Welcome - I’m Tom Gates and this site is all about the chromatic kalimba.
Whenever somebody asks me if I read alot, I tell them that I read the dictionary – every other book is in there.
The chromatic kalimba is like that – every other kalimba is in there. Every kalimba player should own a chromatic kalimba.
On my song New Dream I play chromatic kalimba as well as guitar and steel drum. With Glen Fisher-bass and Steve Gadd-drums:
Until recently, commercially available kalimbas were limited to several non-chromatic tunings.
The Hugh Tracey Chromatic Kalimba is a breakthrough. On its top side, the Hugh Tracey chromatic kalimba has the same notes as the white keys of a piano (the key of C major – no sharps or flats). On the bottom side – the black keys (all of the sharps and flats). This front-back design is a simple, elegant way to provide the player with the necessary chromatic notes and at the same time, allow for the use of multiple fingers on those notes. This means that when playing in the key of E major (a favorite guitar key) for example, I can play up to 6 note chords by using the two thumbs on the top side and four fingers on the bottom! I’m a fan of jazz harmony and when I first played an Emajor 7,69 chord on my chromatic kalimba, I knew it was a new world.
Definitions of common musical scales-
Chromatic- A musical scale with twelve equally spaced pitches, each a semitone apart. A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale having no tonic due to the symmetry of its equally spaced tones. A chromatic instrument can play in any key, and can play any diatonic, pentatonic, or other scales.
Diatonic-in music, any stepwise arrangement of the seven “natural” pitches (scale degrees) forming an octave without altering the established pattern of a key or mode-in particular, the major and natural minor scales. A diatonic instrument can play in one major or minor key and can also play several pentatonic scales.
Pentatonic-musical scale containing five different tones. It is thought that the pentatonic scale represents an early stage of musical development, because it is found, in different forms, in most of the world’s music.
A piano with only white keys? Diatonic in the key of C.
A harp with just 5 strings? Pentatonic.
Yes, you can play a lot of songs on a diatonic kalimba, but no matter how many instruments you bring to a performance, you will not be able to play most of the greatest music of all time. Even the simplest piece by J.S. Bach and most Beatles songs require a chromatic instrument to play properly.
All common musical instruments evolve toward chromaticism. The first flutes, perhaps made from reeds or bone, had only several pitches. The Lyre, a harp-like ancestor of all string instruments, bore just a few open strings. As music evolved, so did instruments.
I do not mean to belittle or underestimate the importance of non-chromatic instruments like the original kalimba. The ancient history and traditions of many countries continue to make profound use of non-chromatic scales. In education and music therapy, simplified instruments can provide an instant musical experience.
How To Learn Chromatic Kalimba
I will be posting video lessons on learning the chromatic kalimba. These lessons will cover music theory, analysis and performance of music in many styles, and improvisation.
The study of music theory can be intimidating but the rewards are immense. By breaking down the study process, the theory will become clear.
This website will be a resource for players of this remarkable instrument. An exploration of the possibilities of the chromatic kalimba.
How to Buy a Chromatic Kalimba
Currently, the place to get your chromatic kalimba is through Mark Holdaway at http://www.kalimbamagic.com/