by Forward Kwenda, Andy Fowler, Caution Shohnai, Bezil Makombe, Ambuya Tembo, Pasivillias Tandi, Nyamasvisva + Many More!
Shona Mbira Masterclasses - Learn Traditional Mbira Songs Online with Zimbabwean Mbira Masters.
MASTERCLASS OVERVIEW:
Enjoy 30 - 120 minutes of HD video mbira master lessons and performances inside every pack - All filmed ‘hands-in-view’.
Learn to play kushaura & kutsinhira parts, bass and highline variations, and solo improvisation for five traditional Shona mbira songs.
Taught by Shona mbira masters Forward Kwenda (main teacher), Nyamasvisva, Ambuya Tembo, Bezil Makombe, Caution Shonhai, and Pasivillias Tandi.
Every intensive Includes accessible mbira tablature + song structure analysis from author Andy Fowler.
Choose from Mbavarira, Nhemamusasa, Nyamaropa, Shumba and Taireva.
Our online mbira lesson packs can be enjoyed as stand-alone mbira intensives, as a five-part course that you can complete in your own speed, or as a way for you to sample the style and quality of material provided over at our The World’s Largest Mbira Master Video and Notation Archive - ‘Mbira Online’.
We started that project under the name ‘Mbira Masters Community’ so you’ll see this branding on your PDF mbira tablature downloads. Month 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on the front pages show the order they were originally released(Nyamaropa, Mbavarira, Taireva, Nhemamusasa then Shumba). You can choose to work through the mbira master classes in any other order though.
MBIRA ONLINE
Head on to Mbira Online to choose from a wider variety of traditional mbira songs and musicians (updated monthly), contribute towards a regular income for all of the musicians on our team, and steer the direction of our biggest project: Mbira.Online - the world’s largest mbira masters video and notation archive.
“I am blown away by the material, it’s so great! Started learning right away. Thank you so much!”
“It’s as close as you can get to learning mbira other than actually being in Zimbabwe learning from true masters. Highly recommended!”
“The image and sound quality is quite amazing! Nicely done. Plenty to chew on!”
MASTERCLASS ACCESS:
Although our preferred mbira notation / mbira tablature style is ‘pitch’ notation, you can switch between notation styles with a couple of clicks at sympathetic-resonances.org - a ‘Quick-Start Guide’ is included for free with your download files.
For authenticity, each mbira musician plays their preferred tuning. A link is provided for a free pitch/transposing/looping browser plugin so you can enjoy playing along with your mbira instrument.
Artists use nyamaropa tunings for the majority of recordings in each pack. Mbavarira is more suitable for gandanga/mavembe/nemakonde/phrygian instruments.
Visit the mbira magic store for all our mbira books, subscriptions and masterclasses.
Once you’ve paid for your mbira masterclass, check out your bonus files and downloadable resources, head back here with your password, click your song and dive in!
Learn mbira online and access our complete archive of mbira videos and tablature at Mbira.Online