Kalimba Duets and Triosfor

Alto Kalimba, Treble Kalimba, Cloud 9 Marimbula,

Sansula, Treblito, Pentatonic Kalimba,

Karimba, and 8-Note Kalimba

Mark Holdaway

www.KalimbaMagic.com

This book is designed to help the growing kalimba community open to the possibilities of kalimba music

for groups. There has been very little kalimba music written for groups, largely because it can sound so

exciting and fun when kalimba groups improvise or make up their own parts. This collection of kalimba

duets is unique, and it seeks to achieve significant depth in pieces such as Los Lobos’ Saint Behind the

Glass and The Dance of Time, while maintaining significant breadth by including material for a wide

range of kalimbas. There is also a wide range of difficulty in this book: the pieces in the beginning of this

book are easy enough that many beginners can learn to play them in a single sitting, but even expert

players will be challenged by the material at the end of the book.

Several people have contributed to this book effort: Sharon Eaton has written, co-written, and arranged

several pieces in this book, and she has also been instrumental in perfecting the interface with KTabS and

in proofreading. Deb Driskill co-wrote two pieces in this book and did the photography. And two of my

students, Glen Davis and Della Estrada, each co-wrote a duet.

The KTabS Software will show you how these songs go

Unlike the other Kalimba Magic books, this one does not come with a CD. We expect to produce an

artistic CD using many of these duets later this year. But you don’t have to wait for the CD to hear what

these tunes sound like: you can download the KTabS files for all of these tunes for free!

Go to http://ktabs.theirhouse.org, register, go to the MyKTabS page, and download the Duets KPack.

To play these files, you must also get the trial version of KTabS, or purchase KTabS or the KTabS reader.

The KTabS programs allow you to “play” these songs on your Windows computer: on the screen you will

see the tines to be played are highlighted as the sound they make comes out the speakers. To play both

parts of a duet together in KTabS, Open both duet files, select Tile Windows to display them side by side,

and select Tie All Views Together to make all windows play together, and then click on the play button.

This will be a valuable tool for helping you understand how each piece is to be played.

copyright 2007 Mark Holdaway

Table of Contents

Jewelry Box Alto-Treble 5

Waters Alto-Treble 6

Sansula Song Sansula-Cloud9 8

Hourglass Sansula-Alto 9

Silly Duet Treble-Alto 10

Lazy Summer Alto-Cloud9-Treble 11

Lilting Lullaby Treble-Alto 12

Dark and Light Alto-Treble 16

Dona Nobis Pachem Four Altos 18

Buddy Holly Alto-Alto 20

Out of the Whirlwind Sansula-Treblito 21

SnowDay Treble-Alto 24

RestStop Treble-Alto-Cloud9 28

Peanut Vendor Cloud9-Alto-Treble 31

Cloud Walk Alto-Treble-Cloud9 34

Go Down Into Your Cellar Alto-Treble 37

African Karimba-Pentatonic 38

GreyCat Sansula-Treblito 40

Stardust Sansula-Treblito 41

Classical African Waltz Alto-Alto 42

Cool Song for the 8-Note 8-Note-Cloud9 44

Moon Jump Alto-Treble-Alto 46

Karimba City Three Karimbas 47

Glen’s Song Sansula-Cloud9 48

Gillian Welch DmTreble-Cloud9 50

Carol of the Bells Alto-Treble 54

Dance of Time Treble-Alto-Alto 56

Ding Dong Duet Treble-Alto 62

Saint Behind the Glass Treble-Cloud9 64

White Coral Bells Treble-Treble-Alto 67

Bach to Bach Alto-Treble 68

Goodnight Irene Treble-Alto 71

Kalimba Tablature

The duets and trios in this book are written in Kalimba Tablature. Regular music staff has five lines per

stanza and runs left to right across the page. Music written on a staff is general and is not tied to any

specific instrument, and so requires an extra symbolic operation: translating from written music to which

note to play, and then translating the note to be played to a specific action on your instrument (ie, which

tine to play on the kalimba). Kalimba Tablature is more physically symbolic of the specific kalimba you

have in your hand. Instead of five lines, the kalimba tablature in this book has 8, 9, 11, 15, or 17 spaces,

each representing a kalimba tine, running up the page from bottom to top. The advantage is its simplicity:

it is just a map of your kalimba, and it shows you which tines to play, and when. You don’t need to know

anything about which note you are playing, though it doesn’t hurt to know. A disadvantage is that you

need a different sort of tablature for each new kalimba. However, once you learn how to read the tabla-

ture for one kalimba, you will find the tablature for the other kalimbas to be very similar.

