Kalimba Music for Hospice Patients… and Free Tabs for “This Is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations”,

“This is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations”

Playing kalimba helps me through the good times and the hard times in my life.

In May, when I traveled to Longmont Colorado to facilitate my father’s memorial service, I saw on Facebook that a long time friend, LS, was in hospice… also in Longmont. I had known LS for over 30 years, but I had not seen him since 2019. I reached out to his wife to ask if I could come and see him and play music for him. There was a 36 hour delay in the communication (Facebook messenger), but my friend was still alive when I was given his location and permission to come.

I went to see LS first thing in the morning. I brought my guitar, my alto recorder, and my 17-Note Kalimba. LS was unresponsive, and his breathing was labored but steady. I held his hand, and shared some of my memories of him through the years. I told him what a good man he was, a good and loving man for his family, and for his church. I realized that I could have been a better friend to him over the years. I had never imagined that someday he would die, but of course that is the fate of all of us. I could not change the past, but I could be present for him in this moment.

As the tears fell freely down my cheeks, I played some of the songs I remembered from our annual regional church gatherings: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” on guitar… “Amazing Grace” on recorder… and “This Is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations” and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” on my kalimba.

I don’t know if LS could hear my words and my music. While my intent was for these sentiments and sounds to comfort him in this difficult moment, it is possible that my music was only heard by me, the staff present, and the visitors who were there before and after me. Either way, my words glowed with love and appreciation, and my music was played with beauty and caring. They were heard by ears, and they touched hearts. And the fact that I had no idea if they touched LS or not made me realize that moving forward, I need to reach out with love to all those who cross my path, so that they might hear and be touched now, when I know they are present.

Part of my mission is to be responsive to each person – to play songs that are meaningful to them. That means you have to know something about the person you are playing for. This is true, whether they are in hospice or in good health. Music can heal us, can transport us, can lift us up, or bring us down to a tender place. This is a wonderful privilege, for someone to trust us to put their heart in our hands and let us transport them through our music. I remember this each day, and it is part of the reason why I practice old songs and learn new ones.

You can download the tablature for Jesu for free here.

There are more classical songs for kalimba here.

Peace and Protest Songs Download (Zip File) has the song “This is My Song”

About the song “This is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations”

The music is from the classical symphony “Finlandia” by Sibelius, in 1899. It was a patriotic hymn for Sibelius’ homeland of Finland, and a subtle protest against Russian influence. The words were written by Lloyd Stone, who in 1934, at the age of 17, wrote this optimistic poem, acknowledging his nationalistic feelings of love for his country, yet understanding that all peoples love their homelands. It is a plea for peace, a hymn to a universal God of all people:

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

And this is a deeply meaningful song for people in peace churches or the peace movement.

Tablature for “This is My Song, Oh God of All the Nations”

Above are the tablature for “This is My Song” on the 15-Note Alto Kalimba (left) and the C/17 Kalimba. The Peace Songs download has tablature for the Alto Kalimba. Even though the two instruments are in different keys, they both have the root note (the “1”) in the central tine, and alternate sides in the same way. If you look at the notes on the tablature, they are exactly the same with respect to the painted tines. This means that you can use the Alto tabs for the C17 kalimba, if you have your C17 kalimba painted in the 6-panted tine system.

It also means that, if you learn a song on the Alto Kalimba, you can play it on the 17-Note Kalimba in C… and vise versa.

An Instrument of Peace

Each musical instrument has its own voice, its own uses. The kalimba has a soft, soothing, beautiful sound. It really lends itself to playing for children, for sick people, and for people in hospice… especially if you find the right songs for the person you are playing for.

Yes, the kalimba is an instrument of peace.