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Hokema - B17 MINI in C-Major

Original price $131.00 - Original price $131.00
Original price
$131.00
$131.00 - $131.00
Current price $131.00
Collection Color: Terra (C-Major)
Same set of tines and tuning as the standard B17 but smaller woodblock so it is easier to hold the Kalimba for smaller hands. Watch this 2-minute video to hear the sweet glissandos and see how the chord magnets function.
  • 17 Tines precisely tuned to c-major suitable for playing countless popular tunes.
  • The B17 c-major is ideal for improvisation and intuitive playing.
  • Solid resonance corpus of American cherry wood
  • A large number of well know songs can be played
  • Ergonomically formed tines for easy playing with the thumb
  • size 5.8"x 6.3"x 1.6" 

This new model was specially designed with smaller hands in mind! The B17-Mini is more easily playable for children, young adults, and anyone with a smaller-sized hand.

Another fun bonus of the B-17 Mini is that the metal tines are mounted more closely together. This makes it easier to play glissandos: a musical term which means "a continuous slide upward or downward between two or more notes". You can take your thumbs and run them in a sweeping motion up or down, producing with ease this delightful sound effect where the notes blend seamlessly into each other.

This new B17-Mini Kalimba has the exact same musical layout and tuning of the larger B17 Kalimba (original): made from a beautiful block of American Cherry wood upon which metal tines fan out to form two-and-a-half octaves of the *C-Major diatonic scale.

This kalimba starts with the bottom root note in the middle then alternates back and forth between the left and right sides played by the thumbs building up the scale from the inside opening out to the sides of the instrument.

Because of this special layout, chord triads are located adjacent to each other, making different chords easy to see and therefore song accompaniment easily learnable and playable. It also comes with little "chord magnets" that allow you to mark the chords you want to play! 

Kalimbas are metal-tined instruments which originated in southern Africa and which can be found there in countless variations.

Our Kalimba B17 C-major is meticulously hand-crafted out of solid American black cherry wood. The surfaces is treated and polished with natural oils and waxes. The B17 is ideal for improvisation and intuitive playing.
 

Scale C-major: c d e f g a h C D E F G A H C

and fits in our C-major Soundscape sets ( Terra, green)

A C-major scale consist of  7 notes. The 17 note Kalimba has 2 sets of C with an octave in-between plus another C an octave higher.

If you look at the Diagram in the second Ocatve the numbers are given a dot to distinguish them. so 1. 2. 3. and so on. IN the third octave, the three highest notes of our Kalimba we use the:  after the number.  1: 2: 3:.


 

 Playing the scale of C-major:

Start with the middle, longest tine and with your right thumb pluck it, alternating with your left thumb, thus working your way to the outer tines. You will hear the C major scale played over two and a third octave.

In the tablature the notes for the left hand are at the top and for the right hand at the bottom. The tablature is shown directly above the notation. 

This kind of Kalimba tablature is used by Conny Sommer in his tutorials about the B17.

For the sake of clarity we have marked the tines with two different kind of markings.

The single horizontal line on three of the tines indicates the keynote of the C-major tuning. the low , the middle and the high C. The double crossbar indicates the tone H. This allows the player to visually orientate themselves with larger number of tines.

We include a booklet with the purchase of the B17 that gives you some song samples and shows you a couple of playing techniques.

We also made a video to show you how to work with the included magnets to mark the chords when you are playing. 

    Customer Reviews

    Based on 10 reviews
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    J
    John S.
    The B-17 Mini is a delightful instrument.

    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.

    S
    Scott B.
    Sweet Sound

    My first experience with a Hokema Kalimba was at the gift shop of the Music Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. I was blown away by the big, beautiful sound of those instruments, but I wasn’t ready to plunk down $200 for it.

    Fast forward, I read about the Twin Kalimba and was encouraged by a review that suggested it was great for events. This particular person, evidently a musician like me, gave out ten of these during his shows and was thrilled by how the audience members enjoyed the experience.

    So, given these two experiences, I had high hopes for the twin.

    It is a sweet sounding instrument, but the sound is very quiet. The wood is solid so it doesn’t resonate like its higher priced solo cousins (that feature a resonator) or traditional kalimbas that have found holes.

    So, I’m a little underwhelmed by the sound, but it’s still a great concept. Perhaps it will be fine and dandy when I share it with audiences. Let’s see!

    E
    Elena B.
    Beautiful sound

    It’s my first Kalimba and I absolutely love how it sounds, such a magical instrument

    D
    Dianna L.N.
    Hokema B9 Kalimba Aria

    I was pleased with customer service & by the work ethic that this company has. This is my first kalimba that I have ever owned. It is easy to make pretty little melodies & pairs well with the chime of the same key, but admittedly the kalimba sounds louder & sweeter when held & played so it works better when these instruments are played by 2 people. Overall I was pleased with my purchase.

    A
    Amanda O.
    Tiny kalimba

    I absolutely live my magical little instrument. It travels with me for elemental magic on demand

    All about Hokema

    Peter and Hugo Hokema | weplaywelltogether

    Hokema Kalimbas is now run by the second generation with Peter's son Hugo Hokema at the helm of this family-run business. Today, Hokema has 9 employees has become one of the world's leading manufacturer of beautiful and easy-to-play kalimbas in various models worldwide. 

    Read more!
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