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The Idea

For many years, Tony Perman, professor of music and director of the Zimbabwean Mbira Ensemble at 91����, has played mbira and taught others how to play them. Mbira are handheld musical instruments made with a solid wood sound board and multiple ranks of metal keys which are plucked with the player’s thumbs. Perman was attempting to craft his own mbira dzaVaNdau, a specific type of mbira, last year utilizing tools at the , when he was inspired to create an ethnomusicology course where students would each make one of their own and learn to play it. The course would also teach the instrument’s history and cultural significance.

As his plans for the fall 2025 course took shape, Perman coordinated studio time at the Stew Makerspace, and he embraced using repurposed materials, including metal from a box spring mattress salvaged from a local scrapyard. Each student would cut the metal and pound it to shape the many keys for assembling their own instrument. 

A Unique Opportunity

Perman says this is probably the first college course in North America dedicated to the mbira dzaVaNdau. “Some of the teaching material for this course came from a master builder (and my teacher) in Zimbabwe named Solomon Madhinga,” says Perman, giving credit to the person who taught him to play the mbira dzaVaNdau. 

In addition to time spent on construction, students learned why so few people play it now after centuries of relevance, they discussed the ethical consequences of playing it themselves, and they were able to reflect on the relationship that instruments like this have with the environment.

“I’m really pleased with how it all went!” Perman reports. 

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