DescriptionKeiko Abe transformed the marimba into today's five-octave solo instrument and full-fledged member of classical ensembles. Prior to Abe, the marimba was viewed somewhat disdainfully as a xylophone with a lower range: an instrument incapable of classical concert performance.Over the course of Keiko Abe's long musical career, beginning as a child prodigy at age ten, her rare gifts have garnered her recognition as a musical genius, consummate artist, innovator in her field, and composer of classical pieces of art music for her instrument. As Abe's audiences worldwide know, she is also a spellbinding performer.In this biography, author Rebecca Kite tells the untold story of how Keiko Abe's groundbreaking influence on the evolution of the marimba and its music, Rebecca Kite also offers a history of the xylophone, the marimba, and the music, composers, and performers each instrument was associated with over the centuries.Biographer Rebecca Kite is a marimbist and composer whose solo recordings include Across Time and Prism. Kite teaches marimba and percussion as a member of the music faculty at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. She is a frequent contributor to Percussive Notes, the journal of the Percussive Arts Society.