PDF:           Treble Kalimba Tuning If you didn’t get the memo, the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba is painted with a 5-painted tine system, but is in the key of G, with a low note of B, the 3rd of

While a lot of people buy the 17-Note kalimbas, I know for a fact that a lot of these sit unplayed. While 17 notes seems small compared to a piano, 17 notes in your hands can be more than you bargained for. Learn on the Central, Lower 10 Notes I have just finished a great introductory book for the 10-Note Kalimba in C, and as you can see from the diagram above, the 10-Note kalimba “fits within” the 17-Note kalimba. The notes and the painting marks are the same, until you get to the outer seven notes. And here is the clever thing: you don’t have to get the 10-Note