Here is a short two measure example of the Alto kalimba’s tabla-

ture, or tab for short. The diagram looks like the tines of an Alto

kalimba. The thin dark line in the center indicates an invisible

boundary between tines which generally belong to the right and

left thumbs. On the Alto kalimba, several tines are painted to help

you keep your place. We shade those tines in the tab, which helps

you transfer the note from the page to your kalimba. The longer

tines are represented as longer in the tab. If you understand a bit of

music theory, the note names included at the bottom will be help-

ful. Some duets use kalimbas with non-standard tunings, and the

note names will indicate how to tune your kalimba. The numbers

to the right of the tab indicate the measure number. The horizonal

line next to 2 is a bar line, and this is the beginning of measure 2.

The symbol at the very top, a double horizontal line with two small

dots, means “repeat”. If a number is shown between the two dots,

that tells you how many times to repeat (if no number is present, just repeat once; if 2 is present, play it

the first time, then repeat twice, or 3 times in all). The 3/4 at bottom left indicates this piece is in “3/4

time”, which means three beats per measure and a quarter note gets a beat.

Alto Tablature

Sansula Tablature

To the left is a two measure example of Sansula tablature.

The tines on a sansula do not make a simple triangular

pattern as the Alto does, so we don’t try to represent that

detail in the tab. An important detail to note is the use of

shaded tines in the Sansula tablature. The Sansula has no

shaded tines, but the four short, raised tines are represented

in the tab with shaded spaces. This use of shading, to

represent shorter tines interleaved among longer, unshaded

tines, is used for the Sansula, the Cloud 9 Marimbula, and

for the Hugh Tracey Karimba. This tab does not indicate a

time signature; in this book, if no time signature is pro-

vided, 4/4 time is assumed. The “T=150” in the lower left

indicates the tempo is 150 beats per minute. If no tempo is

indicated, the piece was written at 120 bpm.

3

If almost none of that made sense, if you don’t know what a quarter note or a time signature is, you may

need some more help with this tablature. You could: a) consult a friend who knows how to read music, as

the rhythmic aspects of tablature and staff music are identical, b) download the Duets KPack from the

website http://ktabs.theirhouse.org and listen to how the songs go, comparing the sound to what the

tablature looks like, and you’ll probably get it, c) purchase one of the easier books from my website

http://www.kalimbamagic.com, or d) drop me an email at kalimba@markholdaway.com.

Some notes on conventions: separate parts, different repeats

Often duets are written with the two parts connected, measure by measure. Instead, we print each

instrument’s part separately. In so doing, we sometimes break standard conventions and it may appear

that the two different parts have different numbers of measures. If this appears to be the case, then the

part that appears shorter will compensate for this apparent difference by repeating some section more

times so that the actual length of the two parts is the same. This should become apparent when you play

the KTabS versions. Several duets are more than two pages long, so you will have to copy one part, and

one player can look at the book while the other player looks at the copy. If not stated explicitly, the music

was composed or arranged for kalimba by Mark Holdaway.

Tuning Your Kalimba

The most important thing you can do to make this music sound good is to be in tune. I recommend the

Korg CA-30 electronic tuner, which costs $20-$30. For more tuning tips, check the archive of the Ka-

limba Tips of the Day at http://www.kalimbamagic.com/tipoftheday/tip.php

Where to Get Kalimbas

African Musical Instruments makes the Hugh Tracey kalimbas used in this book: the Alto, Treble, Kar-

imba, Pentatonic, and Treblito. If you go to www.kalimbamagic.com, you can look up the Hugh Tracey

Kalimba retailers (I always like to play an instrument before I buy it), or you can purchase a kalimba on

line at the same site. As the Treblito is made by removing 8 out of the 17 tines on the Treble, you will

have to make it yourself or special order it from me. The Sansulas are made by Hokema, and they are

also available at Kalimba Magic. There are many 8-Note kalimbas available on the market, but I prefer

the Catania and Hugh Tracey 8-Note kalimbas.

Building Duets to Build Love

Of course, you are free to use this book however you want. But I’ll share with you my vision of how the

duets in this book might be used: to build trust, love, intimacy, and joy. You probably already know the

kalimba is a magical instrument capable of instantaneously changing your entire outlook on life for the

better. Just think what could happen if you unleashed that power on groups of two or three people?

There are many ways of playing together, and playing set music such as these duets is just one way. I

hope you will make these tunes your own by arranging them to suit your needs, by adding improvised

sections or creating your own original variations. Or use the ideas in these tunes as starting-off points for

your own creations. But I do hope that the music in this book helps to make your corner of the world a

better and more beautiful place.

