What Is A Thumb Piano?

Posted by Jo Murphy Apr 18, 2008

A thumb piano is an African musical instrument. It "has a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs." FreeDictionary.com Because its use is so widespread across Africa it has acquired a variety of names, such as kalimba, sansa or mbira,

Free Simulated Online Learning Experience

The Africa Kids website has an interactive interface with a variety of options for exploring the thumb piano. If you would like the students to learn very simple tunes, and you have some thumb pianos for your class they can play along. There is a print function so that you can print the music.

If you do not have access to thumb pianos, there is a simulation of the instrument for the students to play. It is possible to record music and play it back. With practice the students could become quite proficient at writing and recording simple melodies.

An Attractive Instrument

The thumb piano is an attractive instrument,. (Image from Overstock) It is easy to make. It is held gently between two hands. The thumbs strike the keys making a sound, which reverberates from within the wooden hemisphere through a hole. The difference in the size of the keys makes the melodic sound. It is usually made from wood, (perhaps a seed pod) and the keys are beaten to their correct size from metal. A metal bar holds them in place. The instrument can be tuned with this bar.