If position notation is how you learned mbira, you can still go deep from here.
This path is for players who learned through position notation, prefer it, or are not yet ready to move into pitch-based structural materials.
Intro
Many players first meet mbira through position notation.
It often looks simpler. It feels familiar. It may be what you already know, what your hands already trust, and what helped you begin.
That matters.
This page exists to make sure that if position notation is your home right now, you still have a real path forward.
What position notation does well
Position notation can be:
visually approachable
practical
musical
surprisingly deep
It is not a lesser path just because it is not the notation style used in most of my later materials.
You can still go deep from here.
The position-notation pathway
A strong route through this path currently includes:
Unlocking Mbira
Learn How to Play Mbira with Forward Kwenda
Fungai Gahadzikwa Mbira Song Book
Taken together, these represent more than isolated books. They form a meaningful mini-pathway for learners who want to deepen through position notation.
How to get the most from this path
The value in this route is not only in memorising parts.
It comes from:
staying with the material long enough to embody the shapes
working variations rather than freezing one version
noticing how patterns repeat and shift
letting apparently simple material reveal more depth over time
This path can take you much further than it first appears.
Why some players later move into the other notation style
At some point, some players begin to want:
clearer song relationships
easier naming of shapes and structures
a stronger sense of the seven-note wheel beneath the music
more direct entry into keys, progressions, and improvisation
That is where the notation used in most of my later resources becomes powerful.
You do not need to force that move now. But if and when you are ready, it is there.
A gentle bridge
If you begin to feel that you want to understand more of how songs connect, or you want to move into deeper structural freedom, then the next route to explore is:
Button: Song Structure and Improvisation
Closing
If position notation is where you began, that beginning still matters.
You do not have to abandon what got you here in order to keep going.
Buttons
Continue the Position-Notation Path
Song Structure and Improvisation
Work With Me
Traditional Songs and Variations
For learners drawn to Zimbabwean players, repertoire, style, and variations from the source.
This path is for people who want to go deeper into the music by learning songs, parts, and player-specific approaches that have lived in the tradition. It is a route into the beauty, depth, and character of the music as it is carried in real hands.
For many players, this material feels precious - and it is.
Song Structure and Improvisation
For learners drawn to creative freedom and deeper insight into the structures that connect traditional parts.
This path is for people who want to understand how songs fit together, how valid improvisation works, how one pattern can unlock many others, and how to move from collecting fragments to feeling the deeper coherence of the music.
This is not about replacing tradition with theory. It is about understanding the music well enough that your choices become freer, stronger, and more musical.
Choose your path
Start Learning
If you're new to mbira and want a clear, rewarding first step.
Already Play?
If you already play mbira but don't know what your best next step is.
Traditional Songs and Variations
If you're most drawn to Zimbabwean players, archive material, and deeper repertoire.
Song Structure and Improvisation
If you want to understand how this music fits together and learn to make valid improvisational choices.
Position Notation Path
If you learned through position notation and want a route that respects your journey.
Work With Me
If you'd like direct guidance, live lessons, or a more personalised route.
Whatever stage you're at, you do not have to figure this out alone. Start with the path that feels closest, and the others will be waiting for you when you're ready.