-Blessings! -Mark Holdaway, January 2007

4

Jewelry Box Alto and Treble

Alto Treble

5

Waters Alto Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

6

7

Waters Treble Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

A Sansula Song Sansula and Cloud 9

Sansula Cloud 9

8

Sansula Alto

Hourglass Sansula and Alto 9

Silly Duet Treble and Alto10

Treble Alto

Lazy Summer Alto, Cloud 9, and TrebleThe alto and treble kalimbas require special tunings.

11

Alto Cloud 9 Treble

This song is in the key of C and requires retuning the alto and treble kalimbas. Let the treble chords ring

out, and use your wah wah. Try other chords and see how they work.

Lilting Lullaby Treble, p 1 Sharon Eaton

This piece requires tuning to the key of C.

12

The alto and treble kalimbas come in the key of G, ie with F#. Tune them down to F natural to get to the key of C.

Lilting Lullaby Alto, p 1 Sharon Eaton

This piece requires tuning to the key of C.

13

The alto and treble kalimbas come in the key of G, ie with F#. Tune them down to F natural to get to the key of C.

Lilting Lullaby Treble, p 2 Sharon Eaton

This piece requires tuning to the key of C.

14

Lilting Lullaby Alto, p 2 Sharon Eaton

This piece requires tuning to the key of C.

15

Dark and Light Alto16

This is the title track to

Mark Holdaway’s new

CD, Between the Dark

and the Light. The two

kalimbas trade off parts

that compliment each

other, two sides of a Yin-

Yang symbol.

Dark and Light Treble17

Dona Nobis Pachem Four Altos18

Alto 1 Alto 2

This song is a well-known round with

three different parts. The first three Alto

parts correspond more or less to the vocal

parts. You can play the 2nd and 3rd parts

on a Treble with no problem.

19

Alto 3 Fancy Alto

Usually this round is sung without

instrumental accompaniment. However,

the kalimba makes a beautiful compli-

ment to the vocals. This fancy part can

go well with the three vocal parts.

Buddy Holly Alto and Alto20

Alto 1 Alto 2

Out of the Whirlwind Sansula and Treblito21

Sansula Treblito

Out of the Whirlwind (variation) Sansula22

Variations are easy to make on the ka-

limba. An easy way to make a variation

is to make a mistake that happens to

sound good. If you do that, just make a

note of what you did different, and file

that away in your index of variations.

You can build complicated structures by

arranging the variations, either in advance

or “on the fly”.

Here are variations on the song on the

previous page. You could mix and match,

using one treblito part and the other

sansula part, but note that the parts here

are 16 measures, while the parts on the

previous page are 8 measures.

Out of the Whirlwind (variation) Treblito23

Snow Day Treble, p 1 Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

24

25

Snow Day Alto, p 1 Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

26

Snow Day Treble, p 2 Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

27

Snow Day Alto, p 2 Sharon Eaton & Mark Holdaway

Rest Stop Treble Mark Holdaway and Deb Driskill

28

29

Rest Stop Alto Mark Holdaway and Deb Driskill

Rest Stop Cloud 9 Mark Holdaway and Deb Driskill

30

The Peanut Vendor Cloud 9 Simons & Sunshine

31

The Peanut Vendor Alto Simons & Sunshine

32

This is a famous standard in

Latin Jazz, and you can find

many good recordings of it. One

of the less known recordings is

on my Kalimba CD, Between the

Dark and the Light. It works

perfectly well as a duet between

the Alto and the Treble, but a

bass part really makes it swing.

If you don’t have a Cloud Nine

Marimbula, see if you can get

someone to play an upright bass

part.

Once the Alto accompaniment

riff is going, the Treble kalimba

could improvise all day long, but

the Treble part shown here

should get you started!

The Peanut Vendor Treble Simons & Sunshine

33

Cloud Walk Alto34

35

Cloud Walk Treble

Cloud Walk Cloud 936

Go Down Into Your Cellar Alto and Treble traditional

37

Alto Treble

African Karimba38

It is easier to play African-sounding melo-

dies on the African Karimba and the

pentatonic kalimba. I have retuned my

personal karimba from its native A down

to G so it can play with the other Hugh

Tracey kalimbas.

African Pentatonic39

The pentatonic kalimba is a good choice for

a lead instrument against the textured fabric

of the karimba.

GreyCat Sansula & Treblito Della Estrada & Mark Holdaway

40

Sansula Treblito