Songs on the kalimba
Seventy-six of the hundred. Not one of the missing twenty-four was refused for being too big - the board is wider than every one of them.
What this instrument has got
17 notes, C4 to E6 - a reach of 28 semitones, built from 7 pitch letters: C D E F G A B. Everything below follows from that row.
- C4
- D4
- E4
- F4
- G4
- A4
- B4
- C5
- D5
- E5
- F5
- G5
- A5
- B5
- C6
- D6
- E6
Why 76, and not 100
Seventeen tines, tuned to a plain major scale from C4 up to E6. That is a reach of over two octaves, comfortably more than any melody in the catalogue asks for.
What it has not got is a single sharp or flat. Every song it turns down is turned down for its notes, not its size: one accidental anywhere in a tune and there is no tine to play it on, in any key. The two dozen that are missing are the two dozen that modulate or lean on a chromatic passing note.
The other side of that limit is the reason a kalimba is a good first instrument: on a board with no wrong notes, a beginner cannot land on one.
Counted: 0 songs are wider than the instrument, and 24 fit the span and are still refused, because somewhere in them is a note this instrument has not got.
Where the tunes sit
Of the 76 it plays, 41 are taught at written pitch , 21 move a whole octave - same note names, different register , and 14 change key altogether, which is what a player does when they pick up an instrument tuned to something other than C .
Easy 40
- Mary Had a Little Lamb at written pitch
- Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at written pitch
- Ode to Joy up 1 octave
- Happy Birthday to You up 1 octave
- Amazing Grace up 1 octave
- Auld Lang Syne up 1 octave
- Lullaby at written pitch
- Silent Night at written pitch
- Joy to the World at written pitch
- The First Noel at written pitch
- O Come, All Ye Faithful at written pitch
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing up 1 octave
- Good King Wenceslas at written pitch
- We Wish You a Merry Christmas up 1 octave
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat at written pitch
- Pop Goes the Weasel at written pitch
- Au clair de la lune at written pitch
- For He's a Jolly Good Fellow at written pitch
- Hot Cross Buns at written pitch
- Itsy Bitsy Spider at written pitch
- When the Saints Go Marching In at written pitch
- Danny Boy up 1 octave
- Scarborough Fair at written pitch
- Loch Lomond at written pitch
- The Wild Rover at written pitch
- The Parting Glass up 1 octave
- The Star of the County Down at written pitch
- She Moved Through the Fair at written pitch
- Home, Sweet Home down 5 semitones
- Away in a Manger up 1 octave
- Kagome Kagome at written pitch
- Alle meine Entchen at written pitch
- Red River Valley up 1 octave
- Arirang up 1 octave
- The Skye Boat Song at written pitch
- Symphony No. 5 up 2 semitones
- Eine kleine Nachtmusik down 7 semitones
- Sonata facile at written pitch
- Andante grazioso down 2 semitones
- Sheep May Safely Graze up 2 semitones
Medium 21
- The Holly and the Ivy up 1 octave
- Deck the Halls up 1 octave
- Humpty Dumpty at written pitch
- London Bridge Is Falling Down at written pitch
- Lightly Row at written pitch
- Alouette at written pitch
- My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean at written pitch
- Down by the Salley Gardens at written pitch
- The Minstrel Boy up 1 octave
- Soldier's Joy at written pitch
- Angels We Have Heard on High up 7 semitones
- We Three Kings up 1 octave
- Tōryanse up 1 octave
- Sur le pont d'Avignon up 1 octave
- Mo Li Hua up 1 octave
- Kangding Love Song at written pitch
- Song Bie up 1 octave
- Ye Banks and Braes down 2 semitones
- Menuett in E flat up 4 semitones
- Minuet in G up 5 semitones
- Gymnopédie No. 1 down 2 semitones
Hard 15
- Whiskey in the Jar at written pitch
- The Water Is Wide at written pitch
- Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms at written pitch
- The Irish Washerwoman at written pitch
- John Ryan's Polka at written pitch
- Mairi's Wedding at written pitch
- Old French Song up 2 semitones
- Thaxted up 2 semitones
- Waltzing Matilda up 1 octave
- La Cucaracha up 1 octave
- Bella ciao at written pitch
- Battle Hymn of the Republic at written pitch
- À la claire fontaine at written pitch
- Die Forelle up 4 semitones
- Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 down 3 semitones
The same catalogue, other instruments
One song list, nine instruments, and every one of them meets it differently.