{"id":3659,"date":"2017-02-03T18:12:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T23:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2023-01-23T23:52:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T04:52:12","slug":"great-percussionists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/great-percussionists\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Percussionists (Who Happen to be Women)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"female<\/strong>The follow-up to my last post, Great Drummers (Who Happen to be Women)<\/a>, seemed obvious- Great Percussionists (Who Happen to be Women)! Of course, drawing a clear distinction between the drummer and the percussionist can in many cases be a tricky endeavor. So, for the purposes of this post, we will be focused primarily on classical percussionists, on musicians who straddle many genres (or are simply uncategorizable), and others for whom the drum set is not a primary instrument.<\/p>\n

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As noted in the previous post, we all need role models that we can see ourselves in, people that we can easily identify with, and people who demonstrate that our goals and ambitions are valid and achievable. Unfortunately, our society has had a tendency to assign gender expectations to various instruments, obviously not at all based in reality. The aspiring young percussionist may see more men than women playing percussion and find herself wondering if the field is right for her. The truth is, however, that many women are at the top of the field in percussion.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ll begin with one of the most influential marimbists of the last century:<\/p>\n

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Keiko Abe<\/u><\/h2>\n

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Keiko Abe\u2019s role in the development of both marimba technique and design cannot be overstated. Both a composer and a marimbist, Abe worked closely with the Yamaha Corporation to develop the modern five octave marimba, now standard for soloists. She began performing professionally at the age of 13, and went on to host two Japanese TV shows dedicated to promoting mallet instruments. She also wrote several pieces that have become standards of the marimba repertoire and has inspired generations of young percussionists. Here she is performing her own composition, Michi:<\/em><\/p>\n

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