![]() ![]() ![]() By the early 1970s, they had expanded the lengths of the bars and the range into a 4.5-octave instrument (lowest pitch F a twelfth below middle C), and Abe began using this instrument for performances and on her 1970s recordings with the Tokyo Quintet. Yamaha began the task by building a 4.3-octave marimba based on Abe’s recommendations. ![]() Yamaha engineers would work with Abe over a sixteen-year period to develop this new musical instrument - one that would transcend the limitations of earlier instruments and create an entirely new world of musical possibilities. She requested that it be 5 octaves in range (with lowest C two octaves below middle C), with a big bass sound, a warm middle range, and a bright, clear and powerful tonality in the top octaves. Genichi Kawakami, president of Yamaha at the time, to develop a new marimba for her. Yamaha Enters the PictureĪbe then decided to ask Mr. However, after the concert, two of the composers told Abe that they felt the sound of her marimba was not adequate to express their musical ideas. The instrument Keiko Abe used to perform this groundbreaking repertoire was a state-of-the-art, 4.3-octave marimba (lowest pitch A, a tenth below middle C). This singular concert was an important event for the marimba world and marks the beginning of the modern concert marimba that we know today. She began commissioning composers she knew from her studio work, and in 1968, presented the first full-length concert written specifically for the marimba. Abe was interested in serious classical music, but there were only a handful of compositions written for the marimba at that time. Not only did she appear on numerous TV variety shows, she had her own show teaching marimba. She met and worked with many of Japan’s most talented composers in film and audio recording studios, live TV studios and orchestral performances.Ībe also became famous as a pop music artist, recording 11 albums, both as a featured soloist and as the leader of the Xebec Marimba Trio. After proving herself at her first studio job, she quickly became a first-call marimbist due to her sight-reading and ability to improvise on the spot. In the early 1960s, Abe was a young rising star in the vibrant musical life of Tokyo. This was the culmination of a 16-year partnership between the company and Keiko Abe, today considered the Grand Dame of the marimba. Thirty-five years ago, Yamaha started the production of a new instrument - the five-octave marimba. ![]()
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