We Play Well Together is proud to have been presented in a virtual booth at the NAMM Show 2021 "Believe in Music" Week in January!
We've been attending NAMM in Los Angeles every year for the past few conferences. Due to the ongoing pandemic, The 2021 NAMM Show was all online. Our team got to work building a virtual exhibitor booth and we put together a ton of great video content highlighting our instrument makers and latest products! We'll be highlighting these videos in blog posts and newsletters to our We Play Well Together community in the weeks and months ahead.
Stillpoint for the Solstice: A Gathering for Sound, Movement & Meditation
We invite you to join us in community as we pause to go deep, deep within: journeying to the stillpoint at our center. This is the resting place of the soul.
You'll be guided through a series of participatory invitations utilizing movement, voice, breath, and deep listening. These will include: gentle yoga poses, guided breathwork, vocal sounding, and listening to live performances of inspired poetry, song, and therapeutic sound instruments.
It doesn't matter to us if you've only 3 followers or are a major social influencer...At We Play Well Together,we're all about the potency of musical micro-moments. Recently, we started using our social media accounts to feature members of our community and have received lots of great feedback. So this is our call-in: share with us your content so we can celebrate you! If you're creating sounds with feeltone, Hokema, Metal Sounds, Zenko Drums, Koshi or Zaphir Chimes, we can play well and grow together. When you post content featuring instruments we distribute (whether you purchased them through us or not) let us know in the following ways:
Tag @weplaywelltogetheron Instragram - we'll DM to ask your permission to reshare, then we'll post, tag you back + copy your text using the "repost" app.
Tag@weplaywelltogetheron Facebook - we'll reach out using Messenger to ask your permission to reshare, then we'll post +tag you back with a shout-out.
Email us links to your YouTube videos. We'll add you to one of the playlists for "instruments in action" on ourWe Play Well TogetherYouTube channel.
Our relationship with vibration, sound, and music is intrinsically connected to who we are as humans. Join award-winning musician Todd Boston in a weekly experiential class on the power of sound, music and meditation. We will be joined by special guests.
.
Learn practical tools to deepen your connection and relationship to sound as a tool for transformation, healing, and growth. Explore how music and meditation can expand your abilities of deep listening, intuition, and how to integrate it into your healing practice and day to day life...
.
By tuning our voices, instruments, and hearts we can go deeper into the subtleties of listening. This state of focus and deeper listening can open us to hear our intuition and inner voice in more clear and profound ways. Bring your voice, percussion, and/or instrument.
Brandon Blake, a multifaceted individual juggling roles as a preschool teacher, brain injury support group leader, musician, animal rights activist, and volunteer, shares his daily life and his profound connection with the Kalimba Sansula in an interview with Annalena Horl for Hokema, Germany. His routine begins with caring for his cats, followed by preparing breakfast and spending eight hours at school focusing on the social and emotional development of young children. Post-work, he finds solace and creativity in playing the Sansula or bass, highlighting his commitment to self-care and artistic expression.
Brandon’s job satisfaction stems from nurturing positive behaviors like kindness, empathy, and respect among preschool children, aiming to cultivate a future generation free of xenophobia, racism, and aggression. He was drawn to the Sansula as a means to disconnect from the digital world and engage in a more tactile, musical form of expression. Since discovering the Sansula in 2015, it has become an integral part of his life, offering him solace, therapeutic benefits, and a medium for musical creativity.
He utilizes the Sansula across various aspects of his life, from calming preschool children and entertaining nursing home residents to providing healing in brain injury communities. Brandon praises the Sansula for its ease of use, therapeutic potential, and adaptability, including his innovative use of magnets to alter its notes for performance flexibility. He regards the Sansula as a serious musical instrument, validated by his performances with renowned musicians like Victor Wooten, where his unique playing techniques were celebrated.
