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‹ Mbira songs

0 ¢ · L1 = 261.6 Hz

Mbira have no standard pitch — slide this until it matches the one in your hands.

SongsMo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花)
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20 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the tuning brings some of them into reach.

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Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. Public domain.

22 keys · C3–B♭5 as notated · By far the most common tuning in Zimbabwe. Approximates Mixolydian — a major scale with a lowered seventh.

Tap a key, or drag along a manual to run through it. On a keyboard the letters on the keys are the ones to press — they run left to right across the board. The manuals are lettered on the keys — L for the upper left manual, B for the bass manual, R for the right manual — and each is numbered outward from the middle of the board, which is how mbira players and every mbira score name them.

MbiraFree · printable · plays in your browser

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) — Mbira Tabs

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花), written out for the mbira as the key to press for every note and set up above on the Nyamaropa. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the mbira waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes67, 8 pitches
  • RangeG3–C5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo84 bpm · about 40 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a mbira play Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower)?

2 of the 4 here do. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • Nyamaropa✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G3–C5 · loaded above
  • Dambatsoko✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, G3–C5 · load it
  • Katsanzaira✕ Cannot play itNeeds E4, which it does not have
  • Mavembe✕ Cannot play itNeeds A3, D4, E4, A4, which it does not have

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower): mbira tabs

The large line is the key to press, by manual and position; the small line under it is the scale degree it sounds. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花) — mbira tabs (Nyamaropa) · tonalics.com

The 8 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.

  • B45×2
  • B56×3
  • L11×8
  • B72×9
  • R13×14
  • L25×17
  • L46×9
  • L61×5

What to expect on a mbira

  • It runs from G3 to C5, an octave and a fourth, using 8 different notes. That leaves 7 semitones unused below and 10 above.
  • 62% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, C5 to G4, at note 50.
  • It uses 8 keys across 3 manuals (R, L and B).

About the tune

A folk song from the Jiangsu region dating to the Qianlong era of the 18th century. It was the first Chinese melody to become widely known in Europe, printed in London in 1804 by John Barrow, and Puccini used it throughout his opera Turandot.

Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. Public domain. More about Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) →

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the mbira

All 34 mbira songs · Christmas songs for mbira · The online mbira on its own