MUSIC FROM BRAKE DRUMS—–BUT WHICH ONES??
Treasure that 1936 Studebaker! Stash the old brake drums in the safe! Composer Lou Harrison, a lover of “found instruments” and new sound timbres, called for percussionists to strike resonant brake drums in pieces like “Canticle No. 3.” But not just any old brake drum. “The ’36 Studebaker had the best ones,” he told me in an interview over 20 years ago. “After that, the car factories all changed the metal (alloy), and the drums wouldn’t ring any more.” A…