Brandon’s favorite Hokema instrument is the Sansula Renaissance for its durability and sound quality, making it suitable for both young children and therapeutic applications. His journey with the Sansula began after a life-altering accident that left him with severe injuries and a traumatic brain injury, from which he has been recovering with resilience and positivity. Now leading a group for young patients with brain injuries, Brandon views every moment as "bonus time," a second chance at life enriched by his experiences, relationships, and music.
Koshi Chimes, handcrafted in the French Pyrenees, offer enchanting tones from bamboo chambers and metal rods, transcending typical chime uses as intuitive musical instruments for anyone. Inspired by Feng Shui, they embody the four elements—earth (Terra), water (Aqua), air (Aria), and fire (Ignis)—each with unique tone sequences for therapeutic uses like meditation and sound therapy, enhancing positive energy flow.
These chimes, when combined with Hokema Kalimbas, create immersive soundscapes. Hokema Kalimbas, made from sustainable American Cherry wood, come in various models, including acoustic, electric, and a twin version for duo play. Together, Koshi Chimes and Hokema Kalimbas facilitate a serene, creative environment, bridging traditional sounds with modern wellness practices.
Christine Stevens, renowned music therapist, author, and speaker, shares her journey from believing she had no rhythm to embracing drumming as a transformative medium. Introduced to drum circles, Stevens found her calling, blending magic, fun, and healing through rhythmic expression. She encountered the Hokema Sansula at a music therapy conference, immediately recognizing its calming and mystical qualities. Stevens utilizes the Sansula in diverse healing drum groups, ranging from seniors to cancer patients, highlighting its serene impact.
Holding master's degrees in social work and music therapy, Stevens has facilitated drum circles globally, appearing on major TV networks and contributing to significant projects and publications. She emphasizes the drum's healing power, extending her expertise to include the flute as a medium for peace and personal transformation in her latest course on the Shift Network. Through her work, Stevens demonstrates the profound effect of rhythmic and musical expression on healing and mindfulness.
The power of overtones & natural acoustic vibration for Sound Meditation, Sound Baths, Sound Massage, and Vocal Toning
with USA Feeltone Trainer Joule L’Adara, MFA in Music
This hands-on intimate intensive workshop will give you the opportunity to play, experience, and learn more about the feeltone Monochords including the Monolini and Monolina Body Therapy Monochords plus the larger Concert and Meditation Monochords.
• learn Monochord playing techniques
• create rich overtones
• open your ear to the harmonic spectrum
• differentiate recreate different sound qualities
the craftsmanship, (and craftswomanship) is incredible, and her sound. so resonant and otherworldly. I'm so happy with my new Monolina in G. I can't wait to play her for my community. Thank you Gabriele for your outstanding customer service.
A few years ago I became casually interested in the Kalimba because of its simplicity of design and playability. Without experience or a good point of reference I needed to taste a lot of flavors to sort out the choices. For a while, my discards kept the local Goodwill store supplied with inventory.
The feeding frenzy stopped when I discovered Hokema. Build and material quality is professional grade. The tines are not stiff, so you can play at any intensity without stressing a thumb nails. Resonance from the solid wood base and the resulting sustain are simply stunning. Even the high notes sing, unlike the flat 'tapping an aluminum pan' sound from my discards.
I first purchased the B-17, and later the smaller B-17 Mini. Comments above apply to both. There is no problem holding, playing, or carrying around either instrument. The Mini's smaller footprint might be more comfortable for small hands. I just like the smaller package. Because the B-17's wood block is wider, it has more space between the tines. Both instruments appear to use the same tine assembly materials, but the Mini has a shorter cross bar. The Mini's tine spacing is grouped, but they can be adjusted to make the spacing more uniform like the B-17. In that mode, even with the smaller block the tine spacing is noticeably wider than some other Kalimbas I've tried. My thumbs are average width for a 5'8" person and my nails are normally rounded (not pointed), and I have no trouble playing individual notes.
Tablature is available around the net for 17-key Kalimbas (RiffSpot has a nice ebook), so you can play tunes without reading music on both the B-17 and B-17 Mini.
