Mbira Maestro - Learning Mbira Dzavadzimu with William Chitauro:
from the very basics to deep compexity, using parts and variations of a tune Chinyanyanga composed by William in the Shona mbira tradition.

Many people know William and his music from visiting Zimbabwe or watching on YouTube. I have been learning mbira with him for over seven years now and we decided a couple of years back to develop an mbira course based on both his music and his teaching insights.

This is the result - a four module course taking you gently from the basics of mbira playing into the complex and rewarding world of Shona mbira music using one tune as the framework. All funds raised through the purchase of this course will be sent to William in Zimbabwe in recognition of the source of the material.

Why use one tune, why not learn lots? Good question. There are many good tutorials out there that will introduce you to a number of mbira tunes, but the idea of this one is to lead you gently but much more deeply into the wonderful variety and complexity that lies within one tune structure. Becoming thouroughly familiar with one tune anchors your learning in a very broad sense and will serve you well in learning more of the mbira repertoire. We have chosen Chinyanyanga because William has developed and composed an impressive number of parts and variations which introduce you to a very wide range of approaches to Shona mbira playing.

You will learn: a basic part; left and right hand variations; where the hosho fits; how to develop parts using different rhythmic sequences of keys; the difference betweeen kushaura and kutsinhira; two very different bass parts with variations; as well as how to transition between all these different parts and variations so that you can play with another mbira. There is something in here both for the complete novice and for the more experienced player, who may even know some of these parts already. We can almost guarantee you won't know all of them :)

The introductory module is available free for you to try out on the link here:

mhuteyembira.bandcamp.com/album/mbira-maestro-learning-mbira-dzavadzimu-with-william-chitauro

The next three modules can be purchased on this page. Just as in Module 1,there is a pdf document for each module taking you through the learning process and it has full notation for all the parts alongside audio tracks, all of which are accompanied by a simple slow hosho beat. (120bpm in 3/4 time)

You can listen to the first Track of each module on this bandcamp site and once you purchase the course the PDFs and the remaining tracks become available and you can download them all to your device.

Module 2 has 7 audio tracks, Module 3 has 8 and Module 4 has 10. These are all in Bb nyamaropa tuning (Chartwell's 'Devon' tuning for the UK audience).

Any problems let me know through this site and we will make sure you can access the material.

I am also running a weekly mbira hour on sundays at 8.00pm UK time on twitchtv.

www.twitch.tv/djamtomorrow/schedule

If you are working through the module tune in and ask any questions, listen to any parts you request or ask me to play at whatever speed you like and you can practice playing along. I have a number of different mbira so can also let you know how parts sound in these tunings.

Do let me know how you are getting on and if you spot any errors in the pdf's or tracks. They are all my responsibity!

Thanks for looking,

Mike